About IPLACC

Recent reports have confirmed the demographic trend for Indiana: an explosive growth in Latino, especially Mexican residents, bringing with them numerous social and economic benefits (See "Connecting Mexico and the Hoosier Heartland," Sagamore Institute for Policy Research: http://www.sipr.org/). Such growth has been concentrated in the major urban areas; however, significant, in some cases dramatic increases have occurred in small cities and towns. Around the region, schools and communities are struggling to integrate a new immigrant population that is foreign to their historical experience. Indiana schools have been especially challenged in this regard: they have experienced the fourth fastest growth rate of language minority students in the country from 1995-2005—and most of these are Spanish-speaking students from Latin America.

It is in this context that we launched The Indiana Project for Latin American Cultural Competency, a joint effort of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) and the School of Education (SoE) at Indiana University-Bloomington. It is primarily supported through a Title VI National Resource Center grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The Project was initiated in 2006 and will last at least through the summer of 2010; it is a multi-pronged effort that aims to enhance the teaching of Latin American culture and society in the schools and communities of Indiana. Such teaching has two primary goals: 1) Improving the average citizen's understanding of Latin America in order to facilitate more effective economic and social exchanges in a globalizing world, and 2) improving educators' and citizens' understanding of Latin American culture and society in order to develop their cultural competencies for integrating Latin American immigrants into their schools and communities.

The Project
Now beginning its third year, IPLACC continues its mission to enhance the teaching of Latin American culture and content in schools and communities.  We believe that one of the keys to educational success is the development of cultural competency amongst teachers and administrators. Quite simply: the more educators understand and appreciate the significance of Latin American culture and society—and how cultural differences manifest themselves in classrooms, schools and communities—the better schools can accommodate and integrate individuals into the daily life of schools.

Project Philosophy and Tenets

• Offer schools and/or school districts ideas and strategies for better understanding and appreciating Latin American culture and society.
• Indiana Code 20-10.2-2-3.8, enacted by the Indiana General Assembly in 2004, mandates cultural competency in educational environments.
• We believe cultural competency is not obtained from a “one-time” professional development activity or through simply hiring fashionable “cultural” consultants.
• Rather, we believe that cultural competency emerges through intensive education: conscious reflection, sustained dialogue, and a willingness to examine our own behaviors, attitudes, and policies.

• Provide a research-based, solutions-oriented approach to professional development.
• Teachers and administrators need to address the multiple needs of Latina/o students in their schools and/or districts. We believe that solutions ought to emerge, as much as possible, from actual research conducted within the local context of schools (i.e., “action” research).
• Offer schools and/or districts ideas and strategies for increasing the educational opportunities and performance of their Latina/o students.
  • When behaviors, attitudes, and policies are congruent, teachers and administrators are able to work more effectively in cross-cultural situations.
  • We believe that the more educators understand and appreciate cultural differences, the better they can accommodate and integrate students into the daily life of schools.

Proposed IPLACC Goals and Activities for 2008-2009

• Consolidate and apply the knowledge gained from our 2006-2007 teacher inquiry groups.

• Continue collaborative action research at an Indiana school corporation, and develop professional development materials and activities out of such research.

• Targeted mailing of IPLACC Education Briefs and other educational materials to school teachers and administrators; follow up phone calls and e-mails to schedule meetings and/or professional development activities.

• Develop collaborative links with existing OELA grants (IUPUI and IU-Southeast) to facilitate the teaching of cultural competency in schools.

• Systematize and deepen the infusion of Latin American content, and cultural competency discussions, into teacher education courses in the School of Education, IUB. Schedule guest speakers, slideshows, and video showings, both during normal class time and through a Spring Latin American Culture series.

• Collaborate with state and local Human Rights Commissions on educational programming.

We actively seek collaborations and funding partnerships to advance our work in the state of Indiana and beyond. Please consider us for service-learning and grant-making opportunities, as well as in-kind or charitable contributions. We could do a lot more with your help!

Peter Cowan, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Education
pcowan@indiana.edu
(812) 856-8578