Opening Doors

See how one school district made Cultural Proficiency real—and how you can too!

In spite of Brown vs. Board of Education, true integration and corresponding equality of educational opportunity is still far from reality in American schools.  

Opening Doors tells the story of Ventura Unified School District′s successful implementation of cultural proficiency, which opened long-closed doors for marginalized students and returned gains on every key success metric. Most importantly, it will empower you to do the same for your school or district. Resources include:

• A method for evaluating the impact of educational decisions on students′ access to learning
• A clear three-year implementation plan for making your school culturally proficient
• A content-rich companion website that includes templates and forms for implementing the book’s suggestions

It is long past time to make cultural proficiency real by ensuring universally equal access to educational resources for all students. This book removes the remaining barriers to the achievement of this ideal. 

  "This powerfully insightful and thought provoking book, takes us on a journey to culturally proficient actions."
—Rosemary Papa, Professor
Northern Arizona University

"The book is full of compassion, conviction and hope—pure heart, pure corazón—in the quest to tackle inequality and the opportunity gap head on."
—Gilberto Q. Conchas, Professor of Educational Policy and Social Context
University of California, Irvine