Cultural & Racial Literacy

Dr. Rojas has developed cultural and racial literacy frameworks to support school districts, educational organizations, psychology training programs and institutions committed to equity. These frameworks drive improvements in culture and climate, meaningful relationships and sustainable conditions that facilitate inclusion and belonging. Dr. Rojas uses these frameworks to develop trainings and programs tailored to the specific needs of stakeholders. The frameworks are described below.

  • The Cultural Literacy Framework for K-12 Education

    Over the years, Dr. Rojas has used Geert Hofstede’s and David Livermore’s frameworks of culture and cultural dimensions to understand the organizing culture of the U.S. K-12 Education system and relational dynamics evidenced by the diverse population of students and families currently represented in U.S. schools. She adapted these frameworks to design and facilitate professional development for districts that invest in cultural and linguistic responsive pedagogy, the improvement of culture and climate, and of student and family engagement. Dr. Rojas works with districts and educational organizations to tailor training and professional development in the following areas,

    • Understanding Culture, its characteristics and adaptive functions

    • Dimensions of culture and their manifestation in K-12 systems

    • The impact of the Individualist-Collectivist dimension in K-12 education focused on values and beliefs, achievement, communication, relationships, and time orientation.

  • The Cultural Humility Framework

    Cultural humility has been associated with understanding the fact that we are all subject to the influence of our cultures and as a result, we are bound to have biases that predispose us to making assumptions or misplaced attributions about others, especially when perceived as different from us or our reference groups, namely the groups to which we have affinity and/or give us a sense of safety and belonging. Dr. Rojas developed a framework for the cultivation of cultural humility. The framework is flexible to support individuals, groups, organizations and training programs interested in embracing the challenge of intentionally working on overcoming biases and addressing barriers that perpetuate dynamics of difference and systemic inequities. This framework supports equity capacity building and can be tailored to the need of specific stakeholders. Programs under the framework include,

    • Orientation to the Cultural Humility Framework

    • Understanding intrapersonal and interpersonal dimensions of Cultural Humility

    • Engaging in the Cultural Humility Journey

    • Mindfulness based Cultural Humility practices

  • For more information about these frameworks, and about workshops and training opportunities with Dr. Rojas supported by these frameworks, please contact her directly at bertha-elena@humanityadvanced.com.