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September 2005 | Volume 63 | Number 1 The Whole Child Pages 83-84
Barbara Bazron, David Osher and Steve Fleischman
During the last 10 years, U.S. schools have experienced a rapid growth in ethnic and racial diversity. In the near future, the young people now filling classrooms will be paying taxes, working in the public and private sectors, and consuming the goods and services that fuel our economy. Given the increased diversity of the student population, how can schools ensure that all students master the social, emotional, intellectual, and technical competencies necessary to fulfill these essential roles?
An increasing body of research demonstrates the importance of addressing the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students and their families. Unfortunately, the cultural underpinning of schools in the United States is largely congruent with middle-class, European values (Boykin, 1994), leading many schools to ignore or downplay the strengths of diverse students and their families. Valenzuela (1999), after studying Mexican American high school students, defined this approach as subtractive schooling. For example, schools ignored students' knowledge of Spanish or even treated it as a deficit.
This cultural disconnect often leads to poor self-concepts, discipline problems, and poor academic outcomes for ethnic minorities. Part of the problem is that teachers unfamiliar with students' diverse backgrounds sometimes misinterpret cultural difference as misbehavior (Osher, Cartledge, Oswald, Artiles, & Coutinho, 2004). Several statistical studies have established that compared with their Caucasian peers, minority students are suspended from school more frequently and for longer durations (Skiba, Michael, Nardo, & Peterson, 2000), punished more severely (Office for Civil Rights, 1992), and disproportionately referred for restrictive special education services (Losen & Orfield, 2002).
But research has also identified ways in which schools can serve students of color effectively. For example, studies of the AVID program in San Diego, California, show that rather than tracking ethnic and language-minority students into low-level classes, setting high expectations and providing a “scaffold” of support helps students of color succeed (Mehan, Villanueva, Hubbard, & Lintz, 1996). AVID gives students direct instruction in the “hidden curriculum” of the school—which courses to take, which teachers to seek out, the importance of tests, how to study, and so on.
Another approach, supported by both experimental and quasi-experimental research, is creating an environment that enables teachers and students to connect with one another. For example, the Project STAR experiment in Tennessee found that students of color disproportionately benefited from reduced class size in 1st grade; these advantages persisted over time (Finn, Gerber, Achilles, & Boyd-Zaharias, 2001). Similarly, a six-district, quasi-experimental study of the Child Development Project found that building classroom community produced even more benefits for students of color than for Caucasian students (Solomon, Battistich, Watson, Schaps, & Lewis, 2000).
Perhaps the most powerful approach is making classroom instruction more congruent with the cultural value systems of a diverse student population. Ethnographic studies have demonstrated that culturally responsive education—defined by Gay (2002) as “using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning more relevant and effective for them”—can strengthen student connectedness with schools, reduce behavior problems, and enhance learning (Kalyanpur, 2003).
Educators should consider the following approaches supported by the research to promote culturally responsive education.
Embracing the strengths and addressing the diverse learning needs of our increasingly multicultural, multilingual student population requires major transformation of our current school practices. The culturally responsive education practices outlined here can help establish a learning environment that promotes success for all students.
Boykin, A. W. (1994). Afrocultural expression and its implications for schooling. In E. R. Hollins, J. E. King, & W. C. Haymen (Eds.), Teaching diverse populations (pp. 243–256). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Briscoe, R. V., Smith, A., & McClain, G. (2003). Implementing culturally competent research practices. Focal Point, 17(1), 10–16.
Finn, J. D., Gerber, S. B., Achilles, C. M., & Boyd-Zaharias, J. (2001). The enduring effects of small classes. Teachers College Record, 103, 145–183.
Gay, G. (2002). Culturally responsive teaching. New York: Teachers College Press.
Kalyanpur, M. (2003). A challenge to professionals: Developing cultural reciprocity with culturally diverse families. Focal Point, 17(1), 1–6.
Losen, D., & Orfield, G. (Eds.). (2002). Minority issues in special education. Cambridge, MA: The Civil Rights Project, Harvard University & The Harvard Education Publishing Group.
Mehan, H., Villanueva, I., Hubbard, L., & Lintz, A. (1996). Constructing school success: The consequences of untracking low-achieving students. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Office for Civil Rights. (1992). Elementary and secondary civil rights survey, 1990. Arlington, VA: DBS.
Osher, D., Cartledge, G., Oswald, D., Artiles, A. J., & Coutinho, M. (2004). Issues of cultural and linguistic competency and disproportionate representation. In R. Rutherford, M. Quinn, & S. Mather (Eds.), Handbook of research in behavioral disorders (pp. 54–77). New York: Guilford Publications.
Osher, D., Dwyer, K., & Jackson, S. (2004). Safe, supportive and successful schools: Step by step. Longmont, CO: Sopris West Educational Services.
Rowe, M. B. (1987). Wait time: Slowing down may be a way of speeding up. American Educator, 11(1), 38–47.
Skiba, R. J., Michael, R., Nardo, A., & Peterson, R. (2000). The color of discipline. Bloomington, IN: Indiana Education Policy Center.
Solomon, D., Battistich, V., Watson, M., Schaps, E., & Lewis, C. (2000). A six-district study of educational change: Direct and mediated effects of the Child Development Project. Social Psychology of Education, 4, 3–51.
Tharp, R. (1989). Psychocultural variables and constants: Effects on teaching and learning in schools. American Psychologist, 44(2), 249–359.
Valenzuela, A. (1999). Subtractive schooling: U.S.-Mexican youth and the politics of caring. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Barbara Bazron is a Managing Director and David Osher is a Managing Research Scientist at the American Institutes for Research (AIR). Steve Fleischman, series editor of this column, is a Principal Research Scientist at AIR; editorair@air.org.
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