Cultural+Proficiency

Cultural Proficiency is so important to us in BPS because we have such a diverse population of students, parents and teachers that live in the city, attend the schools and work in the schools.

In order to Increase Cultural Proficiency and close the achievement gaps within our school I believe that we must: First create a curriculum that is the same across all schools 2. Staff Expectation for students: how are students supposed to know what to expect if we continually change or expectations 3. Staff Diversity: we have only a handful of black teachers and only a handful of teachers that speak Spanish or another language. 4. Consequences that exist and are known by all: Students need consequences for actions no matter what their race, economic status or home life. When we try to save students they learn that they can do anything they want and get away with it. 5. Parent Engagement: We have little parent engagement. The past year it has gotten much better but still could be worked on.

One thing from list is Staff expectations for students: We have a list of 4 things we do at OGPS and yet it never gets followed and a few months into school teachers forgot to continue to implement the 4 expectations. Also many teachers say they expect things but have no follow through. We need to continue to let our students know what is expected from them and actually ask it of them.

Here is a picture of OGPS students during a Black History Month celebration/Assembly where we learned about culture, clothing, songs and rituals.