Cultural Assessment Tools

by Kyra Sheahan ; Updated September 29, 2017

Gain insight into your organization's culture through cultural assessment tools.

Cultural assessment tools are used to identify aspects of the culture of a particular group of people. In
this usage, culture refers to a belief system that is shared among many. The belief system can be in
regard to peoples' feelings toward school curricula, such as on which subjects should or shouldn't be
taught to students. By collecting this information, schools are able to make informed decisions to benefit
the learning experience of students.

Survey Tools

An effective way to gain insight about peoples' cultural preferences is through a cultural assessment
survey. In the education system, surveys offer school board executives the chance to find out what types
of cultures exist in their student demographic. To host a successful survey project, surveys should be
mailed to students' parents with a self-addressed stamped envelope and a letter that explains what the
survey is and what it shall be used for. Parents can use the envelopes to mail in their responses. It is
important to include questions on the survey that capture the specific cultural components that you are
interested in learning about. Some question examples are "Do you consider yourself a minority?" and
"Do you believe your child's ethnicity is respected at school?" Additionally, providing a scoring system,
such as a number scale or yes/no answers, is an easy way quantify the responses.

Focus Groups

A focus group is a group that consists of employees, administrators, students, parents or customers, who
have each volunteered to be a part of a particular study that the facilitator is conducting. When it comes
to collecting cultural information, a focus group serves as an assessment tool that provides useful
information. Facilitators use the focus group to ask questions and gain feedback on cultural issues. For
instance, if a school is debating on whether to institute bilingual classrooms, questions related to the
theory can be presented to the focus group and data from their responses collected and reviewed.
Sample questions include "Are you for or against the integration of a bilingual classroom?" and "Do you
think bilingual classrooms will improve or reduce the learning environment for students?" The answers
the facilitator receives will give her insight into the types of cultures that exist within the group. Focus
groups should be diverse enough so that the information the facilitator extracts is not biased.
Cultural Assessment Audits

Any school or organization can create an audit tool to capture information on a culture. An audit
checklist can be created to ensure that certain areas are being reviewed during the process. School or
organizational policies should be reviewed to assess the language on cultural fairness and and ensure
that people with different cultural backgrounds are being treated equally. Visual observations can also be
performed on the audit, such as checking to see whether signs are posted in English and in Spanish. If a
school has all of its signs posted in English, but half of the students in the school are of a Hispanic
culture, the school is not exemplifying cultural sensitivity. The results of the audit will determine
whether a school or organization needs to make changes for improvement.

Questionnaires

In an academic environment, questionnaires allow you to capture personal cultural information from
parents and/or students that can be used to assess whether or not the school is operating in a culturally
fair and equal manner. A questionnaire is a document that asks people questions about their personal
history, experiences and educational backgrounds. Some questions may be "What is your primary
language?" "Were your parents born in the United States?" or "What was your parents' highest level of
education?" The answers should be reviewed to create sets of data that can be used to make school
improvements. For instance, data from questionnaires may reveal that only 50 percent of students speak
English as their primary language. Information such as this may cause school administrators to think of
ways to make their school more bilingual-friendly, which, in turn, benefits half of the population of
students.

https://oureverydaylife.com/cultural-assessment-tools-12082708.html

Culture Assessment Tool

Supporting organisations to develop an organisational culture that delivers high-quality care

Culture Assessment Tool

It is now accepted that healthy cultures in NHS organisations are crucial to ensuring the delivery of high-
quality patient care. An assessment tool from AOD helps organisations to assess their culture, identifying
the ways in which it is working well, as well as the areas that need to change.
Our starting point is an understanding of your organisation’s culture. We have developed and tested an
assessment tool, which can be used on its own, or in combination with a wider programme of support,
to develop cultures of high-quality, compassionate and continually improving care.

The Culture Assessment Tool (CAT) will:

 give you an understanding of the current culture of your organisation

 identify the ways in which your organisational culture is working well, with a view to spreading
existing good practice across your organisation
 provide you with a clear indication of which areas and methods will need to change if you are to
achieve cultures that deliver high-quality, compassionate and continually improving care.

Why choose our assessment tool?

This tool is based on research spanning 20 years.

The tool has been specifically designed for the NHS and measures the aspects of culture that are directly
related to the delivery of high-quality, compassionate and continually improving care. Measures of cross-
boundary co-operation and compassion have recently been added.

Which aspects of culture does it cover?

Vision and values

The degree to which staff at all levels are aware of the long-term vision for and direction of your
organisation and the degree to which practices within your organisation align with the achievement of
the values described in the NHS Constitution.

Goals and performance

The degree to which your organisation provides clear goals for individuals and effective performance
management.

Learning and innovation

The degree to which your organisation’s culture supports the development and implementation of new
and improved ways of working.

Support and compassion

The degree to which staff feel that managers and colleagues show support and compassion to patients
and to colleagues.

Teamworking

The degree to which effective team and inter-teamworking is established within your organisation.

Collective leadership

The degree to which your organisation enables collective leadership across different staff levels and
service areas

www.affinaod.com/team-tools/culture-assessment-tool/