Standing in the Chaos: Cross-cultural Competency in Curriculum Materials

Abstract

Many factors influence the success of an educational program. The curric-ulum, represented in the what, how, and who of instruction, is a critical compo-nent of such an achievement. When learning materials and teachers represent a “mainstream” point of view, the educational achievement of minority-identity students can be affected negatively (Horton & Freire, 1990). For students of non-majority communities (whether ethnic, linguistic, religious, tribal, or any other distinguishing identities), the cross-cultural competency of educators has become an important indicator of success for the educational institution that seeks to serve all of its students (Wolff & Booth, 2017).