Cultural competency, defined in Minnesota Administrative Rule 8710.0310 , is required of all educators renewing in or after 2020. Each educator’s district (for Tier 1 and Tier 2 license holders) or re-licensure committee (for Tier 3 and Tier 4 license holders) will verify this renewal requirement has been met. Educators may take any training that meets the following criteria:
Shows evidence of self-reflection and discussion of the following topics in a way that deepens teachers’ understanding of their own frames of reference, potential bias in these frames, and the impact of bias on expectations for and relationships with students, students’ families, and school communities.
For the past two years, PELSB provided several cultural competency trainings to meet educators’ needs while schools, districts, and other PD providers acclimated to this new requirement. PELSB is no longer able to offer these trainings. However, PELSB has trained dozens of facilitators who can contract with schools and districts directly to provide the training to staff. Additionally, educators may elect to take a PELSB-approved training to meet this renewal requirement. A training does not have to be PELSB approved to fulfill the cultural competency renewal requirement. PELSB’s approval is simply a guarantee that the training meets PELSB’s standards and fulfills the requirements for this training.
PELSB maintains a list of facilitators who can deliver a PELSB-designed cultural competency training that meets license renewal requirements.
Districts, charter schools, and other organizations can use the contact information on the Cultural Competency Training Facilitators to work directly with facilitators to set up or host trainings.
As of January 2021, PELSB’s Committee to Increase Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers is responsible for reviewing cultural competency trainings from providers who would like to be listed as "pre-approved" on PELSB’s website, which indicates that PELSB guarantees this training meets the renewal requirement. PELSB approval is granted on a two-year basis. Providers may reapply for approval by filling out this application.
