Our Teacher Cultural Proficiency Initiative (TCPI) is aimed at improving teacher cultural competence related to South Asian American students, as part of an effort to help teachers on their cultural proficiency journeys.
About the Teacher Cultural Proficiency Initiative (TCPI)
A key focus of ISAASE is its ongoing Teacher Cultural Proficiency Initiative (TCPI). The National Education Organization defines cultural proficiency as having the cultural knowledge, personal and interpersonal awareness and sensitivities, and skills, that enable teachers to effectively support and teacher students in multicultural environments.
ISAASE’s goal, under the TCPI, is to help improve the cultural proficiency of all teachers, so as to improve the overall experiences of all students, including (but not limited to) South Asian American students. Under this initiative, ISAASE is currently providing resources for teachers, such as free resources, book lists (in collaboration with the #BrownBooksProject), and cultural proficiency development tools.
“Improving teachers’ cultural proficiency will have a dramatic impact on students’ experiences, and the support they receive — academic, and just as (if not more) importantly, socioemotional.”
– Dr. Punita Rice, Director of ISAASE
Below is a sampling of some projects under the Teacher Cultural Proficiency Initiative.
Resources for Teachers
As part of an ongoing Teacher Cultural Proficiency Initiative (TCPI), ISAASE.org offers free resources for teachers, aimed at promoting teachers’ cultural proficiency related to South Asian American students. ISAASE aims to provide teachers with resources that will better enable them to support and connect with their South Asian American students.
(Please note, we also recommend checking out the free lesson plans and activities offered by Kitaab World. They offer content related to books with a South Asian or South Asian American theme. The lesson plans are available on their site, and can be are helpful to teachers, home schooling families and parents to guide conversations from the books to ideas. You can see their content here.)
Booklists from the #BrownBooksProject
ISAASE is proud to share Book Lists for improving cultural proficiency, as well as toward maximizing the inclusion of South Asian American diverse experiences, cultures, and voices in the literature offered in school, from the #BrownBooksProject.
Name Pronunciation Guide
ISAASE is proud to offer a guide to best practices for pronouncing South Asian American students’ names correctly. The guide includes a link to a resource that will help with individual name pronunciation. Click for more.
Course content
Under development now: Course content related to the TCPI, focusing on promoting teachers’ cultural proficiency related to South Asian American students by offering an online course. Course content includes: South Asian American cultures, South Asian American diversity, the model minority myth, findings from recent research conducted by Dr. Rice, and best practices for cultural proficiency in the classroom.