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TITLE A More Perfect Union: Building an Education System ThatEmbraces All Children. The Report of the NASBE Study Groupon the Changing Face of America's School Children.

INSTITUTION National Association of State Boards of Education,Alexandria, VA.

SPONS AGENCY Joyce Foundation, Chicago, IL.ISBN ISBN-1-58434-050-9PUB DATE 2001-00-00NOTE 51p.

AVAILABLE FROM National Association of State Boards of Education, 277 SouthWashington Street, Suite 100, Alexandria, VA 22314 ($14 plusshipping) . Tel: 703-684-4000; Tel: 800-220-5183 (Toll Free).For full text:http://www.nasbe.org/NASBE Bookstore/More Perfect Union.pdf.

PUB TYPE Reports Descriptive (141)EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS.DESCRIPTORS Academic Achievement; Academic Standards; *Cultural

Differences; Culturally Relevant Education; *Diversity(Student); Elementary Secondary Education; *Equal Education;*Minority Group Children; Public Education; RacialDiscrimination

IDENTIFIERS Achievement Gap

ABSTRACTThis monograph discusses the situation confronting education

policymakers regarding growing student diversity. Many education policymakersare frustrated by the persistent achievement gap between white and nonwhitestudents, which is as wide or wider when it comes to top-performing students.Students are experiencing racial intolerance at school. When school systemsare intolerant of diversity and neglect to take important steps, they helpmaintain the achievement gap. Disproportionate numbers of minority studentsare placed in special education and other lower-track programs, and they geta lower-level curriculum that does not present a complete picture of diversecontributions to society. Students of color tend to have less-qualifiedteachers, and their schools do not address diverse learning styles orencourage students to engage in cultural inquiry based on shared values. Aculturally competent education system should help students and staff interactconstructively with diverse individuals; help students develop knowledge,skills, and dispositions needed to achieve high standards; and foster renewedfocus on ideas that bind all Americans. Culturally competent schools shoulduse high-quality academic standards, adopt a curriculum that fosters culturalcompetency, and acknowledge students' diverse learning styles. An afterwordoffers "Promoting Unity in a Diverse Society" (Brenda Welburn). (SM)

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A WORE PERFECT UNllON

The NAS

Members

1:1 E Study Group an the Changing Face of Amellica's School] CHI Idiren

Claibourne Smith, Delaware, Chair

Donald C. Addison, Jr., New Jersey

Linnea S. Barney, Utah

Marjorie Branch, Illinois

Dr. Robert Brown, Minnesota(Associate Member)

Virgil E. Brown, Jr., Ohio

Sandra Cantrell, Indiana

Pat M. Chlouber, Colorado

Maud Dahme, New Jersey

Randy De Hoff, Colorado

Sharon Gire, Michigan

Fausto Ramos Gómez, The JoyceFoundation, Chicago, Illinois (ExOfficio Member)

Emilio HernOndez, Oregon

Linda Johnson, Louisiana

Frances P. Lewis, South Carolina

Gregory D. McClain, Iowa

Mary Ann Miller, Kentucky(Executive to the State Board)

René Nuriez, Texas

Maria Teresa Palmer, North Carolina

Vidal Perez, Rhode Island

Gary Waters, Nevada

Presenters and Consultants

Ms. Isis CastroFairfax County School BoardFairfax County, Virginia

Dr. Rebecca L. Clark

Health Scientist AdministratorDemographic and Behavioral BranchNational Institute of Child Healthand Human DevelopmentBethesda, Maryland

Dr. Virginia P. Collier

ProfessorGraduate School of EducationGeorge Mason University Virginia

Dr. Gail Nordmoe

Executive DirectorRichard R. Green InstituteMinneapolis, Minnesota

Mr. Joel Schneider

Vice President for Education andResearchSesame WorkshopNew York, New York

Ms. Stacy L. Scott

Business and Education ConsultantBoston, Massachusetts

Dr. Nancy SpragueAssistant SuperintendentFairfax Country Public Schools,Virginia

Dr. Wayne P. Thomas

Associate ProfessorGraduate School of EducationGeorge Mason University, Virginia

4

Staff

Carlos A. Vega-Matos

Mariana Haynes

Kellie J. Cosby

David Kysilko, author

Carla Claycomb, author

NASHE gratefullyacknowledgessupport a0a3

Foundationpreparationprinting

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Joycetilega2CIT6

cgaiM report.

© Copyright 2001National Association ofState Boards of EducationAll rights reservedISBN 1-58434-050-9

Additional copies ofA More Pefect Union:Building an EducationSystem that Embraces All

Children are available for$14.00 each + 10% forshipping and handling($4.00 minimum) fromthe National Associationof State Boards ofEducation at 277 SouthWashington Street, Suite100, Alexandria, VA22314; (800) 220-5183.

Building an Education System that Embraces All Children 1

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53

A MORE PERFECT UNllON

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While diversity in the United Stateshas increased exponentially overthe last decade, as this report willshow, diversity is not in itself a newnational phenomenon. For manyyears, demographers and educatorshave been alerting the country tothe shift in racial and ethnicidentity among public schoolstudents, and they have beenurging policymakers to re-inventand better equip our educationsystem to seize the opportunitiesand overcome the challengespresented by this population shift.One of the early voices to carry thismessage was NASBE's landmark1991 report, An American Tapestry:Educating A Nation.'

Issued by the NASBE Study Group onMulticultural Education, AnAmerican Tapestrywas intended tohelp education leaders expand theircomprehension of how race, culture,language, gender, and socio-economics impacted schools andlearning. The Study Group members

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called upon education leaders toproactively develop policies andprograms that ensured broadcultural, racial, and genderrepresentation at all levels of theeducation community and schoollife; infused multiculturalperspectives and experiencesthrough the curriculum; preparedteachers and other school personnelfor working with students fromdiverse cultural backgrounds; andcreated a school environment thathonored and respected diversity.

Expanding upon the positionsexpressed a decade ago in AnAmerican Tapestry, NASBE's StudyGroup on the Changing Face ofAmerica's School Children spent thefirst eight months of 2001examining and deliberating on thecomplex issues involved indiversity, culture, and preparingstudents intellectually and sociallyfor the United Statesindeed, theworldof the 21" century. Then onSeptember 11th, that country and

the world changed forever. In theaftermath of the attacks, thisnation and hundreds of millions ofpeople around the globe demon-strated an uncommon unity ofgrief, sympathy, faith, and reneweddedication to the best aspects ofwhat it means to be human. At thesame time, some of the worstaspects of humanity also surfaced:in this country through mindlessattacks on the people and propertyof Americans of Middle Easterndescent and the harassment ofMiddle Eastern students at schoolsand universities, and around theworld in various demonstrations ofsupport for Osama bin Laden andthrough the idea that Americanshad somehow gotten what theydeserved. In response, on September17th President George W. Bush wentto the mosque at the Islamic Centerof Washington to speak againstsuch racist attacks here: "Thosewho feel like they can intimidateour fellow citizens to take out theiranger don't represent the best of

Building an Education System that Embraces All Children

America; they represent the worst ofhumanldnd," he said. And Islamicclerics and leaders everywherecondemned the terrorist attacks andadmonished those who wouldcelebrate the killing.

It is in these circumstances, with thewide range of humanity soobviously on display for adults andyoung people alike, that the StudyGroup dedicates this report to thosewho lost their lives or who lost lovedones on September 11, as well as to

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those who, in the coming monthsand years, will suffer from otherattacks or through the war thatevents have compelled us to wage. Ifthere is a silver lining to the cloud ofdust and destruction that theterrorist attacks have brought us, itis that underlying our differences astronger sense of unified purpose,democratic values, and commongoals has now been revealed. It isimportant for the nationandeducators in particularto build onthis unity. To this end, the Study

Group rededicates itself to the workof ensuring that students of everybackground and circumstance havea chance to succeed academically, ofbuilding students' understandingand tolerance of the many culturesthat make up the American family,and of building an understanding ofthe American culture's impact onthe rest of the world. It is the StudyGroup's belief that through suchhard work and understanding liesthe path to harmony, prosperity, anddignity for all.

A WORE PERFECT UN11ON

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The 2000 Census has documentedwhat people in many communi-tiesand teachers in particularhave known for some time: thatthe United States is, in manyrespects, a nation drawn togetherby differences and that ourdemographic diversity isexpanding rapidly. Among school-age children today, about 65percent are non-Hispanic white,while 35 percent are from otherracial and ethnic backgrounds.Further, estimates are that by 2040no ethnic or racial group willmake up a majority of the nationalschool-age population.

Nor does the growth in these largerpopulation groups tell the wholestory, because even within groupsthere are many differences thataffect public schools. In manydistricts, there are dozens ofdifferent languages counted as the"home" language of students. Andcomplicating matters for educatorsis the reality that many of the

issues arising from diversity lieoutside the "official" arena of theeducation system: for example, thefact that many students of diversecultures come from families inpoverty, do not speak English well,have parents who are not well-educated, and move and changeschools frequently. Yet NASBE's

Study Group on the Changing Faceof America's School Children wasfirm in its resolve that despite suchcomplications, the nation's publiceducation system cannot shy awayfrom its responsibility to welcomeall children and ensure that everystudent has a real opportunity toachieve to high standards, hasacquired the knowledge, skills, anddispositions needed to thrive in ourdiverse nation, and understandsand has internalized thosefundamental values thatAmericans have in common.

Following is a summary of the"given"that is, the situation nowconfronting education policymakers.

The Demographicsof DiversityAs outlined above, the impact ofgrowing diversity is especiallysignificant for schools. In fact,roughly one-fifth of the school-agepopulation, or 9.8 million children,speak a language other than Englishat home. Whether the source ofincreased diversity is fromimmigration (such as Somalis inMinneapolis, Central Americans innorthern Virginia, or Hmong inFresno), or from higher birth ratesamong families of color, or simplythe movement of people amongcities, towns, and states, the impactof diversity is being felt in schoolcommunities across the country.

Data about theAchievement GapFor many education policymakers,one of the most frustrating failuresof public schoolsand a starkreminder that we have yet tosuccessfully deal with diversityisthe persistent gap in achievement

8


levels between white students andstudents of color. This gap inachievement is seen on nearly allwide-scale assessments, from theNational Assessment of EducationalProgress (NAEP), to state tests, to those

used by larger districts. For states, thegap persists even when studentsadjust to and improve overall on newstatewide assessments.

Even more serious is the fact thatthe achievement gap appears to beas wide or even wider when itcomes to top-performing students.For example, on NAEP's most recentmath assessment, while 20 percentof white 12th-graders scored highenough to be proficient or advanced,only 3 percent of African Americansand 4 percent of Hispanics scored inthis range. In a society that isbecoming increasingly diverse, suchdisparities point alarmingly to afuture in which people of colorremain in an economic underclassand remain underrepresented inleadership positions in business,politics, and communities because ofpoor academic skills. At the sametime, such persistent achievementgaps tend to foster attitudes of lowexpectations for certain groups, bothamong the students of those groupsand the school staff who teach them.Low achievement thus becomes aself-fulfilling prophesy of continued

low achievement and stereotypes inthe future. The Study Group believesthat the nation cannot afford to leavegreat numbers of individualsindeed, whole groups of peoplebehind. To do so would be as unwiseas it would be inequitable and unjust.

Evidence of IntoleranceMore than 10,000 incidents of hatecrime are reported each year, andmany of the perpetrators andvictims are teenagers and young

adults. Schools are often targeted forrecruitment efforts by hate groups,and school officials in suchwidespread communities asFairbanks, Alaska, Suffolk County,New York, and llicson, Arizona havebeen forced to call in federal or locallaw enforcement officers to helphandle hate crime incidents. TheSeptember llth terrorist attacks havecreated a special urgency for dealingwith hate crime and harassmentbefore they get started. Manyschools have moved quickly to beefup programs and curricula that helpfoster tolerance, but incidentsinvolving harassment of Muslimsand Arab Americans are stilloccurring. In September, Secretary ofEducation Rod Paige sent schoolofficials nationwide a letter notinghis concerns about "harassment andviolence directed at personsperceived to be Arab Americans or ofMiddle Eastern or South Asianorigin, including children."'

Yet "intolerance" has an institu-tional meaning as well. This is whenthe school system itself is "intoler-ant" of the many cultures andlearning styles that children bring toschoolwhen schools in theirparent involvement programs fail towelcome individuals of color intoschools, neglect the fact thatknowledge and skills amongstudents of color and immigrantstudents may need to be evaluatedin unconventional ways, and,perhaps most destructively,demonstrate implicit acceptance ofthe idea that not all students can orwill learn to high standards. Suchinstitutional intolerance works tomaintain rather than diminish theachievement gap, and as suchdiminishes the free, open, andpluralistic society that is thefoundation of our country

Behhd the Numben

Despite the numbers, the StudyGroup believes that diversity itself isnot a problem to be solved, but anatural phenomenon of a pluralisticsociety that presents the nation withboth opportunities and challenges.Clearly, many of the challenges andproblems associated with diversityare not directly connected to schools.But the Study Group found that evenwhile the causes of the achievementgap and intolerance are exceedinglycomplex and in many ways boundup in broad social forces, whathappens within the educationsystemat all levelsis also amajor contributor. For example:

0 Disproportionate numbersof students of color areplaced in spedal educ ionand other lower-trackprograms. Students fromdiverse cultures are oftensegregated socially andacademically by placement inany number of second-systemprograms initiated to respond todiverse student needs (such asEnglish as a Second Language,Title I, and special education).For example, African Americanchildren are almost three timesmore likely than white childrento be labeled "mentallyretarded." Once assigned to pull-out programs or special classes,substantial evidence shows thestudents receive inferiorinstruction and continue to fallfurther behind their peers.

0 Students of color get alower-level curriculum.This is true even apart from the"placement" problem notedabove, and can be seen in thedata showing that culturally

7

NAS A WORE PERFECT UN11ON

diverse students are signifi-cantly less likely than whitestudents to be in gifted andtalented programs, in higher-level math classes, or inAdvanced Placement courses. Ithas also been witnessed bycountless researchers and schoolimprovement specialists whovisit schools with highproportions of students of colorand tell of the sometimesappallingly low curricula andexpectations they have found inclasses there.

o Students of color tend tohave less-qualifiedte chers. Numerous studiesat the national, state, and locallevels have found that studentsin urban areas, students ofcolor, and students from lower-income families are much morelikely to have teachers withless experience, who areteaching outside their field ofcertification, who haveemergency certification, orwho have failed certificationexams.

o Most st dents do not geta full C irriculum thatpresents si completepict re of diversecontributions to theAmerican way of life. Ourschools have historically notbeen good at including in ourcurricula information aboutother cultures and the variedhistorical, scientific, and socialcontributions of Americans ofdiverse backgrounds. At thesame time, earliermulticultural curricula havesometimes erred in tending todivide people by stressingdifferences over commonalities,

fostering "cultural relativism"or the idea that any givencultural practice is as good asanother, or merely mentioningthe achievements of variousindividuals from diversecultures without placing theseachievements or cultures in ahistorical or social context.

o Diverse learning stylesare not addressed inmany schools. Consensus isemerging that not everyonelearns in the same way; that astudent's particular style oflearning, if accommodated, canresult in improved attitudestoward learning and increasedproductivity, academicachievement, and creativity;and that some elements oflearning style are affected bycultural values and practices.While progress is being made,too many schools today, withtraditional organizationalstructures and the limits ofstandard teaching practices, areunprepared to meet aninherently diverse and changingset of students' needs.

o Schools do not encouragestudents to engage incultural inquiry based onshared vat es. Today, littleattention is givenevenwithin some multiculturalcurriculato helpingstudents gain the knowledgeand skills needed to examine,develop an understanding of,and interact with differentcultures; to place their ownculture within a worldcontext; and to appreciate thecommon set of democraticvalues that underlie theAmerican culture.

What Can theEducatn System Do?

In order to foster true democraticopportunity and participation, theStudy Group believes thatpractitioners and policymakers needto develop a culturally competenteducation system that helps allstudents and school staff interactconstructively with individuals fromdiverse backgrounds; helps studentsdevelop the knowledge, skills, anddispositions they need to achieve tohigh standards; and fosters arenewed focus on the ideals thatbind rather than divide allAmericans. In broad terms, aculturally competent systemaddresses persistent underachieve-ment, stereotyping, and intoleranceby focusing on three related aims:1) culturally competent schoolsencourage individuals to under-stand differences among groups ofpeople; 2) culturally competentschools foster high standards; and3) culturally competent schoolsstrengthen national ideals.

The good news is that there areindividual schools and schooldistricts that largely succeed indeveloping a truly culturallycompetent education system, one inwhich all children are welcomed,are encouraged to succeed, andmost importantdo succeed inachieving to higher levels. Inaddition to focusing on the threeaims noted above, a culturallycompetent system:

o Uses high-qualityacademic standards asthe basis of instruction forall students. Standards havebeen the linchpin of stateeducation reform efforts for

Building ah Education System that Embraces All Children

nearly a decade, and efforts toimprove standardsandensure that all teachers andschools are fully able to helpstudents meet the standardsmust be maintained. Onlythrough the over-archingsystem of standards andstandards-based accountabilitycan policymakers, educators,and parents be sure that nogroups of students are beingleft behind in the back rooms ofeducation.

O Adopts a curriculum th tfosters cultural compe-te cy. Given the multitude ofcultures in the world, it isimpractical to teach about all ofthem. But is important to usewhat we know about effectiveinstruction and high-levelcurriculum to inculcateinterpersonal skills, culturalself-awareness, and knowledgeof inter-ethnic dynamics.Research indicates that there area number of attributes ofeffective curriculum thatachieves both increasedacademic proficiency as well asan increase in positive attitudestoward other racial/ethnicgroups. Such a curriculum hasthree parts: 1) knowledge ofcultures, their similarities, andtheir differences; 2) skills tounderstand, analyze, andcritique familiar and unfamiliarcultures; and 3) shared valuesthat form the basis for culturalanalysis and tolerance.

o De onstrates respect forstudents' identities a dwelcomes a diversecommunity to participatein schools. Evidence is

mounting that schoolenvironment matters, andaffirming the value of eachstudent's identity in schoolfosters positive academic andpersonal development. Inaddition to affirming the valueof each student's culture,schools need to make parentsand other family memberswelcome in school andencourage community groupsto become involved in schoolactivities.

o Acknowledges students'diverse leirning styles.While no student should ever beascribed a learning style basedsolely on their race or ethnicityculturally competent schoolingrequires teachers to take intoaccount culturally specificchildhood socializationpractices that foster thedevelopment of particularlearning styles and attitudestoward school among students.

o Ensures qualifiedperso nei for All students.The effort to place qualifiedteachers and administrators inall schools will not succeed witha scattershot approach thatrelies on signing bonuses. It canbe done, but it will takecomprehensive efforts by statesusing strategies that includerigorous licensure standards,rigorous standards for traininginstitutions, inductionprograms, effective professionaldevelopment, and sustainedefforts for recruitment andretention.

o Provides extra help forschools and students who

need it. Clearly, expectinghigher levels of achievement forall students will not besuccessful if students andschools that are having troublereaching the new standards donot receive the help they need.State board members havemade this issue a priority for anumber of yearsyet thecomplexities and challenges ofensuring that this help exists forevery student, classroom,school, and district aredaunting. Fortunately, anumber of states, through theiraccountability systems, havemoved ahead systematically tofulfill their promise of providingassistance.

Achilevernent,and Dilverstily

The challenge for policymakersnow is to educate a very diversepopulation to high standards andpromote a sense of national unitywhile at the same time instillingan understanding of other culturesand their contributions to oursociety. This is truly today'sversion of the American dream ofpluralism, the American promiseof equal opportunity for all, andthe American strength of epluribus unum. While the detailsof the dream change as the sweepof events cause our nation tochange and grow, the country'sfundamental values as expressedin our Constitution remainunshaken. No other institution hasa more critical role to play thanthe public school system inensuring that this dream for amore perfect union remains viablein the minds and hearts of futuregenerations.

A MORE PERFECT UNI1ON

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The United States is, in manyrespects, a nation drawn together bydifferences. The 2000 Census hasdocumented a dramatic diversifica-tion of U.S. residents, particularly inour school-age population. But whilediversity in the United States hasincreased exponentially over the lastdecade, diversity is not in itself anew national phenomenon. Formany years, demographers andeducators have been alerting thecountry to the shift in racial andethnic identity among public schoolstudents, and they have been urgingpolicymakers to re-invent and betterequip our education system to seizethe opportunities and overcome thechallenges presented by thispopulation shift. One of the earlyvoices to carry this message wasNASBE's 1991 landmark report, AnAmerican Tapestry: Educating ANation.

The Study Group on the ChangingFace of America's School Childrenbelieves that while progress has been

made since the publication of AnAmerican Tapestry, much remains tobe done. Curricular materialscontinue to provide inaccurate oroverly simplistic portrayals of thecontributions of different racial,ethnic, linguistic, and culturalgroups to United States' history.Teachers continue to be ill-preparedto deliver a curriculum thatemphasizes the contributions of allpeople to the U.S. and to the world.At the same time, earliermulticultural curricula havesometimes erred in tending to dividepeople by stressing differences overcommonalities, fostering "culturalrelativism" or the idea that anygiven cultural practice is as good asanother, or merely mentioning theachievements of various individualsfrom diverse cultures withoutplacing these achievements orcultures in a historical or socialcontext. Meanwhile, U.S. studentscontinue to lag behind many otherstudents of the world in terms offluency in a foreign language,

understanding of world history, andknowledge of geography. Students

continue to be both victims andperpetrators of demonstrations ofintolerance such as harassment,graffiti, and violence. Worst of all,

achievement measures remain lowestand dropout rates continue to behighest among students of color.Clearly, the work ahead is considerable

and of monumental importance in acountry that believes that everyonedeserves the resources and opportu-nity to rise to his or her potential.

The demographic evidence combinedwith statistics concerning studentachievement and racial intolerancepaint a picture of a nation that israpidly growing more diverse,particularly among school-ageyouth, without growing measurablymore able to handle diversity inconstructive ways. In sum, theStudy Group found our schoolsystem unprepared to meet thechallenges that increased diversityamong students implies.

10

uilding an Education System that Embraces All Children

The Data

DemograpThe results of the 2000 Censusconfirm what An American Tapestrylaid out years ago: the United Statesis a diverse nation that grows morediverse annually (see chart at right).According to the Census, about 75percent of the entire U.S. populationis non-Hispanic white and 25percent are eitherBlack, Hispanic/Latino, AmericanIndian, Asian/PacificIslander, or of morethan one race.Among school-agechildren, however,about 65 percent arenon-Hispanic-whiteand 35 percent arefrom other racialand ethnicbackgrounds.Estimates are that by2040 no ethnic orracial group willmake up a majorityof the nationalschool-agepopulation.

poverty as well. While thirty-ninepercent of all American children liveat or near the national poverty line(earning $26,580 or less for a familyof three), Latino children are morethan three times as likely than whitechildren to live in poverty, and Blackchildren are almost four times aslikely.' Living in poverty can affectchildren's school experiences andacademic success in many ways:

more than 13 million immigrantswho arrived in the United Statesfrom across the globe during the1990s. Currently, almost one-fifth ofAmerica's school-age children, or 9.8million, speak a language other thanEnglish at home. In New Jersey, forexample, as many as 140 languagesare spoken by children in school.New immigrants, however, aremuch more likely than their

predecessors to liveoutside of thetraditional enclavesof new arrivals inurban centers andborder states.Consequently,issues associatedwith serving non-English speakersare spreadingrapidly into areasthat have until nowfelt comparativelyfew effects ofimmigration.

Race/lEthnkfity of U.S. Students: 11990 , 2000

70n605040302010

White, non- Black, non- Hispanic Other, non-Hispanic Hispanic Hispanic

Race/Ethnicity

1990

2000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Results (Washington, DC:U.S. Census Bureau, 2001). Available online at www.census.gov/dmd/www/2kresult.html.

Many schools have contended fordecades with the challenges andopportunities that this pluralismaffords, most notably in our nation'smost diverse statesCalifornia, NewYork, New Jersey, Texas, and Florida.

In future years these states will bejoined by many others that will besignificantly affected by diversity: by2015, fewer than 10 states will have20 percent or less of their studentsfrom communities of color.

Not only are schools becoming morediverse, but schools with diversepopulations are more likely tostruggle with the consequences of

children in poverty are more likely tostruggle with the effects ofinadequate nutrition, maternalsubstance abuse, maternaldepression, and exposure toenvironmental toxins such as lead(whereas one American child in sixhas toxic levels of lead in his or herblood, 55 percent of AfricanAmerican children living in povertyhave toxic levels of lead in theirbloodan important cause ofmental retardation).4

In addition to an increase in racialand ethnic diversity, the UnitedStates has grown linguistically morediverse, in part as a result of the

Schools that servegrowing numbers ofchildren of newimmigrants also

often find themselves facing issuesrelated to children in poverty; aboutone in four children living in povertynow lives in an immigranthousehold.'

The picture in many individualschools and districts makes thesituation even more complex thanthe national picture implies. Whilethe nation grows more diverse,pockets within the countrycontinue to serve students whocome almost exclusively from oneracial or ethnic group. For example,some schools have long servedstudents who come disproportion-ately from communities of color: in


Los Angeles, only ten percent ofstudents in public schools are whitenon-Hispanic, and in Washington, DC,several schools serve an entirelyAfrican American student popula-tion. Indeed, while diversity among

students is increasing nationally, theexposure of students ofcolor to white students(measured by the averagepercentage of whitestudents in schools attendedby the average student ofcolor) actually decreasedfrom 1988 to 1997.6In otherwords, while the school-aged population isbecoming more diversenationally, individualschools are becoming lessdiverse, with students ofcolor attending schoolsthat comparatively fewwhite non-Hispanicstudents attend.

Striking as the demo-graphic data on schooldiversity may be, the StudyGroup believes thatdiversity perse is not theproblem facing ournation's schools. On thecontrary, diversity is anaturally occurringphenomenonandop rtunity forgrowthin any pluralistdemocracy. The problemrests in the inability ofschools to build a systemthat educates all studentsto high standards and fosters theknowledge, skills, and dis si-

dons that students and educatorsneed to function in our diversenational and global society.

Achievement GsipFor many education policymakers,one of the most frustrating failuresof public schools is the persistentgap in achievement levels betweenwhite students and students ofcolor. While there have been

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are beyond the control ofeducators. Indeed, given the web ofsocietal influences and causes,some despair that the gap can everbe narrowed through the actionsof policymakers. The Study Groupis firm in its belief, however, that

just as social factors suchas poverty, unsafeneighborhoods, and lackof parental involvementtug at the negative side ofthe gap, schools can andmust make a significantdifference on the positiveside. There is no doubt, inother words, that schoolscan narrow theachievement gap. Period.

Many terms have been used over the lastseveral decades to describe as a groupAmericans whose ethnic, racial, or culturalbackground is non-European. These termsinclude "minorities,' "people of color," and"people of diverse cultures," to mention a few ofthe most prominent. Yet all of these terms havetheir own limitations and confusions, eventhough most people have a common under-standing of their meaning. In order to stress theidea of diversity that is at the core of this report,the Study Group has chosen to use a variety ofterms that, it believes, revolve around acommon definition. The one exception is that AMore Perfect Union does not use the term"minority," since one of the report's key pointsis that we are rapidly approaching the timewhen there will be no racial/ethnic majority.

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pockets of success, closing the gaphas proved to be an extremelycomplex problem that requireslong-term, consistent efforts on anumber of fronts, some of which

The uncomfortable realityis that the achievementgap between whites andAfrican Americans andbetween whites andLatinos, which hadnarrowed during the 1970sand '80s, has stagnated orwidened through the1990s. The gap is seen inresults from numerousstate and districtassessments, and has beentracked for decades by theNational Assessment ofEducational Progress(NAEP), the federal

government's nationallyrepresentative assessmentof American students'knowledge and skills in keysubject areas, especially

reading and math. The tables at rightshow scores for four racial/ethnicgroups in 4'1-grade reading and 12th-

grade mathematics.* The gaps inscores are both significant and

* Numbers for Asian American students are more complicated. Scores for students from Japan and Koreaare generally equal to orhigher than scores for white students. Scores for students from Vietnam, Laos, and the Philippinesare generally lower.

1 2 L4


persistent, with gaps on the readingtest between 4th-grade whites and theother groups ranging from 18 to 33points on a scale where the nationalaverage was around 215. The realsignificance of this can be seen whenlooking at the scores in terms of thegrading scale: it takes a score of 208to reach the "Basic" level, and a score

of 238 to reach "Proficient." Whilemost would not be satisfied with theaverage white score of 227, at least itis in the Basic range. The averagescores for the other groups still needto improve significantly just to reachthe Basic level.

The data for the math assessmentsare similar. For 12&graders takingthe NAEP 2000 math test, the gaps

ranged from 34 points for AfricanAmericans to 15 points for NativeAmericans, and the gaps remainnearly the same as they were in 1990.

A closer look at the data reveals thatthese gaps continue even betweenthe highest-performing whitestudents and students of color. Forexample, NAEP uses four proficiencylevels in its scoring (Advanced,Proficient, Basic, Below Basic).

Among 12th-graders on the 2000math assessment, 20 percent ofwhite students scored in theProficient or Advanced range.Among African Americans, however,only 3 percent scored in theProficient or Advanced range. ForHispanics, 4 percent scored in thisrange, as did 10 percent of NativeAmericans. The gap between higher-scoring whites and higher scorers ofother groups on the 2000 NAEPreading exam (which was given onlyto 4th-graders) was similar.

Another aspect of the achieve-ment gap that frustrateseducators, policymakers, and

NAEP Scores

Grade 4 Reading

White Black HispanicNative

American Asian

1992 225 193 201 207 214

1998 227 194 196 202 225

2000 226 193 197 196 232

Grade 8 Sdence

NativeWhite Black Hispanic American Asian

1996 159 121 129 148 152

2000 162 122 128 134 156

Grade 12 Mathematics

NativeWhite Black Hispanic American Asian

1992 306 276 284 316

2000 308 274 283 293 319

Percent col]2th-eradeAdvanced Range

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Scoring2000 Math

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OE=Reading

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White 40%Afri@an Ameriran 112%

Latino 6%Native Americran 117t4f)

1 3

15)

A MORE PERFECT UNilON

parents alike is that it persistsregardless of rents' income oreducation Revels, which have longbeen held as strong predictors ofchildren'sachievement.As EducationWeek reportedin its series onthe achieve-ment gap, "theone improve-ment thatmanyeducators hadhoped to see asmore Blacksand Hispanicsrose to themiddle classhas failed toemerge:

Stubborn gapspersist even inintegrated,largely middle-class suburbslike Evanston,Illinois andMontclair, NewJersey." In its

1999 study,

Reaching the Top, the College Boardfound that "at all parent educationlevels, African Americans andLatinos had much lower averagereading scores than whites.Moreover, the Black-white gap wasmuch larger for students whoseparent had a college degree than forstudents with no parent who has ahigh school diploma."'

IP

educational differences have thepotential to become a progressivelylarger source of inequality and socialconflict."' And, the Study Group

general public about who can learnand who wants to succeed. It canalso lead to a "downward spiral" inwhich students in some communi-

ties have faredso poorly inthe systemthat it hasbecome acultural normto devaluetraditionalacademicachievement.Chapter 2describes indetail manyways in whichschools, ratherthanindividuals,erect barriersto achieve-ment amongstudents fromdiversecultures. But,in a nationth t b e eves i

Other Measures of the Athevement Gap

The gap in NAEP test scores corresponds with equally discouragingdiscrepancies in many areas of educational attainment. Consider,for example, the following data:

O In 1995, 87 percent of whites aged 25 to 29 had earned a highschool diploma or equivalent. Encouragingly, African Americanshad reached a similar figure, but only 57 percent of Latino and63 percent of Native Americans (1990 data) had received adiploma.1°

O In 1995, 31 percent of whites had received a bachelor's degreeby the time they were twenty-five years old. The percentage ofAfrican Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans whograduated from college was only half that number.11

O In San Diego, while only 2 percent of white students droppedout during their four years in a low-poverty high school, thisnumber was roughly 6 percent for African Americans and 7percent for Latinos. At high-poverty high schools, the four-yeardropout rate was roughly 10 percent for whites, 17 percent forAfrican Americans, and 23 percent for Latinos.12

The implications of the achievementgap are indeed serious for at leastfour reasons. First, these gaps clearlypoint to a perpetuation of existingsocial and economic inequities. Asthe College Board wrote, "America isa diverse society in which

1 4

would add, America is becoming anincreasingly diverse society with aduty to ensure that all studentsachieve to their highest potentialacademicallyand reap theeconomic and social benefits thatachievement implies. In a nationthat believes deeply in its identity asa meritocracy, achievement gapsthat trace so clearly along racial andethnic lines simply cannot bejustified.

Second, persistent low achievementamong students of color cancontribute to stereotyping andprejudiced assumptions amongeducators, policymakers, and the

a nits status as ameritocracy,individuals

can be blamed for their ownintellectual failures even when thesystem shoulders a significantportion of the blame. The StudyGroup wants to make clear that thiscomment does not imply thatindividuals are not responsible fortheir own success. Clearly, our beliefin equal opportunity and equalpossibilities for all depends as muchon individual responsibility as itdoes on institutional responsibilityBut when institutions don't do allthey can to foster achievement andeliminate stereotype-baseddiscriminatory practices such astracking into lower academicprograms, holding lower expecta-

16


tions of achievement, or counselingstudents away from morechallenging classes, thoseinstitutions are denying individualsthe opportunity to exercise theirresponsibility

Third, the gaps among higher-scorers on national tests exacerbateexisting inequities. By and large,students who do well on NAEP andAdvanced Placement tests are thosewho will be more successful incompetitive colleges and universi-ties, who are more likely to attendgraduate school, who will do well intheir professions, and who willbecome local, state, and nationalleaders. Shortages of high-scoringstudents among communities ofcolor continue the nation's historicalunder-representation of people ofcolor in government, businesses,professions, and a long list ofleadership positions.

Finally, America needs everycitizen to achieve to his or herpotential. A key component ofthe country's economic enginehas always been its creative,flexible, productive workforce,which today translates intobeing lifelong learners. Thenation cannot afford to leavegreat numbers of individu-alsindeed, whole groups ofpeoplebehind. To do so would beas unwise as it would be unjust.

disease, or more hostile towardAmerican values and ideals thanother groups. In more extreme cases,tensions can lead to racially andethnically motivated actions thatrange from name calling on theplayground to life-threateningviolence. For example, about 10,000people have been victims of reportedhate crimes each year since 1995,and the number of hate-orientedwebsites more than doubled from1997 to 2000. Schools are notimmune to this kind of intolerance.On the contrary, "Teenagers andyoung adults account for asignificant proportion of thecountry's hate crimes both asperpetrators and as victims. Hate-motivated behavior, whether in theform of ethnic conflict, harassment,intimidation, or graffiti, is oftenapparent on school grounds. Hateviolence is also perpetrated by [morethan 600 identified hate groups

with 17 community organizations torequest intervention from the U.S.Department of Justice CommunityRelations Service after the KKKdirected recruitment activities at theschool and a series of hate crimeincidents occurred against AfricanAmerican and native Alaskanresidents. At a high school in 'fficson,Arizona, the federal governmentwas called in following two monthsof racial violence among white,Black, and Hispanic students, withone incident requiring the responseof more than 120 law enforcementofficers. In Suffolk County, New York,

racial tensions escalated intoviolence after white studentsdistributed flyers promoting whitesupremacy.

The good news about intolerance inschools, however, is two-fold. First, the

vast majority of students do notparticipate in overtly intolerant

behavior. Second, no child is

born with attitudes that giverise to hateful violence orharassment, and prejudice canbe reduced with effectivecurricula and programming atschool. The U.S. Office of Safe and

Drug Free Schools notes that

"Prejudice and the resultingviolence can be reduced or even

eliminated by instilling inchildren an appreciation and

respect for each other's differences,and by helping them to developempathy, conflict resolution, and

critical thinking skills.""

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IntoleranceAs the nation grows more diverse,tensions among different racial,ethnic, and language groupscontinue to flare. In its mostcommon manifestation, intoleranceincludes individual beliefs that someracial and ethnic groups areinherently less intelligent, moreprone to violence, poverty, or

across the nation], which activelywork to recruit young people to theirranks.""

The influence of hate and bigotryhas been apparent in schools acrossthe country, as tensions betweenwhite and nonwhite students, aswell as tensions betweendifferent groups of students fromdiverse cukures, hove beenreported. In Fairbanks, Alaska, forexample, a school district joined

The bad news is that schoolscontinue to institutionalizeintolerance in a number ofinsidious ways. Chapter 2 discussesin detail ways in which oureducation system overall continuesto model intoleranceways thatinclude refusing to acknowledge the

1 5


cultural basis of different learningstyles, developing parent involve-ment programs that fail towelcome diverse individuals intoschools, systematically failing toprovide necessary resources andqualified teachers, neglecting thefact thatknowledgeand skillsamongstudents ofcolor andimmigrantstudents mayneed to beevaluated inunconven-tional ways,and, perhapsmost destructively, demonstratingimplicit acceptance of the idea thatnot all students can or will learn tohigh standards.

In order to foster true democraticopportunity and participation, theStudy Group believes thatpractitioners and policymakers needto develop a culturally competentsystem that helps all students andschool staff interact constructively

withindividualsfrom diverseracial,ethnic, andlanguageback-grounds;buildsamongcommunitygroups andeducational

institutions the knowledge, skills,and dispositions they need to helpall students achieve to highstandards; and fosters a renewedfocus on the ideals that bind ratherthan divide all Americans. In broadterms, a culturally competentsystem addresses persistentunderachievement, stereotyping,and intolerance by focusing onthree related aims:

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Rapidly increasing diversity amongAmerica's school children, theunresponsiveness of schools to theneed to bring this growing numberof diverse students to highstandards, and the many overtdisplays of intolerance combinedwith more subtle institutionalintolerance on the part of theeducation system requirespolicymakers to give new attentionto what schools need in order tofoster tolerance, a sense of unity,and high achievement among allstudents. This is no small task, andit is one that no state or nation hasyet achieved. Still, the Study Groupbelieves that no modern democracycan thrive with schools that allowbiased underachievement andmisguided stereotyping to continueunchecked.

1 6

o Culturs Hy CompetentSchools Encourageindividuals to UnderstandDifferences. Culturalcompetency requires thepreparation of all students forparticipation in a diversesociety and global workforce.This includes developing skillsto critique personal and foreigncultural elements and placethem in the context of humanexperience as well as the skillsto navigate immersion inpersonally foreign cultures. Asnoted in An American Tapestry,initial state policies on culturaldiversity were a direct response

"

to a rising demand for ethnicstudies, and the most commonapproach for includingmulticulturalism in educationwas through the social studiescurriculum. While this processcertainly includes learningabout diverse cultures,languages, and racial/ethnicgroups, the Study Groupbelieves that preparing studentsto succeed in a diverse worldrequires more than surveyingknowledge about worldcultures. It requires students tolearn elements of culturalcritique and analysis and tounderstand how specificexperiences of discrete racial,ethnic, linguistic, or culturalgroups relate to the humanexperience.

o Culturally CompetentSchools Foster HighStandards. Developingcultural competency requiresschools and teachers to be ableto apply existing knowledgeabout racial, ethnic, cultural,and language differences towhat we know aboutdifferences in learning stylesand the importance ofenvironmental support forlearning to ensure that allstudents reach high standardsof achievement. Fromstandards-based reforms tohigh-stakes assessments andaccountability efforts, publicschools have been undergrowing pressure to ensure thatall students meet highstandards of academicexcellence. While some of theseefforts are bearing positiveresults, a large number ofstudents from various cultural,racial, ethnic, and linguistic


backgrounds are failing to meetthe new content andperformance standards set bystate and local policymakers.Indeed, according to manymeasures of academicachievement, the differencesamong ethnic, racial, andlinguistic student populationshave continued to grow.Whatever the reason, there is adanger that the standardsmovement can create a two-tiered society of those whomeet standards and those whodo not. Results from currentassessments such as theNational Assessment ofEducational Progress suggestthat these tiers would be farfrom color- and language-blind.Without clear, effectivestrategies to foster highstandards among all students,America's schools run the riskof relegating new immigrant,non-English speaking, and non-white students to the figurativeback of the school bus.

o Culturally CompetentSchools StrengthenNational Ideals. Much hasbeen made of the differencesthat divide the Americancommunitylanguage,religion, ethnicity, culture, andmany other variables thatsegment the nation intocountless discrete communities.Indeed, it seems that mostAmericans, regardless ofcultural background orgenerations in this countryremain very proud of andidentify with their heritage.''Certainly, exploring thecharacteristics that people useto define themselves and othersis critical to a culturally

competent system of education.But public schools also foster ashared understanding of whatit means to participate in U.S.civil, economic, and politicalsociety. Despite very realdifferences of background andexperience, the binding fabricof American society are thingson which most people agreethe democratic process,economic opportunity,equality and civil rights, dueprocess, and individualfreedoms. These shared idealsneed to form a foundationupon which everyone can be

encouraged to examineindividual differences. Already,Americans from all walks oflife have much in common,and researchers find thatAmericans from diverse ethnicand racial backgrounds sharemany beliefs and values.18While recognizing theimportance of acknowledgingwhere people come from andbuilding that knowledge intocurriculum and instruction,culturally competent schoolsalso nurture the national anduniversal ideals that form thefoundation of civil society.

Cultural C. mpetence as a Global Imperative

The globalization of the economy and of communicationsmeans that businesses and industries desperately needtoday's students to be able to navigate culturally andlinguistically diverse environments when they enter theworkforce. According to the National Alliance of Business,companies large and small are vying for employees whohave the knowledge and understanding of the cultures andlanguages of countries in which businesses want to succeed."The globalization of the economy is driving this globaliza-tion of the workforce, and U.S. companies are leading theway in hiring a truly multicultural staff. Companies valuetalented people of diverse backgrounds, perspectives, andabilities to help them compete, grow, and innovate indozens of countries all over the world and here in theUnited States. Workforce diversity no longer springs frompolitics or legislation, either. The very definition of 'diversity'is more complex. The word is no longer short-hand foroutdated Black-and-white, majority-minority juxtapositions;today these distinctions are blurring. In California, Texas,and Florida, for example, 'minorities' actually constitutesmajorities. The old labels are anachronisms."19

Claibourne Smith of DuPont agrees, saying that, 'Diversity isperceived and treated as a business imperative as opposedto the moral or right thing to do. [American] students stillremain too isolated from people who are different fromthem, too insulated in their own cultures and languages.They are not learning respect for differences or thecooperative business skills they need to contributeeffectively in diverse work teams."2°

1 7


The Study Group believes that it isimportant to note that culturallycompetent schools are not simplyschools that offer a smorgasbord ofknowledge about other cultures. Norare they schools that cater solely tothe ethnic, racial, cultural, orlinguistic preferences of theirimmediate community. Rather,culturally competent schools givestudents, regardless of how theyidentify themselves, a sense of theirvalue in the world and theircommunity; a set of intellectualtools with which to understand andcritique their own identity inrelation to others'; an understandingof the national and universal valuesthat bind diverse individuals into alarger community; a fluency withculture and identity that can helpthem feel more comfortable withindividuals who are different fromthemselves; and knowledge andabilities that equip them to makeimportant contributions to thenational and global economy.Culturally competent schools alsomodel these elements of knowledgeand skill by seeing diversity as asource of strength rather thanweakness, building an environmentthat disallows stereotyping andbrings to bear all that is known aboutteaching and learning to insist thatno student be left behind in themovement toward high standanls.

Conclusion

Clearly, schools that take seriouslytheir mission of fostering a pluralistdemocracy and bringing all studentsto high standards have their workcut out for them. But the StudyGroup believes that no less is atstake here than the credibility of theeducation system as a front-linedemocratic and meritocraticinstitution. Schools need to think ofnew ways to help all studentsfrom every racial, ethnic, andcultural backgrounddevelop theknowledge and skills they need toachieve to their highest ability.Schools also need to ensure that thenation is prepared to combat thestereotypes and the bigotry thatrefuse to acknowledge thatindividuals from all backgroundshave important contributions tomake to every aspect of Americanlife. Nothing less than our nation'sintegrity as a pluralist, meritocraticdemocracy is in question.

Chapter 2 examines specific ways inwhich our nation's schools are notstructured to seize upon theopportunities afforded by diversityAs a result of outdated or unrespon-sive curriculum, student placement,teaching methods, organization,administration, funding formulas,

and staffing processes, schools arechronically failing to prepare allstudents to achieve to highstandards; to encourage students toaccept that all racial, cultural, andethnic groups can contribute to allaspects of our national life; and toembolden students to participate ina diverse national and globaleconomic, political, and socialenvironment.

Chapter 3 presents the Study Group'ssix points for building culturallycompetent schools. Building uponthe barriers presented in Chapter 2,this chapter puts forth a vision ofschools that build culturalcompetency into all aspects ofcurriculum, standards, organiza-tion, teaching methods, and staffing.Put into practice, these six pointsencourage schools to realize theirfull purpose as front-linemeritocratic institutions thatconfirm our national identity as apluralist democracy.

Finally, in a concluding essay, NASBE

Executive Director Brenda Welburn

speaks specifically to the need forschools to play a significant role indevelopingin every childasense of responsibility and ofbelonging to the Americancommunity.

9 0

18


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For decades, schools have beenfrontline institutions in the strugglefor equity and equal opportunity.Understanding the truth to theadage, "knowledge is power," civilrights leaders have long focused onschools as one of the primarymechanisms by which people of allbackgrounds can be afforded theopportunity to succeed. Conversely,denying students a decent publiceducation is now viewed as afundamental denial of civil rights.As a consequence of the specialplace of schools in the struggle fortolerance and equity, specialprograms such as specialeducation, bilingual education,Title I, and desegregation orders,along with targeted fundingstreams and local initiatives suchas tutoring and volunteerprograms, have all been establishedto help all students achieve to theirhighest potential in schools.

Then why do intolerance andinequities in student achievement,

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continue to persist? The StudyGroup found that while the causes ofthese issues are exceedingly complexand in many ways bound up insocial forces in communities and thenation at large, what happenswithin the education systemat alllevelsis also a major contributor.Following are some of the mostsignificant education-related factorsthat contribute to inequity andintolerance in public schools.

sproporflonateNumbers of Studentsfrom Diverse CullturesAre Raced fin SpecfallEducaflon and OtherLower-Track Programs

Students of color, new immigrantstudents, and students who are notfluent in English are segregated byplacement in any number of second-system programs initiated torespond to diverse student needs

(such as English as a SecondLanguage, Title I, and specialeducation). For example, multiplestudies report on the consistent,disproportionate representation ofstudents of color in specialeducation programs. In 1998,approximately 1.5 minion studentsof color were identified as havingmental retardation, emotionaldisturbance, or a specific learningdisability," with African Americanchildren almost three times morelikely than white children to belabeled "mentally retarded." Whilepoverty and other socio-economicfactors correlate highly with theincidence of disability among nearlyall groups and across most categoriesof disability, once socio-economic

factors are accounted for, the effect ofrace and ethnicity on placement inspecial education remains significant.In fact, as measures of wealth andschool quality increase, AfricanAmerican boys are actually atgreaterrisk of being disproportion-ately labeled with a disability."

1 9


Once assigned to pull-out programsor special classes through a systemof de facto programmaticsegregation, substantial evidenceshows that students receive inferiorinstruction that relies heavily on"drill and kill" activities andworksheets rather than stimulatingclass discussions and projects andless actual classroom instructionaltime. As a consequence, theycontinue to fall further behind theirpeers; studies have documentedthat some students can systemati-cally miss a semester or even awhole year of classroom instructionin a subject due to being "pulledout" for compensatory services. Ingeneral, there is a tendency tounderestimate what studentsplaced in compensatory programscan do; to provide less instruction,more repetition, and watered-downcurriculum; and to fail to providemotivating contexts to acceleratelearning. These programs becomeself-fulfilling prophecies of lowachievement. Assigning dispropor-tionate numbers of students fromdiverse cultures into lower-trackprograms can also fuel damagingand inaccurate stereotypes aboutthe ability of particular racial andethnic groups to achieve to highstandards.

Students from DilverseCulltures AttendSchoolls wtith a Lower=Levell Cñclliuim

Even apart from their over-representation in compensatoryprograms, students from diversecultures and non-native Englishspeakers are more often relegated tohigh-poverty schools that commonlyoffer lower-level courses that ignoretheir need for challenging, rigorous

coursework; do not honor their goalsand visions; and fail to provideappropriate academic and socialsupports. Researchers with theEducation Trust have painteddisturbing portraits of the lowexpectations they have found atsome schools. They have been"stunned," writes Kati Haycock,

by how little is expected ofstudents in high-povertyschoolshow fewassignments they get in agiven school week ormonth. Stunned, second,by the low level of the fewassignments that they doget. In high-poverty urbanmiddle schools, forexample, we see a lot ofcoloring assignments,rather than writing ormathematics assign-ments. Even at the highschool level, we foundcoloring assignments."Read To Kill a Mocking-bird," says the llth-grade

English teacher, "andwhen you're finished,color a poster about it."'

Most of those who work trying toturn around low-performing, high-poverty schools report similarfindings of inadequate curriculum. InNo Excuses, the Heritage Foundation'sreport on seven principals whosucceeded in low-income schools, oneprincipal who was assigned to aschool on the south side of Chicagofound "there was no reading programin kindergarten and no significantwriting anywhere in the curriculum,and most of the learning was of amundane skill-based sort that couldnever lead to the advancedcurriculum in math and science thatthe [school] council had envisioned.""

Similarly, Maxine Bleich, president ofVentures Education SystemsCorporation, a New York City

organization dedicated to helpingstudents of color and disadvantagedstudents achieve in school, has foundthe prevalence of low-content, low-

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20

Building an Education System that Embraces All Children1

level courses one of the principalstumbling blocks to high achieve-ment. "The schools with which I haveworked the longest have managed,by providing rigorous academicprograms, giving proper guidanceand support, and setting highexpectations, to send 30 percent morestudents to college than the nationalaverage, despite their poverty anddisadvantaged backgrounds.""

Such observations are borne outstatistically by data showing that

students of color are less likely totake higher-level mathematicscourses (or even Algebra I classes),and are much less likely to befound in gifted and talentedprograms or in AdvancedPlacement (AP) courses, or to takethe AP examinations (see tablebelow). Other research has foundthat performance standards alsotend to differ across schools: thatis, work that earns an "K in high-poverty schools would only earn a"C" in low-poverty schools."

Students All'e Not[Exposed to an Ilnqa.thy-

ased MulltkullturallCurecullum

One of the most critical elements ofbuilding a high-quality, equitableschool system that respects diversityis to ensure that the curriculum isdesigned to bring all students tohigh standards and give them theknowledge, skills, and dispositionsthey need to thrive within our

Course-Taki

This table uses data from four states in different regions of the country to show the percentage of Blacks andLatinos in gifted and talented programs and Advanced Placement classes, compared with the overallpercentage of these groups within the overall student population

Percent ofstudentpopulation

Percent ofgifted andtalented students

Percent ofAP Englishstudents

Percent ofAP calculusstudents

Texas

Black 14.4 10.3 6.0 5.5Latino 37.9 26.4 21.8 20.6Asian 2.4 4.8 9.1 13.5

Native American .3 .24 LR* LR*

New Jersey

Black 18.5 6.7 2.9 4.0Latino 14.0 7.2 4.1 3.9Asian 5.7 8.2 17.0 22.5Native American .2 .1 LR LR

Wisconsin

Black 9.8 4.6 .6 .9

Latino 3.6 1.7 1.3 .8

Asian 3.0 3.1 3.4 3.9Native American 1.4 .55 LR LR

Oregon

Black 2.6 1.39 .2 .4

Latino 8.1 2.31 2.3 2.1

Asian 3.5 4.6 7.6 12.7

Native American 2.1 .8 LR LR

*Limited Reliability

Sources: U.S. Department of Education, 1998 Elementary and Secondary School Ovil Rights Compliance Report(Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, 2000); The College Board, 2000 AdvancedPlacement State and National Summary Reports (Princeton, NJ: The College Board, 2000). Compiled by Education Trust.

21

A MORE PERFECT UN11ON

national diversity and engage in theeconomic, social, and political globalarenas. A curriculum that helpsstudents develop these elements isrich with examples of the importantroles that myriad cultures haveplayed in shaping humanexperience. This curriculum alsoneeds to give students theknowledge they need to understandand critically analyze their ownand others' cultures, recognize andreject stereotyping, and envisiondiversity within the context ofshared American values and ideals.Finally, it needs to develop students'knowledge in the subjects of worldhistory, foreign language, andworld geography. American publicschools have been historically badat this, focusing as they did for acentury on assimilating allstudents, particularly newimmigrants, into one 'American"culture and "American" view of theworld. Knowledge of other culturalpractices, along with their history,religion, language, and geography,(e.g., those of immigrants) seldomfigured in school curricula.28

In the 1960s, critics of the "assimila-tion" model of schooling insistedthat schools include the cultural,political, and economic contribu-tions of people with non-Europeanancestry in the curriculum. This"multicultural education"movement, begun alongside the civilrights movement, was also anattempt to address social inequitiesamong racial and ethnic groups andcurricular inadequacies thatadversely affected students fromcommunities of color.

From its inception, multiculturaleducation has been highlycontentious and dispara0d byvoices from across the political and

social spectrum. For example, somecritics contend that multiculturaleducation can divide rather thanunite people by focusing ondifferences rather than commonali-ties; that it presents a glorifiednotion of the cultures of tradition-ally marginalized racial and ethnicgroups at the expense of themajority culture; and that itencourages "cultural relativism,"the belief that one cultural practiceis as good as any other and nopractices should be rejected.Another school of thought arguesthat most multicultural curriculado not go far enough in compellingstudents to challenge racism andcultural hegemony and that muchof multicultural education acts toplacate communities of color ratherthan change the predominantculture. Some critics also fear thatmulticultural education may loweracademic standards by emphasiz-ing notions such as self-esteem andtolerance that schools cannot, andshould not, teach or evaluate.Relatedly, some critics areconcerned that multiculturaleducation takes important timeand focus away from the standardcurriculum of reading, math,science, and social studies. Finally,critics across the spectrum havestruggled with the politicallycontentious issue of exactly whatknowledge, and which cultures,should be included in amulticultural curriculum.

At its worst, multicultural educationhas arguably manifest all of theabove characteristics at one time oranother. It has also gotten embroiledin heated political disagreementsabout the purpose of schools, theappropriate content of thecurriculum, and the appropriatedegree of importance of particular

contributions made by communitiesof color to our national fabric. Theresponse to this controversy on thepart of many policymakers andpractitioners has been to avoidmulticulturalism altogether andrely instead upon outmoded notionsof what students need to knowabout our nation and the worldaround us. This response deniesstudents a knowledge base bywhich they can begin to understandand evaluate the role of all racial,ethnic, and cultural groups in thenation and the world as well as theskills of cultural inquiry, which arecritical in order for students to beable to evaluate and critique theirown and others' cultures within aframework of shared values andnational ideologies.

Finally, besides the more controver-sial elements of multiculturaleducation, students need to knowworld history civics, geography, andforeign languages. Yet students inthe United States are some of theleast knowledgeable about theseimportant subjects. The 1998 NAEPcivics results, for example,demonstrated that 27 percent ofwhite students, and 56 to 58 percentof 12th-grade Blacks, Latinos, and

Native Americans, scored BelowBasic. In the 1994 NAEP geography

assessment, 22 percent of whitestudents, 68 percent of blacks, 52percent of Hispanics and 31 percentof Asian 12'1-graders scored BelowBasic. In foreign languages, the goodnews is that the number of coursestaken by high school graduates hasincreased steadily since 1982; thebad news, however, is that studentsstill take an average of fewer thantwo years of foreign language inhigh school, and Black and Hispanicstudents lag considerably behindwhite students.'

22


A Typo Ilo of Wilulltianthsaall Education

Several attempts have been made to detail the various educational strategies that fall under thebroad umbrella of multicultural educationto develop a "typology." A typology can provide a usefulframework for thinking about multicultural education, giving educatorsand othersa clearerunderstanding of what people mean by the term. The multicultural education typology presentedhere is made up of programs that can be broadly divided into three categories, according to theirprimary emphasis: content-oriented, student-oriented, and socially-oriented. Each is discussed below.

Content-Oriented Programs (COPs) are the most common and recognizable type of multiculturaleducation. Their primary goal is to include content about different cultural groups in the curriculumand educational materials in order to increase students' knowledge about these groups. In theirsimplest form, COPs incorporate such things as a few short readings or a few in-class celebrations ofdiverse cultural heroes and holidays. Other COPs take a more thorough approach, adding numerousmulticultural materials and themes to the curriculum. More sophisticated versions actively transformthe curriculum. These programs have three goals:

O to develop multicultural content throughout the disciplines;O to incorporate a variety of different viewpoints and perspectives in the curriculum; andO to develop a new paradigm for the curriculum.

Student-Oriented Programs (StOPs) specifically address the academic needs of carefully definedgroups of students, often students of color. Many StOPs are designed not to transform the curriculumor the social context of education, but to help culturally or linguistically different students transitioninto the educational mainstream. To do this, these programs often draw upon the linguistic andcultural backgrounds of students and take many forms, some of which are not typically thought ofas multicultural education:

O programs that use research into culturally based learning styles in an attempt to determinewhich teaching styles to use with a particular group of students;

O bilingual or bicultural programs; andO special math and science programs for students of color or female students.

Because they attempt to help students make the transition into the mainstream, many student-oriented programs can be viewed as compensatory; in fact, they can often be nearly indistinguish-able from other compensatory programs that may not be multicultural.

Socially Oriented Programs (SOPs) seek to reform both schooling and the cultural and politicalcontexts of schooling to increase cultural and racial tolerance and reduce bias. SOPs encompass notonly programs designed to restructure and desegregate schools, but also programs designed toincrease contact among races, programs to encourage teachers from diverse cultures, anti-biasprograms, and cooperative learning programs. They emphasize human relations and incorporatesome characteristics of the other two program types. SOPs also include less common programs withsocially oriented and social activist goals that emphasize pluralism and cultural equity in the wholeof society. In order to reach their goals, such programs can employ a number of approaches. Manyemphasize the application of critical thinking skills to critiquing racism, sexism, and other types ofrepression; some emphasize multilingualism; others attempt to examine issues from a large number ofviewpoints different from that of the predominant culture; still others can utilize cooperative learningapproaches and decision-making skills in order to prepare students to become socially active citizens.

Quoted and adapted from G. Burnett, Varieties of Multicultural Education: An Introduction,ERIC Digest Number 98 (New York, NY: ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education, 1994).

_eo 2325.

fil MORE PERFECT UN11ON

Diverse Ways ofLearnfing amongStudents Ave NotAcknomaedged mathDifferendatedOnstructbn

Research over the last twenty yearshas pointed out that individualsperceive and process information indifferent ways. Yet traditionalforms of instruction have oftenbeen grounded in the dominantculture and have marginalized thepoints of reference, orientations,and ways of understanding thatstudents from diverse culturesbring to school." As a matter offact, some learning theorists believethat what students learn has moreto do with whether the educationalexperience is rich with differenti-ated instruction than whether ornot they are "capable" of masteringthe material.

Although psychologists andeducators disagree about the exactform and function of culturallybased learning, there is clearagreement in the field on at leastthree key issues that highlight theimportance of incorporatingdifferentiated instruction intoteaching and learning:

24

o Not everyone learns best inexactly the same way;

0 A student's particular learningneeds and preferences, ifaccommodated throughdifferentiated instruction, canresult in improved attitudestoward learning and increasedproductivity, academicachievement, and creativity;and

0 While there is considerablevariation in behavior andinstructional needs withincultural groups and no studentshould ever be ascribed specificinstructional preferences orneeds based solely on their raceor ethnicity, some elements ofinstructional preferences areaffected by cultural values andpractices."

Failure to master a curriculum, then,can be due to a host of circum-stances that have nothing to do witha student's ability or overall desireto learn. For example, students mayfind it hard to learn because theyreceive an inadequate level ofassistance, do not understanddirections, dislike the learning task,are distracted by a change in classschedule or environment, aredistracted by extraneous stimuli, donot understand the criteria forcompletion of a learning task, or donot see the learning activity asrelevant or useful.

When schools neglect to accommo-date even one particular need, theoversight may have a disproportion-ately adverse impact on studentsfrom specific racial, ethnic, orcultural groups. For example, thereis considerable evidence that AfricanAmerican students are more likely toprefer working in collaborativegroups to achieve common goals."Students from Southeast Asia tend tolearn more passively than someother students." Hispanic culturetends to emphasize "obedience andto value respect for adult authority.A directive style of communication[in families] is most common, withlittle collaborative conversation [or]elaborated speech models." "Ofcourse, acknowledging culturallyinfluenced learning preferences does

not suggest that students can bepigeonholed according to race orethnicity; rather, it suggests thatschools must adopt a number ofteaching and learning techniques toensure that students' learningpreferences are addressed.

Schoolls Failli th Valluethe Ildentritries thatStudents 1:1-fmg mathThem th School!

[Successful] schools [that]enroll students from diverseracial, ethnic, and culturalgroups view culturalinclusiveness as a means ofenhancing learning andparticipation for allstudents. These schoolsincorporate diversity andpromote multiculturalismthrough planning,instruction, specialactivities, and schoolenvironment. [They]embrace the diversity oftheir students as a resourcethat enriches learning. Bycelebrating culturalinfluences, prejudicesgradually give way tounderstanding and respectfor differences, makingroom for each student'sindividuality. Such schoolsbecome the cultural hubs oftheir communities.

U.S. Departmentof Education"

Evidence is mounting that schoolenvironment matters, and affirmingthe value of each student's identityin school fosters positive academicand personal development. Forexample, one study found cognitivegains for children in a pre-school

4")

Building an Education System that Embraces All Children'

program that integrated material onAfrican American culture across thecurriculum.' Another demonstratedhow elements of non-Europeancultural traditions can be used toteach complex mathematicsconcepts to diverse students inurban schools." Other evidenceconfirms that integratingmulticultural studies across thecurriculum can improve math,reading, and language scores,particularly among studentsof color." Conversely, whenstudents from different ethnicand racial groups interact in anon-inclusive environment,their racial antipathies arelikely to increase."

Student identity is alsoimportant because it suggestsculturally specific learningpreferences that may impactthe ways students becomeengaged in information andrelate to teachers andclassmates. As noted above,failure on the part of schools toaccommodate even oneparticular differentiatedlearning preference may havea disproportionately adverseimpact on students fromspecific racial, ethnic, orcultural groups.

the system or do not know how tobecome involved. One quarter of allparents say they feel intimidated atthe thought of becoming involved intheir child's school. Even morealarmingly, low-income parents andparents of color are oftenunderrepresented among involvedparents, even though "disadvantagedchildren have the most to gain fromparent involvement programs."'

children often become completelyalienated from school by the timethey are eight years old."'

Students of COACTTend to Rave Less-Quanied Teachevs

Students of color are much more likelyto have teachers who are inexperi-enced, have fewer qualifications for

teaching, or are teaching out oftheir fields of certification. Thismatters because research ismakingincreasingly clear thelink between good teaching andstudent achievement. More andmore, teachers, policymakers,parents, and others are realizingthat student achievement is notsolely predetermined by socio-

economic status, parentinvolvement, or race andethnicity. On the contraryrecent evidence makes clearthat regardless of the factorsthat students bring to school,good teachers measurablyincrease student learning, andgood schools foster high levels of

student achievement in largepart because of the quality oftheir teachers. Although moreresearch about the link between

effective teaching and high levels ofstudent learning is still needed, theconnection is dear and unequivocal(see box at left).

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One important way that schools candemonstrate their regard forstudents' identities, and increasestudent achievement at the sametime, is to foster meaningful linksbetween parents and schools. Yetaccording to a 1992 PTA survey, over80 percent of parents do not feel theyhave the time to become involved intheir child's school, a third ofparents feel they have nothing tocontribute to their child's education,and another third don't understand

Evidence is clear and unequivocal:"students at all grade levels do betteracademic work and have morepositive school attitudes, higheraspirations, and other positivebehaviors if they have parents whoare aware, knowledgeable,encouraging, and involved."" Low-income students and students ofcolor have the most to gain whenparents become involved inschools." Conversely, "if theattitudes, behavior, and expectationsof the school staff are substantiallydifferent from those at home,

Despite clear evidence of theimportance of high-quality teachers,a number of state-level studies havefound that students of color are morelikely to be taught by less-qualified orless-able teachers. In Tennessee,African American students werealmost twice as likely as whitestudents to be taught by ineffectiveteachers. Similar patterns were found

25

A MORE PERFECT UNOON

in Texas: as the percentage of white

students increased, the averageteachers' score on the basic literacyexamination (the Texas Examinationof Current Administrators andTeachers) increased as well. The Texas

data also showed that poor whitestudents were more likely to have

well-qualified teachers than poorAfrican American children," andhence the differences cannot beascribed simply to relative wealth ofthe students' families.

Similar patterns were found inteacher quality data from otherstates, particularly whenexamining schools in central cities.A recent study in New York Statethat looked at teacher workforcedata over 15 years reached thefollowing conclusions:"

O The quality of teachers is "muchworse in large urban areas incomparison to other regions."

o Even within urban areas, theaverage poor or African American

or Latino student "is much morelikely to have a lower-quality

teacher than the typical non-pooror white student."

o New York City salaries for

starting teachers "are about 25percent lower than those forteacher starting careers in EthelNew York suburbs." This gap

has been increasing since 1990.

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0 Teachers who begin theircareers in New York City "are farmore likely to leave the NewYork public school system thanare teachers from other areas."At the same time, those teacherswho did leave "are generallyhigher-quality teachers thanthose who remain."

Overall, the issue of teacher quality isso critical to student achievementthat many resecuchers believe that ifstudents from diverse cultures hadteachers of the same quality as otherchildren, a substantial portion of theachievement gap as measured bystandardized tests would disappearStatistical models show that asteacher scores on competency testsincrease, there is a corollary dedinein the percentage of students who failstandardized competency tests. Someresearchers have projected that anincrease in the test scores of teacherswho work with African Americanchildren would produce a decrease ofabout two-thirds of the AfricanAmericanwhite test score gap?

Studeirllts b G-Hg111°

Poverrty Schoolls HaveFewer Resources

Despite over thirty years of equity-and adequacy-based schoolfunding lawsuits, significantdisparities in resources stillexistand students of color, newimmigrant students, and studentswith limited English remainsignificantly over-represented inhigh poverty schools and schooldistricts.510r1ofsky, using 1996-97data from the Census Bureau andthe U.S. Department of Education,has calculated the funding gap instate and local per-pupil revenuesbetween the highest- and lowest-poverty districts, adjusted toreflect geographic cost differencesand differences in student needs(see table at left). While sevenstates spent more per pupil in theirhighest-poverty districts, in moststates spending favored the lowest-poverty districts. Nationally, thegap was $1,139 more in per-pupilspending for the lowest-povertydistricts. To put this in perspective,that would equal $455,600 lessfunding for a high-povertyelementary school of 400 students.These findings come at the sametime that a growing body ofevidence has demonstrated thatmore money, invested in the rightthings, can improve the achieve-ment of poor students andstudents of color."

2 6


State and Load Revenues per Student, in Do Ellars

State Gap between Districts High-Poverty Districts Low-Poverty Districts

Alabama 742 3925 4667Alaska 514 5763 6277

Arizona 387 4176 4563Arkansas 378 4108 4486California 35 4367 4402Colorado 580 4967 5547

Connecticut,

635 6255 6890Delaware -83 6396 6313

Florida 178 5092 5270

' Georgia 148 5116 5264Idaho 227 4034 4261

Illinois 1939 4433 6372

Indiana 614 6471 7085Iowa 456 5458 5914

Kansas 451 5305 5756Kentucky -150 5830 5680Louisiana 997 3606 4603Maine 269 5515 5784Maryland 701 5096 5797

Massachusetts -705 5892 5187

Michigan 1261 5898 7159Minnesota -264 6164 5900 .

Mississippi 331 3312 3643Missouri 253 5241 5494Montana 1538 4214 5752Nebraska 318 5354 5672Nevada 429 5166 5595

. New Hampshire 1006 4791 5797New Jersey 587 8325 8912

New Mexico 444 3605 4049

New York 2794 5307 8101

North Carolina 413 4464 4877

,

North Dakota 32 4480 4512Ohio 667 5593 6260Oklahoma 66 4176 4242Oregon -170 5238 5068Pennsylvania 1059 5678 6737Rhode Island 828 4912 5740

South Carolina 427 4806 5233

South Dakota 367 4595 4962Tennessee -138 4077 3939Texas 386 4648 5034 '

Utah -440 4225 3785Vermont 684 7225 7909Virginia 879 5103 5982Washington 99 5235 5334 ,

West Virginia 340 5260 5600Wisconsin 676 6021 6697Wyoming 895 5307 6202

,

Nation 1139 4928 6067 _- 1.

Source: The Education Trust''4, TWOther Gap: Poor Students Receive Fewer Dollars (Data Bulletin, 6 March 2001).Analysis by Greg F. Orlofsky, based on 1996-97 U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Census Bureau data.

(1727

A WORE PERFECT UNHON

CThogeo 3

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American public schools areintended to be frontline democraticinstitutions. They are supposed togive all students the knowledge andskills they need to be productivecitizens. They are alsoand this isespecially important in aninformation-based economysupposed to form the basis of ameritocracy helping studentssucceed according to their will andtheir ability rather than accordingto family background or wealth.Finally, schools are supposed to helpall students get along with oneanother. In other words, they aresupposed to foster equity andtolerance. Seen in light of thesegoals, Chapter 2 pointed out ways inwhich our public school system hasnot been succeeding in a key part ofits mission.

The good news is that it doesn't haveto be this way Despite the myriadfactors behind inequity andintolerance in public schools, there areabundant examples of individual

schools, districts, and even stateswhere educators have made enormousstrides in raising achievement levels oflarge groups of diverse students andfostering tolerance and understandingamong all students.

The bad news is that these successstories are not necessarily easy toduplicate. In the case of individualschools, there is frequently a trulyexceptional principal who acts as adriving force, and a number of theschoolseven when publicare atleast partially schools of choice,drawing motivated parents who arewilling to sign "contracts"guaranteeing their efforts in helpingtheir children. Successful schooldistricts may be fortunate in havinga particularly united and activebusiness and civic community thatis fully behind the education effort.Such circumstances cannot be easilyreplicated through policy.

Still, there has been remarkableconvergence among organizations of

divergent philosophical and politicalbent regarding the nature ofpractices that could substantiallyimprove educational outcomes forall students, particularly for thosewho are low achievers. Researchpoints to the importance of holdingstudents to high aspirations, usingdata to drive change, and workingclosely with parents, to name just afew of the central tenets. The StudyGroup holds that these and othercomponents of a culturallycompetent school system can domuch to counter causes ofintolerance and inequity The six keycomponents are detailed below.

A Standards°Based System forAll Students

For many years state boards ofeducation across the country haveemphasized the importance ofacademic standards as thefoundation of state education

2 8

Building an Education System that Embraces All ChildrenI

systems and a fundamentalcomponent of contemporaryschool reform. As NASBE's 1997

report, The Full Measure, puts it,it is the fundamental role of thestate education system to "setacademic and performancestandards for students, educators,and the 'system% to monitorperformance in meeting thesestandards through fair, high-quality assessments andcollection of other data; and toprovide the necessary assistanceand consequences to ensure thatall students have an opportunityto achieve the standards."" TheStudy Group on the ChangingFace of America's SchoolChildren reaffirms theimportant role of states insetting and enforcing highacademic standards,particularly in the context ofensuring that all students inthis diverse nation arechallenged and given theopportunity to achieve at highlevels. Only through the over-arching system of standards andstandards-based accountabilitycan policymakers, educators, andparents be sure that no group ofstudents are being left behind.

Standards have the benefit ofmaking clear to schools what isexpected of them, and in manycases this clarity helps low-performing schools refocus theircurriculum on the salientelements that states areexpecting students to learn. TheEducation Trust surveyed 1,200schools that serve students frompoverty-level households and yetscore well on measures of studentachievement and found that noparticular instructionaltechnique, instructional material,

,

Assessing Students from Diverse Cultures

While most states have been able to set high standards that canhelp individual schools focus on academic expectations for allstudents, the job of evaluating the extent to which these standardshave been met has proven to be particularly contentious. Studentsof color consistently test lower than white students on mostmeasures of student achievement, but experts disagree on theextent to which this difference is a result of biases inherent in theassessment tools. Although most states, districts, and testingcompanies have gone to great lengths to ensure that their testquestions are free of cultural bias, the assessment situation iscomplicated by several factors: the thousands of questions usedevery year on hundreds of different standardized tests makemonitoring items for bias an ongoing challenge; wrong answerson just one or two questions can make a significant difference in astudent's test score; and the increasing use of tests for promotionor graduation purposes has clearly raised the stakes for allconcerned.

Furthermore, ensuring test validity for students who are not fluentin English is even more complex, since most assessments, bypresenting instructions and problems in English, implicitly testlanguage skills as well as subject knowledge. Many state policiesset time limits for how long students may be exempted from stateassessments because of lack of fluency in English. These timelimits serve an important purpose in that they hold educators' feetto the fire in terms of bringing non-English speakers into main-stream curriculum and instruction as quickly as possible. Requiringall students to be tested as soon as possible also allows states tocollect important data about how English language learners arefaring academically. However, state time limits may have littlerelationship to the learning trajectory of some students and allowlittle adjustment for individual circumstances that may warranttesting on a different schedule.

In addition, it is neither fair nor sensible to test students for high-stakes purposes unless they have truly been provided with theclassroom supports they need and real opportunities to learn thematerial in question. Yet evidence suggests that many students,particularly students of color, are not provided with the educa-tional opportunities they need to learn the tested material, and somaking high-stakes decisions about promotion or graduationbased upon single measures of student achievement is highlysusceptible to accusations of bias.

Finally, state and local education systems vary widely in how theyuse test information to change how effectively the system servesstudents from different demographic groups. Across all levels, thesystem needs measures to assess how well students are makingprogress in acquiring content-area knowledge and English. Inaddition, to determine program effectiveness over time andamong different groups of students, it is critical to use datadisaggregated by ethnicity to discern trends in student outcomes.

3129

NAS A 1//1102E PERFECT UNilON

or curriculum was the source of theschools' exemplary achievement.Rather, each of these schools, despitedifferences, was characterized by aheavy emphasis on high academicstandards for their students. As amatter of fact, "standards undergirdeach of the six findings of [the]report."' Related to the use ofstandards, these top-performing,high-poverty schools tend to:

O Use standards extensively todesign curriculum andinstruction, assess studentwork, and evaluate teachers;

O Increase instructional time inreading and math to helpstudents meet standards;

O Implement comprehensivesystems to monitor individualstudent progress and provideextra support to students assoon as it is needed;

O Focus their efforts to involveparents in helping studentsmeet standards; and

O Have state or district account-ability systems in place thathave real consequences foradults (particularly principals),not just students, in the schools.

Clearly, setting high standards at thestate level plays a significant role inhelping schools improve instructionfor students who need it most.

State standards can also go a longway in communicating to schoolsthe importance of buildingknowledge and skills for culturalcompetency into the curriculum. Asstandards and accountabilitysystems begin to take hold across thecountry, it is becoming clear that

when states define and measureimportant knowledge and skills,they also impact local decisionsabout curriculum, instruction, andevaluation. States that takeseriously their responsibility tofoster cultural competency need toconsider their standards andevaluations in light of theknowledge and skills that culturalcompetency requires.

A Curalcuilumto Foster CulltarallCompetency

Schools continue to miss tremendousopportunities to incorporate therichness of linguistic and culturaldiversity into the mainstream of theteaching and learning process. Giventhe multitude of cultures in theworld, it is impractical to teachabout all of them. But is importantto use what we know about effectiveinstruction and high-levelcurriculum to inculcate interper-sonal skills, cultural self awareness,and knowledge of inter-ethnicdynamics. Research indicates thatthere are a number of attributes ofeffective curriculum that achieveboth increased academic proficiencyas well as positive changes inattitudes toward other racial/ethnicgroups." Such a curriculum hasthree parts: 1) knowledge of cultures,their similarities, and theirdifferences; 2) skills to understand,analyze, and critique familiar andunfamiliar cultures; and 3) sharedvalues that form the basis forcultural analysis and tolerance.

A Culturally CompetentCurriculum is Rich in Knowl-edge about Diverse CulturesOne of the most importantcomponents of fostering cultural

competence among students isbuilding in them the knowledge theyneed to understand and criticallyanalyze their own and others'cultures. This curriculum indudesknowledge about the groups of peoplethat have played important roles inAmerican history; the contributions ofpeople across the globe to artistic,

scientific, intellectual, and militaryhistory; and explicit knowledge aboutculture, how people create it, what itconsists of, and what the role ofculture is in national and worldhistory. The Study Group believes this

type of knowledge is important forseveral reasons:

O Racial and ethnic pluralism is agrowing reality, which meansthat every student, in order tosucceed socially and economi-cally, needs to have theknowledge they need to live andwork comfortably with peoplefrom different racial, cultural,religious, and ethnic groups.

O Children often acquireinaccurate beliefs andincomplete knowledge abouttheir own and other racial,religious, cultural, and ethnicgroups from a number ofsources including families,friends, and media outlets.Public institutions such asschools have a responsibility toprovide accurate andcomprehensive informationabout race, culture, religion, andethnicity to counter theincomplete and often conflictingmessages conveyed by otherinformation sources.

O Incomplete knowledge and falsebeliefs about racial and ethnicgroups limit the perspectives ofindividuals from all groups and

30


can lead to stereotyping thatcan affect the social andeconomic opportunitiesavailable to members of allracial, ethnic, religious, andcultural groups.

O Students of color are more likelyto succeed academically in anenvironment that includesaccurate, context-basedinformation about non-whitehistories and cultures.

O A pluralistic nation needscompeting and creative ideas tospur innovation and progress.Homogeneity can limit change,and so the nation can suffer aloss of dynamic potential to theextent that diverse voices andcompeting cultures aresuppressed, particularly in publicinstitutions such as schools.

Education for cultural competencyaddresses each of these five reasons.It is high-quality, accurate, steepedin standards, and fair to all students.It can improve the achievement ofall students, most particularlystudents from diverse cultures; helpprepare all students for productiveemployment in a global economy;reduce the incidence of harassmentand violence against individualsbased on their racial or ethniccommunity; present a more accurateview of the role of European andnon-European cultures in humanhistory; and encourage students tocritically analyze their own andothers' cultures as they relate to lifein a pluralistic, democratic, andglobal society.

A culturally competentmulticultural curriculum does notreject the history and perspectives of

the dominant racial, ethnic, andcultural groups. Rather, itcontextualizes them by examiningthe contributions of other racial,ethnic, and cultural groups to ournational and world history It doesthis in several ways:

O It examines both dominant andcompeting perspectives on theways in which our nation triesto reconcile our democraticideals with our actual historyand actions.

O It examines different racial,cultural, and ethnic practicesand beliefs that contribute todifferent perspectives.

O It requires students to studyliterary and intellectual worksthat represent dominantAmerican thinking, but it places

eligi us Diversity in American Schools

American schools have long struggled with defining the appropriate role of religion in publicschools. In their early years, public schools incorporated Protestant values and Bible readings intothe curriculum, but this practice was never uniformly appreciated, and a comprehensive system ofprivate Catholic schools grew in part as a response to the specific religious tone of public schools.

Today, religious diversity among public school students is greater than ever. From 1990 to 2001 thepercentage of Americans who report being Christian has dropped ten percent; Protestants nowmake up roughly half of all Americans, and Catholics make up one-quarter. Conversely, over thesame time period the number of Muslims and Buddhists in America has more than doubled, thenumber of Hindus more than tripled, and the number of Sikhs increased more than fourfold.56 Andthe number of individuals who report being affiliated with less traditional religions or with noreligion is also on the rise.

This religious diversity has clear implications for all public schools as they struggle with issues suchas prayer in schools, the display of religious documents and other images on school grounds, andcreationism in the science curriculum. But it also affects schools in more general ways. Policymakersand practitioners who build culturally competent schools need to consider ways that schools candemonstrate respect for the beliefs, practices, and traditions of all religious groups, and they need tofigure out how to help all students understand and evaluate the religious perspectives of others. Thisis no small feat, and it is one at which schools do not generally have a successful track record.Viewing religion alongside race, ethnicity, language, and culture as a central aspect of culturalcompetency is an important step for practitioners and policymakers who take seriously their job ofdeveloping culturally competent individuals.

31

NAS

these works in the context ofother intellectual and historicalworks that challenge thedominant perspective.

0 Without promoting theideologies or political goals ofany specific group, a culturallycompetent curriculum identifiesdifferent ideologies and pointsout how conflict and competi-tion among ideas fostered thedevelopment of our nation.

In general, an effective multiculturalcurriculum emphasizes thecomplexities of living in a pluralistdemocracy and uses factualknowledge and analysis to promotea democratic ideology. Amulticultural curriculum thatadvances these tenets gives studentsthe tools they need to participate inpublic discourse and civic actionwith people who differfrom them insignificant ways.

A CulturCompetentCurriculumEncouragesC iltural inquiryIn a pluralist, globalsociety, students need togo beyond simplyaccumulatingknowledge about racial,ethnic, and culturalgroups. They need to beready to examine new cultures atevery turn, since existing culturesare fluid and new culturesfrequently emerge. In other words,possessing cultural competencemeans using knowledge andapplying skills to make sense ofnew cultural information and toexamine cultures in a moreinformed and critical light?

j A WORE PERFECT UNBON

The Cultural Inquiry Process is oneexample of a technique to gatherand analyze new culturalinformation. Created to helpteachers address "puzzlements"about student performance inculturally diverse schools, thisprocess demonstrates how tosystematically use existingknowledge to develop newunderstandings about racial,ethnic, and cultural differences.This process includes six steps thatcan easily be adapted to helpstudents make sense of newcultural practices, beliefs, andvalues. These steps are detailed inthe box at right.

The Study Group believes it isimportant to point out thatculturally competent students needto engage in cultural inquiry abouttheir own, familiar culture alongside

Culturally Competent SchoolsTeath d Model ImportantValuesAlthough it is important for studentsto believe that no culture is inherentlymore valuable than any other, theStudy Group believes it is importantto distinguish between this belief and"cultural relativism," the belief thatno culture is better or worse than anyother and so culturally competentindividuals should accept andtolerate allcultural practices. Unlikecultural competency, culturalrelativism denies the critical role thatvalues play in shaping andunderstanding culture. Culturalcompetency, on the other hand,contends that while allcultures are of equal value, particularcultural practices and beliefs can becritiqued according to a standard setof national values. Consequently, anawareness of personal and national

values is a criticalcomponent of effectivemulticultural education.

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inquiry about cultures that are newand confusing. Being able toanalyze, critique, and respond toobservations about their ownculture helps students understandthat all cultures contain familiarelements, cultures borrow andlearn from each other, and noculture is inherently more valuablethan any other.

Fostering PersonalValuesTeaching for cultural

competency meanshelping studentsunderstand theimportance of examiningculture and fostering anappreciation of diversityamong students ratherthan apprehension aboutit. In this sense, the

values of cultural competency aremore like dispositions than the"values" that are usually thought ofwhen discussing values education.

There is some evidence that schoolscan play an important role infostering open and curious attitudesin students. For example, Oliverestablished a positive relationship

32


between racial attitudes of whitecollege students and exposure topractices associated withmulticultural education, withcurriculum and instructionrepresenting the strongest

influence.59 Tomlinson, who

introduced multicultural reforms in23 British schools, reports moreopen, egalitarian, and sensitiveattitudes as evidence of the value ofmulticultural education.'

The Cadlturall finquOry Process

Teaching about National ValuesBesides encouraging students tovalue the process of cultural inquiry,schools that foster culturalcompetency build in students astrong foundation in the national

1. Select as a focus one or more "puzzlements" about a person, practice, belief, or value. Puzzlementsinclude behaviors or attitudes that one does not understand, whether the unexpected performanceis considered as positive, neutral, or negative. By treating a puzzlement as an opportunity to explorecultural influences on a behavior or attitude, individuals increase the likelihood of developingappropriate responses.

2. Summarize what is already known about the focus person, practice, belief, or value and its context.Summarize what is known and has been observed about the person and the context. This couldinclude information about gender, social class, and cultural and family background of the observeras well as of the source of the "puzzlement." In this step, it is important to be aware of the complex-ity of culture, recognizing that 1) cultural groups may exist on the basis of ethnicity, social class,gender, profession, and other factors, or some combination of these factors; 2) there is considerablevariability within cultural groups, and members of a cultural group may not accept all the beliefs,values, and behavior that is the norm in their group; 3) individual students may identify with morethan one cultural group; 4) culture is not static; and 5) power relations among people and culturalgroups is an important dimension of social relationships.

3. Consider alternative cultural questions and select one or more of them to explore. Culturalquestion(s) are the starting point for cultural explorations. Questions may include such things as:how do personal beliefs and values contribute to the puzzlement; how is the surrounding culturecontributing to the puzzlement; could cultural mismatches be augmenting the puzzling situation?Cultural questions draw attention to influences from ethnic and racial cultures as well as toinfluences from cultures associated with other socially constructed groups like those based ongender, social class, peer groups, and schools. Language is also an important part of culturalquestioning. Finally, cultural questions explore the influences of historical events and of larger socio-economic and political structuring.

4. Gather and analyze relevant information. In this step, the inquirer takes a "learner stance andgathers open-ended information to understand others' perspectives. This step includes gatheringinformation about personal beliefs and values, cultures and cultural mismatches, experiences,meanings, and cultural negotiations of, for example, home, peer, and school cultures.

5. Develop and implement responses as needed to reduce puzzlement Based on the informationgathered in Step #4, devise responses to the puzzlement. In the case of schools, these responsescould include changes to the personal beliefs of teachers or students, changes in the school'sculture, changes in curriculum, changes in home/school relationships, ways to make explicit toothers each individual's beliefs and experiences, or ways to highlight newly discovered types ofcultural negotiations that are occurring.

6. Monitor the intellectual process and responses. In this step, the inquirer can gather evidenceabout the effectiveness of the steps implemented in step #5. This evidence can come, for example,from observation of group or individual behaviors, personal introspection, or discussion with theindividual or group that demonstrated the belief or behavior that was the focus of the puzzlement.

These steps are adapted from the Cultural InquiryProcess website at classweb.gmu.edu/cip/cip-ind.htm

o533


values that undergird and bind ourdiverse society. They do this bybuilding upon a democratic ideologyin which ethnic and culturaldiversity is a positive, integralcomponent of our pluralism. Bydefinition, our democracy protectspersonal freedoms such as ethnicand cultural identity whilesimultaneously fostering nationalvalues such as equality, justice, andhuman dignity. American notions ofequality, justice, and personalfreedom become spurious unlesspublic institutions such as schoolsapply them to allAmericans.Furthermore, applying these idealsto all Americans strengthens ournational commitment to these idealsrather than weakens it. In otherwords, our identity as a pluralistdemocracy requirrsthat we educatefor cultural compe-tency in the same waythat we educate for theideals of freedom,equality, justice, andthe rule of law.

Done the right way,multiculturaleducation helpsstudents understandthat differences amongpeople do notnecessarily implyinferiority orsuperiority. It alsohelps students see thatconflict is inevitable ina pluralist society andcan be an importantcatalyst for socialprogress. Students alsodiscover thatcooperating for acommon goal does notneed to be based onidentical beliefs,behaviors, or

appearances. All of theseawarenesses are critically importantto manifesting our national ideals.

Not only ale national values

strengthened by effectivemulticultural education, but theyprovide an important lens throughwhich unfamiliar cultural practicesand beliefs may be filtered. Clearly,

there are some cultural values,

traditions, and beliefs that the UnitedStates must reject because theyconflict with the fundamental valuesthat sustain our national way of life.Indeed, the United States has a historyof granting asylum to individuals thatit feels are victims of inappropriatecultural values, traditions, and beliefs.Culturally competent individuals

understand that rejecting specificcultural beliefs and practices is very

different than rejecting members ofthe culture. They also understand thatindividuals gain valuable insight byanalyzing the imperfections andinconsistencies in all cultures,induding their own. A pluralistdemocratic society is most united inits national vision when individuals,groups, and institutions learn torespect and foster the rights of allpeople. "A national culture or school

curriculum that does not reflect thevoices, struggles, hopes, and dreams ofits many peoples is neither democraticnor cohesive."62

Other Ass es to ConsiderFinally, the Study Group believesthat building a culturally competentcurriculum requires policymakersand practitioners to consider severalother key points:

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Building an Education System that Embraces All Children,

Helping students developcultural competency requiresthat other cultures not beportrayed as entirely differentand distinct from the dominantcultureSome multicultural curriculaemphasize exotic differences among

cultures, a practice that canaccentuate divisions and feelings ofsuperiority among racial and ethnicgroups rather than bridge them. High-quality education for culturalcompetency helps studentsunderstand both what makes culturesunique and what elements of cultureare shared among different groups. It

also helps students understand thatculture is a fundamental element of allhuman experience.

Knowledge about other racial,ethnic, and cultural groups isrelevant in all schools andcommunities, not only wherepeople of color live and studyFostering multiculturalism in everyschoolincluding those that servestudents from only one predominantracial, ethnic, or cultural groupisimportant for several reasons. First,America's history is a story ofdiverse views and practicesconverging for the purpose ofbuilding a pluralist democracy.Consequently, teaching the story ofAmerica accurately to any student,anywhere, requires that thediversity of the nation be portrayed.Secondly, all Americans benefit fromknowing about the gap betweendemocratic ideals and realities, sincethis knowledge helps futuregenerations work to diminish thatgap. Finally, denying the opportu-nity to develop cultural competencyto students simply because they livein a homogeneous community alsodenies these students criticalknowledge and skills they will need

to succeed in the larger social andeconomic life of the country.

Fostering knowledge aboutdifferent cultures complements,rather than threatens, theposition of the Western canon inour nation's schoolsThe Western canon is a venerablecontribution to human thought andexpression and is in no waydiminished by an understanding ofnon-European social and intellectualhistory As a matter of fact, someclearly non-Western works arecommonly included in the Westerncanon, such as Lao-Tze's Art of War,

and even the staunchest advocatesof the canon tend to agree that thelikes of Rudyard Kipling, JackLondon, Joseph Conrad, WilliamShakespeare, and Herodotus, amongothers, require deep knowledge ofnon-European cultures in order to befully understood. Understanding ofthe canon is enriched, and itsimportance clarified, when placed inthe context of the whole ofintellectual history

Education for culturalcompetency needs to be builtinto existing goals and curricularather than existing as aseparate and distinct set ofknowledgeMuch like a curriculum for "studyskills" or "technology," a culturallycompetent curriculum spans allsubjects. But multiculturaleducation does mean differentthings in different areas of study; inthe sciences, for example, having amulticultural classroom may meana focus on honoring differentlearning styles so that traditionallymarginalized groups of students canmore easily master the curriculum.In an English class, it may meanincluding a wider range of literature

in the curriculum, and in physicaleducation, it may mean accommo-dating different types of dress andphysical expression.

Education for culturalcompetency should not focusexclusively or primarily on theexperiences of people of colorEducation for cultural competencyencourages students to examine allcultures respectfully and objectively.Children who are taught toappreciate, understand, and critiquetheir own culture learn to do thesame for others' cultures in theprocess. Furthermore, anyresponsible understanding of theexperiences of people of color in theUnited States and the world needs torelate these experiences to those ofwhite cultures and form under-standings about the ways in whichcultures have impacted each other.

Sthoolls and Personnellthat !Demonstrate[Respect for Students'Homes and Ildentkfles

Fostering a strong sense of culturalconnectedness, confidence, andcharacter among all students is acritically important component ofculturally competent schooling. Notonly does it enrich the educationalenvironment and encourage studentengagement in school, but it helpsprevent many of the attitudes andbehaviors that put students at riskof failure in school and in life."

Affirming students' racial, ethnic,and cultural identity in schoolsrequires simultaneous actions onmany fronts:

o Schools need to acknowledge, asmuch as possible, key elements

35

A WORE PERFECT UNBON

Breaking Down Barriers: Reaching Out t Ail Parents

Research in parent involvement has taught us that barriers to parent involvement can be overcome.Below are some of the barriers to parent involvement and some possibilities [that can be used] toovercome them.

O Time. Be flexible when scheduling meetings. Try different times of the day. Make a meeting apotluck dinner to meet working parents' needs. Have meetings at community centers, apartments,and places of worship.

O Not feeling valued. Personally welcome all parents. Learn their interests and abilities. Actively seekopportunities for hesitant parents to use their experiences and talents to benefit the school.

O Don't know how to contribute. Conduct a talent survey, then think of ways to use parents' talents.Encourage parents to share information on careers, hobbies, and pets. Arrange for workshopsand seminars for parents and community members on leadership and organizational skills.

O Don't understand the system. Write a handbook covering rules, procedures, and answers totypical problems.

O Child care. Find an available room in the school for child care. Hire students to babysit.

O Language barrier. Have printed materials translated. Arrange for an interpreter at meetings.

O Cultural differences. Be sensitive to others' values, attitudes, manners, and views of the school.Know the religious holidays and observances of all groups in the school.

O Transportation. Visit parents at home. Hold meetings in a convenient place. Arrange for transpor-tation.

O Not feeling welcome Arrange for training in parent involvement for staff. Make sure parents arewelcome to drop in during the day. Have a parents' room at school. Post welcome signs inlanguages spoken at the school.

O Resistance on the part of leadership. Investigate whether there may be an unwillingness amongsome of the existing school leadership to involve others in decision-making.

O Parents have overwhelming problems. Provide information and advocacy to help parents securethe services they need, such as food stamps, job training, medical treatment, child care, etc.

O Low literacy. Call on the phone. Contact your local library to find literacy groups or tutors ofEnglish as a Second Language. Plan a family literacy program.

O Snobbery. Actively seek new participants who represent different cultural, socioeconomic, andreligious groups in your school. Do not tolerate snobbery during parent programming.

Iowa Department of Education, Parent Involvement in Education: A Resource for Parents,Educators, and Communities (Des Moines, IA: Iowa Department of Education, 1998).

36


of students' home life byhonoring family values,practices, and celebrations;

O Schools need to take the time,during the school day, toacknowledge key historicalfigures and events from avariety of cultures;

o Schools have to providematerials that accurately reflectdifferent races, cultures, andethnicities;

O Schools need to give teachersthe time and training they needto adapt instruction in order toensure that all students learn totheir highest potential; and

O Schools need to make parentsand other family memberswelcome in school andencourage community groupsto become involved in schoolactivities.

Parent and community involvementin schools has proven to be one ofthe most difficult elements ofdemonstrating respect for students'home identities. Often familymembers are reluctant to becomeinvolved in their children'seducation, and among some groupsparent interactions with the schoolrange from low to nonexistent.64 Forexample, many Hispanic parentsview U.S. public schools as "abureaucracy governed by educatednon-Hispanics whom they have noright to question."'

There is no one best way to approachparent involvement, and what seemsmost effective is to encourage avariety of different types ofinvolvement over time. However,there are strong indications of

particular elements of parentinvolvement that foster the greateststudent achievement gains:6

O Parent involvement should helpparents work directly with theirchildren on learning activitiesin the home. These programsmay include reading in thehome, homework support, andparental tutoring.

O More active parent involve-mentsuch as working withchildren, attending meetings,helping in the classroom and onfield trips, and attendingstudent activitiesfostersstudent achievement more thandoes passive parent involve-ment like receiving phone callsand signing permission slips.

O Involving parents early in achild's education and continuingthat involvement over time leadsto more powerful effects onachievement than bringingparents in at the later years.

O Brief, focused orientation andtraining for parents helps thembe more effective in helpingtheir children learn; extensivetraining, however, produced nogreater student achievementgains and often leads to highlevels of parent attrition fromthe program.

Cullturaillly CompetentSchoolls Respondto Students'NifferrentilatedLeamtng Needs

Schools that take seriously themission of educating all students to

high standards need to take intoaccount the fact that students havedifferentiated learning needs. This istrue in any classroom but isparticularly critical in schools thatserve diverse students, sinceculturally specific childhoodsocialization practices foster thedevelopment of particular ways ofunderstanding and engaging withinformation among students.'

Teachers that are most effective atserving students from diversebackgrounds are good teachers ingeneral. They are competentenough with a range of teachingtechniques that they can alter theirpractice to respond to the specificneeds of individual students. Forexample, students may fail to learnfor several reasons:

O Limited opportunities to makechoices;

o Lack of predictability in thedaily schedule;

o Inadequate level of assistance;

O Poor directions;

O Lack of fluency in English;

O Activities that are too difficult;

O Activities take too long tocomplete;

o Student dislikes the activity;

O Student doesn't understand thecriterion for completion of theactivity; or

O Student doesn't see the utility ofthe knowledge or activity.

37

A WORE PERFECT UNBON

Students can also be distracted byanxiety, hunger, anger, fatigue,illness, medication side effects, otherstudents, or extraneous stimuli.Understanding how each studentlearns best, and under whatconditions they simply cannot learn,is a critical component of culturallycompetent schoolingindeed of anyeffective teaching and learning.

The Study Group believes it isimportant to mention the uniqueneeds of English LanguageLearners (ELLs) in public schools.Many of the issues faced by diverselearners are compounded forchildren who may come from adifferent culture and cannot speakEnglish. In addition, for immigrantand migrant children, theireducation program may have beensignificantly disrupted once orseveral times throughout theirschool career. As with other"second-system" students,researchers have found that ELLsare not taught the same materialnor do they frequently have accessto all the courses other studentsdo. ELLs are also shortchangedbecause they are placed in lessdemanding academic tracks andare taught by less experiencedteachers.68In addition, manyteachers lack an understanding ofsecond language developmentdespite high concentrations of ELLsin their classrooms. In 1994, theNational Education Goals Panelfound that while 43 percent ofsecondary school teachers hadELLs in their classrooms, onlyabout half of them had receivedtraining on how to teach secondlanguage learners.69

The Study Group believes thatserving differentiated learningneeds in classrooms is a critical

part of education for culturalcompetency and is a fundamentalcomponent of our nation'scommitment to fairness and equalopportunity. Evidence in terms oflearning needs is clear: if allstudents are treated alike in aclassroom, their distinctive needsare not being met, and they arebeing denied access to equaleducational opportunities.'

Giving teachers the tools they needto serve differentiated learningneeds requires policymakers toconsider several issues:

O Time. Teachers need dedicatedtime to consider and respond toindividual learning needs.

o Professional development.Teachers need to learn about avariety of ways to evaluatestudents' knowledge,performance, and learningstyles and then cater to thedifferentiated learning needs ofindividual students.

O Richness of materials.Teachers need to have at theirdisposal a variety of high-quality educational materialsthat can be used to engagestudents with different needsand preferences.

o Class size. Teachers need tohave fewer students to helpthem focus on students asindividual learners.

O Community connected-ness. Teachers can learn fromcommunity members aboutculturally specific customs andpractices that may help engagestudents in learning.

Quaffilfied PevsonnellOn Allil Schoolls andfoil AtIll Students

Qualified TeachersNASBE and other education

organizations and researchers havewritten extensively about the needfor and policy actions necessary tobring qualified teachers to allstudents." This is obviously anenormous challenge, however, withspecific issues ranging fromrecruitment, teacher preparation,and certification to professionaldevelopment, retaining qualifiedteachers in the profession, andensuring that the best teachers areworking with the students who needthem the most.

From a policy perspective, puttingqualified teachers in everyclassroom begins with a systemwidestrategy at the state and districtlevels to attract, train, keep, anddevelop skilled teachers. Among anumber of states and urban districtsinstituting more comprehensivereforms, Connecticut stands out asone of the most successful, asreflected in the state's top rankingson a number of achievement testsand by the narrowing gap betweenscores of white students andstudents of color. Moreover, over thelast decade, the state has movedfrom teacher shortages andemergency credentialing to ateacher surplus.

Linda Darling-Hammond identifiesthe following policies and activitiesthat have supported Connecticut'sprogress:72

0 significantly increasing andequalizing teacher salaries;

38


raising licensing standards andeliminating emergencylicensing;

adding to requirements forteacher education in the areasof reading, working with specialneeds

students,andemploying

research-

basedpractices;

creation ofscholarshipsto attracttopcandidatesin fields

experiencing

shortagesand forschools

serving at-riskpopulations;

provision ofmentoringand anassessmentprogram for

encouraging the linkage ofteacher evaluation to teacherstandards; and

creation of low-stakes tests thatdistricts and schools can usediagnostically.

one-third of public school studentsare individuals of color, only about10 percent of teachers are." The lackof well-qualified teachers andadministrators across all levels onlyperpetuates the perception andlikely reality of a power imbalance

across racial andethnic lines. Inorder to gobeyondsuperficialchanges, teachersand leaders fromdiverse culturaland ethnicgroups areneeded to trulytransformeducation andbring to fruitionthe promise ofequality andexcellence.

Knowledge-able andInspiringSchoolLeadersAs educationpolicymakersconsider a widerange ofeducation reformefforts, they havecome torecognize thatprincipals have agreat impact onboth theimplementationandsustainability of

these reforms." They feel that goodprincipals lead change, inspirestudents and staff, leverageresources to make improvementhappen, and bring communitymembers into the process of change.

Seven Common Elements ofHigh-Performing, High-Poverty Schools

Principals must be free ... to decide how to spend theirmoney, whom to hire, and what to teach.

Principals use measurable goals to establish a culture ofachievement.

Master teachers bring out the best in a faculty.... Effectiveprincipals turn their schools into schools for teachers.Master teachers teach the others how to teach.

Rigorous and regular testing leads to continuous studentachievement. Principals take personal responsibility forthe success of their children ... [by] personally monitoringthe regular assessment of every child.

Achievement is the key to discipline.... When a schoolclearly teaches by example that self-control, self-reliance,and self-esteem anchored in achievement are the meansto success and that school's own success inspires confi-dence, order, and discipline in its students.

Principals work actively with parents to make the home acenter of learning.

all beginning Effort creates ability. Principals expect their students andteachers; staff members to work hard.

significantinvestment

inprofessional

development for proven,effective programs andstrategies;

S.C. Carter, No Excuses: Lessons from 21 High-Petforming, High-Poverty Schools (Washington, DC: Heritage Foundation, 2000).

alignment of both student andteaching standards;

Another factor that impedes thesuccess of students of color is theunder-representation of educators ofcolor. In recent decades diversityamong the nation's teaching forcehas actually decreased; while over

3 9-14t=v


Today's principals are expected torun schools that are well-managedand that offer demanding academicprograms andteaching practices.Principals are alsoexpected to leadschools thataddress theemotional, social,and health needsof diverse studentpopulations. Themembers of theStudy Group feelthis is particularlytrue if we are tosucceed inpreparing allchildren to thrivein a diverse society

Good principals areessential to createa cross-culturallearningcommunity Theyalso are critical inefforts to raise theconsciousness ofteachers andothers in the school about the valueand importance of closing theachievement gap and preparingstudents for diversity Goodprincipals also inspire schoolpersonnel and students to transcendtheir biases and motivate the schoolcommunity to overcome resourcelimitations in order to achieve ashared vision of a//studentsachieving to high standards ofexcellence and prepared to thrive ina diverse society and workforce. Weneed principals that are transforma-tional leaders.

African American and MexicanAmerican students."Both schoolsused to experience high rates of

community, and 4) were able to seebeyond stereotypes and get to knowthe personal histories of their

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For example, Liable and Harringtonstudied two principals who ledschools attended primarily by

failure and disconnect from theircommunities but experienced adramatic turn-around into high-performing, high-achieving schools.The study revealed that parents,teachers, and students gave theseprincipals the bulk of the credit forthe schools' transformation. Lookingat the characteristics of theseprincipals, Liable and Harringtonfound that they: 1) believed that allstudents can learn and are entitledto quality education; 2) were willingto step outside the box to address theissues and challenges confronted bytheir students and schools; 3) fostereda shared vision, mission, andcommitment within the school, aswell as between the school and the

40

As is the case withteachers, thenumber ofprincipals fromcommunities ofcolor is small. It isimperative then,that educationleaders implementstrategies both torecruit qualifiedprincipals fromcommunities ofcolor and to ensurethat regardless oftheir ethnic,cultural, and racialbackground, allprincipals canensure that theirschools are capableof serving theneeds of studentsfrom diversecommunities.

Extll-a Hellp foil'Schoolls and StudentsWho Need ilt

Clearly, expecting higher levels ofachievement for all students will notbe successful if students and schoolsthat are having trouble reaching thenew standards do not receive thehelp they need. State board membershave made this issue a priority for anumber of yearsyet thecomplexities and challenges ofensuring that this help exists forevery student, classroom, school,and district are daunting.Fortunately, a number of states,through their accountability

Building an Education System that Embraces All Children]

systems, have moved aheadsystematically to fulfill theirpromise of providing assistance.Following are several examples ofassistance efforts that are or couldbe targeted to students, teachers,and schools.

Alssistance for StudentsNew state standards and account-ability programs that evaluateachievement in relation to standardsprovide rich information that can beused to target assistance to studentswho need it most. In New York, forexample, the state requires schoolsto develop an Academic InterventionServices (AIS) plan for studentswhose test results in English andmath (K-12) and social studies andscience (grades 4-12) show that theyare below grade level. Funding forthe assistance is available for bothadditional instruction as well asstudent support services, which mayinclude guidance, counseling,working on study skills, andimproving student attendance.

North Carolina's Student Account-ability System has now establishedfour "gateways" for students atgrades 3, 5, 8, and for graduation. Allstudents must meet both localpromotion requirements and attaina passing score on the stateassessment in order to move on tothe next grade or graduate. Studentswho are not promoted will receiveextra help in smaller classes oradditional instructional opportuni-ties, and may also be provided witha personalized education planoutlining the strategies to be used toassist each student.

James McPartland, who works at theJohns Hopkins University's Centerfor Research on the Education ofStudents Placed At Risk (CRESPAR),

also makes the point that "it's nevertoo late to help older students."'CRESPAR has designed the Talent

Development High School model forcomprehensively restructuringtroubled high schools challenged byhigh poverty rates and highnumbers of students of color, lowachievement scores, and poorgraduation rates. Components ofthis model include:

o The "Ninth Grade SuccessAcademy," a special school-within-a-school that allowsstudents promoted to highschool with poor basic skills totake a "double-dose" curriculumin English and math, usesinterdisciplinary team teachingand flexible block scheduling,and includes a FreshmanSeminar that helps studentsimprove social and study skills.

o Career Academies that provideall students with a core collegepreparatory curriculum as wellas work-based learningexperiences designed inaccordance with localemployers' needs.

o Extra teacher support indudingclassroom-level assistance on

model lessons and effectiveinstructional strategies, peerteachers providing weekly in-dass assistance, and additionalassistance from lead teachers andfacilitators from Johns Hopkins.

o An on-site alternative school forstudents who need moreintensive help and oversightwith behavior problems. Thisprogram, often called a TwilightSchool, operates after hourswith smaller classes andcarefully selected teachers.

Assistance and Support forTeachersNASBE's report on teacher quality,The Numbers Game, makes severalrecommendations for assistingteachers in high-poverty schools orschools with a very diverse studentpopulation. These include:

O Ensuring that professionaldevelopment is specificallytargeted to the needs ofteachers, children, and youth inurban schools, schools inpoverty, and other high-risksituations;

O Providing more planning timefor teachers so they have moretime to develop strategies forworking with students whohave highly divergent needs andlearning styles;

O Ensuring that class sizes aresmaller so that studentinstruction can be appropriatelyindividualized;

O Providing comprehensiveteacher induction programsthat pay attention to therealities of teaching in theseschools; and

O Providing high-qualityresources, materials, andfacilities.

Adding to these recommendations,the Study Group on the ChangingFace of America's School Childrensuggests that states give specificconsideration to the knowledge,skills, and resources teachers mayneed to foster cultural competencyamong all students. Fostering thenecessary knowledge and skillsamong teachers may requirepolicymakers to study not only the

4 1

NAS A MORE PERFECT UNllON

professional development needs ofpracticing teachers but also thepreparation programs and studentteaching experiences that bring newteachers into the system.

Assistance for Schools andDistrictsThere are several ways that statescan assist schools and districts inserving the needs of all students.Fundamentally, though, most typesof assistance can be categorized astechnical, financial, or political.

Technical AssistanceSchools that fail to develop a high-quality, culturally competentprogram to serve all of theirstudents often lack the know-howthey need to improve. States canplay a critical role in buildingprofessional capacity within schoolsthat need it most. For example,North Carolina uses State AssistanceTeams to help troubled schools thathave been identified by itsaccountability system. The teamsare usually composed of fivemembers, including practicingteachers and administrators, retirededucators, and college professorswho are assigned to one school as afull-time job for one year. Afterextensive training prior to theirassignment, a team works withschool staff to identify problem areasand develop a school improvementaction plan.

Kentucky was one of the first statesto provide direct assistance to low-performing schools, through aprogram using DistinguishedEducators. That system has nowbeen replaced by one that uses areview conducted by a scholasticaudit team appointed by the StateBoard. The audit team recommendsthe areas that need to be targeted

and the kind of assistance that needsto take place, as well as whether theschool needs a more intenseprogram of outside assistance.

Some states target districts insteadof individual schools for assistance.New Jersey was one of the firststates to use a systematic reviewprocess for districts, through which1) successful districts receive acertification from the State Boardgood for seven years; 2) otherdistricts receive a conditionalcertification, meaning thatimprovement must be made butwithout state intervention; or 3)troubled districts are placed in LevelII status, which brings stateinvolvement in the improvementeffort. If the district still fails to meetits goals, there is increasing stateinvolvement and assistance, leadingeventually to state takeover inextreme cases. While state takeoversin the urban districts of Jersey City,Newark, and Patterson haveattracted the most attention, stateofficials have long maintained thatthe most positive benefits of theprocess come in those cases whereinterventions at the earlier stageshave helped bring about improve-ments that lead to districtcertification.

Financial AssistanceIn most states across the nation,schools that serve the needieststudents do so with the leastresources (see "State and LocalRevenues per Student, in Dollars" onpage 27). States that take seriouslytheir commitment to bringing allstudents to high standards inschools that foster culturalcompetency need to see to it thatfinancial resources are targeted tothe schools that need the mostsupport.

Political AssistanceMany effective schools already knowthe importance of community andbusiness support. Schools thatleverage the private, corporate, andnon-profit resources outside theirdoors often find that they gainpublic visibility, political power,volunteer resources, and money thathelp them improve their status inthe community their acceptanceamong parents and communitymembers, and, most importantly,their ability to serve all studentsthat come through their doors. Butleveraging the business and non-profit resources within a communityis a skill that few principals andeven fewer teachers know a lotabout. States can play an importantpart in helping school leaders buildrelationships with powerfulelements in the community that canbring valuable human, political, andfinancial resources into schools.

Condlustion

Overall, the Study Group believesthat a strong vision that under-stands and embraces diversity andestablishes a culture of highachievement for all students isrequired if all students are to besuccessful. At every level, it isimperative that educatorsdemonstrate the commitment,understanding, and persistence toraise controversial issues regardingthe inequities of the educationalsystem. What is essential is an opendialogue to deconstructmisperceptions, stereotypes, andbelief systems that perpetuatesuperiority and inferiority based onrace and ethnicity. The way wethink about differences amongstudents, how we view the purposesof elementary and secondaryeducation, the way we choose to

42

Building an Education System that Embraces All Children]

organize schools and the forging ofschool connections with familiesand communities are all fundamen-tal to the principle that positive

outcomes must be realized for everystudent. The challenge is inidentifying the practices that deny,and those that promote, the right to

Poilkymakerf CheckIllst

schooling success. As a nation, wecan no longer afford to provide themeager fare we do to millions ofAmerica's youth.

In order to successfully educate a culturally diverse student population, education policymakers andadministrators must create a culturally competent education system. Such a system will:

Expect all students to achieve high standards of excellence;

o Expect all students to value, honor, and analyze their immediate culture and the cultures ofothers;

o Encourage students to identify values common among their immediate culture and the culturesof others;

o Help all students develop a sense of civic responsibility toward their immediate community, thenation, and the world;

o Foster in students the confidence to interact with people from diverse backgrounds;

o Provide curricula and instructional programs that are culturally inclusive and engage studentsfrom all cultural backgrounds;

o Eliminate all forms of stereotyping and discrimination in curriculum materials, support services,extracurricular activities, and the general school environment;

o Involve parents and other community members in a number of important ways that invite homecultures into school and foster high achievement among students from all racial, ethnic, andcultural backgrounds;

o Provide all students with the same enriching, evidence-based educational opportunities that willhelp them achieve to high standards of excellence;

o Encourage students as well as staff to engage in ongoing cultural analysis that is based onshared national values;

o Use unbiased assessments and diagnostic tools to measure academic progress and determineinstructional and support service needs;

o Ensure that there is no funding gap between high-poverty and low-poverty school districts;

o Ensure that teachers, administrators, and all other personnel have the knowledge and skills towork with and proactively engage students from all cultural backgrounds; and

o Recruit qualified school personnel who represent the cultural, ethnic, and gender make-up of thecommunities being served.

43

A ffORE PERFECT UN4ON

Afte Fyysyd

Fffei ng UrrayriM Dlwerme 2octeRyby Errende 11.1111fienithall Wellbesm, NAS

The Study Group on the ChangingFace of America's School Childrenfaced a daunting task as it beganits deliberations. The role of publicschools in educating a diversepopulation to high standards whilepromoting national unity andunderstanding of different culturesis fundamentally uncharteredterritory for educationpolicymakers. With guidance fromthis and other reports and inputfrom an array of individuals andgroups, it is an issue that state andlocal boards of education need toexplore comprehensively and withprofound sensitivity. Nothing lessthan the principles of theConstitution and the future of thecountry rest on the ability of thenation's education leaders to createlearning environments that affirmthe importance of nationhood andteach all students to a common setof standards while celebrating andrecognizing the uniqueness of everychild. There is no Americaninstitution, other than the public

44

E Ezeangilve Ofrector

school, that has the opportunity orthe obligation to develop andpromote a collective spirit ofnational unity. With the supportand guidance of policymakers,schools can define what is meantby a national identity in apluralistic society. They can do thisthrough what is taught and how itis taught. And yet caution demandsthat the approach to instructionabout national unity balances arespect for the values andexperiences that students bringinto the classroom with instructionthat speaks to and honors thecommon bonds shared by thecitizens of this nation.

Following the tragic events ofSeptember 11th, 2001, school leadersstruggled with the delicate balanceof promoting patriotism, respectingthe ethnic and religious differencesof all students, and explaining thecomplex political, cultural, andreligious dynamics of the MiddleEast. Typical of the response to

unanticipated events, politicalleaders and educators alikegravitated to a very basic reaction,requiring the Pledge of Allegiance orother symbolic actions ofpatriotism, while encouragingtolerance of all people. Thereactions varied between states andamong communities because therewas limited policy guidanceavailable to leaders to help themnavigate these sensitive issues.Clearly, this response wasunavoidable because policymakershave not tackled the fundamentalissue of how to balance nationalunity, civil liberties, and culturaldiversity in the nation's schools.Standing now at the crossroads ofhistory, education policymakershave an opportunity to define theseissues for the 21st century

The way in which national unityand cultural diversity are promotedin the public school is primarilythrough the curricula and throughobservations and celebrations. Given

Building an Education System that Embraces All Childreni

the demographic diversity that hasbeen a hallmark of this country, it isno surprise that the curricularareas where the development ofacademic standards has encoun-tered the greatest stumbling blocksare the fields of history, socialstudies, and civics education.Philosophical differences havehampered the strong consensusthat has been experienced in otherdisciplines about what is good,accurate, and important forinstruction. Consequently, schoolshave missed an opportunity tocelebrate the unique Americanexperience and to teach how thecontributions of many people frommany lands have made thatexperience possible. Teachingstudents about the truth of some ofthe darker events in our history,juxtaposed with the significance ofbeing an American and enjoyingthe benefits of that history, is amammoth challenge for educators.

At the most basic level, publicschools must teach vigorously aboutthe quest for freedom that is anintegral part of our nation's history.They must emphasize why thecountry remains unique amongworld nations in continuing toattract others from around the globewho want to share in that freedom,and why so many people fromaround the world immigrateannually to this country. Simulta-neously, students should be taughtthat irrespective of from where theyor their forebears hail or how theygot here, they have an obligation tocarry, protect, and advance thetorch of freedom for generationsthat follow.

A vignette in NASBE's first report ondiversity, An American Tapestry:Educating a Nation, told of a 5th-

grade student who could notidentify Crispus Attucks' contribu-tions to the American Revolutionbecause the class "[hadn't] gotten toBlack people yet." Now ten yearslater, students are still frequentlytaught about the contributions ofAmericans of color solely in thecontext of their diversity, not in theirbelief of the American creed.Students should be taught about theachievements of people of color aspeople who believed in this countryand who were, and are, partners inmaking this country the advancednation that it is. Public educationshould not shy away from thecandid realities of America's past,but neither should it allow studentsto use that past as an excuse todisengage from a national dialogueand perspective. Loyalty to cultureshould not be at the expense ofallegiance to this nation. Conversely,valuing one's culture should not bedeemed as un-American. Acomprehensive and integratedcurriculum can support the goal ofpreserving cultural respect andknowledge while educating thecitizens of a united nation.

The core of the standards-basedreform movement that hasengulfed the country over the lastseveral years is based on "what wewant students to know and be ableto do" when they leave publicschools. Policymakers have anopportunity to support strongcitizenship through the standardsmovement. They can promote anexamination of how to preparestudents to live in a multiculturalsociety that abides as one nationsupporting a common good.

Over the last several years, schoolshave justifiably expandedrecognition and celebrations of the

various cultures and ethnic groupsrepresented in the nation and in thenation's public schools. Yet, with allthe celebrations we have throughoutthe school year, we do not have acommon day, week, or monthcelebrating what it means to be anAmerican. The most significantholiday in celebration of our historyis the 4th of July, which is outside ofthe school year. As school calendarsare developed that includeobservations of culture anddiversity consideration should begiven to highlighting Americanculture over a sustained period oftime. For the spirit of unity to thrive,we must be as vigilant at celebrat-ing our American culture as we areat extolling the virtues of ourdivergent backgrounds.

How schools promote individualachievement, national unity,collective interests, and culturaldiversity in a balanced way is oneof the most profound issuespolicymakers will face in the yearsto come. Hitler used the notion ofnational unity to justify atrocitiesto millions of German citizens.Policymakers must be watchful toensure good intentions are nottranslated into oppressive actions.To safeguard the principles of theConstitution and the future of thecountry, the issues of culturaldiversity and competency must beaddressed in their broadest sense.Yet the vision of those who framedthe Constitution must be honoredand taught. All students must learnto work and live in a society thatgrows more diverse every day. Allchildren should be taught of thesacrifices made by tens ofthousands to secure America'sfreedom. All students must learn tovalue America, with all its strengths,all its potential, and all its people.

4144 5


Endnage§

1. National Association of State Boards ofEducation, An American Tapestry:Educating a Nation (Alexandria, VA:

National Association of State Boards ofEducation, 1991).

2. U.S. Department of Education, "KeyPolicy Letters Signed by the EducationSecretary or Deputy Secretary." Availableonline at www.ed.gov/News/Letters/010919.html.

3. National Center for Children inPoverty, Child Poverty Fact Sheet (NewYork, NY: Columbia University, National

Center for Children in Poverty, 2001).

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University, National Center for Childrenin Poverty, 1997).

5. S.A. Camarota, Importing Poverty:Immigration's Impact on the Size andGrowth of the Poor Population in theUnited States (Washington, DC: Centerfor Immigration Studies, 1999).

6. National Center for EducationStatistics, Condition ofEducation(Washington, DC: U.S. Department ofEducation, National Center for EducationStatistics, 1999), 128.

7. Kati Haycock, "Closing the

Achievement Gap," EducationalLeadership 58, no. 6 (March 2001).

8. R.C. Johnston and D. Viadero, "Unmet

Promise: Raising Minority Achievement,"Education Week, 15 March 2000; and TheCollege Board, Reaching the Top: A Report

of the National Task Force On MinorityHigh Achievement (New York, NY: College

Entrance Examination Board, 1999).

9. The College Board, Reaching the Top.

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid.

12. H. Mehan and S. Grimes, Measuring

the Achievement Gap in San Diego CitySchools (report prepared for the SanDiego Dialogue). Available online atwww.sddialogue.org/papers/achievement%20gap/gap.html (1999).

13. The College Board, Reaching the Top.

14. U.S. Office of National Drug Control

Policy, Preventing Youth Hate Crime

(Washington, DC: Office of National DrugControl Policy, 2000).

15. Ibid.

16. J.J. Zogby, What Ethnic AmericansReally Think(Utica, NY: ZogbyInternational, 2001).

17. Ibid.

18. A. Etzioni, The Monochrome Society

(Princeton, NJ: Princeton UniversityPress, 2001); and Zogby.

19. National Alliance of Business,

"Workforce Diversity: A BusinessImperative in the Global Economy,"

Work America 15, no. 9 (1998).

20. Ibid.

21. The Civil Rights Project, "ExecutiveSummary: Conference on MinorityIssues in Special Education" (Cam-bridge, MA: Harvard University, 2000).Available on line atwww.law.harvard.edukivilrights/conferences/SpecEd/exsummary.html.

22. Patricia Bill, ed., "Studies Show RacialDisproportions in Special Education,"The Pacesetter (Summer 2001).

23. Haycock, "Closing the AchievementGap."

24. Samuel Casey Carter, No ErcusesSeven Principals of Low-Income SchoolsWho Set the Standard for High

Achievement(Washington, DC: HeritageFoundation, 1999).

25. Ibid.

26. Maxine Bleich, "All Schools Can

Learn," Education Week, 14 June 1995.

27. M.J. Puma, N. Karweit, C. Price, A.

Ricciuti, W. Thompson, and M. Vaden-

Kiernan, Prospects: Final Report OnStudent Outcomes (Cambridge, MA: Abt

Associates, 1997).

28. J.B. Boyer, "Barriers and Bridges to

Multicultural Education in AmericanEducation," in Accommodating Changeand Diversity: Multicultural Practices inRural Schools, ERIC Document 326 362

(Manhattan, KS: The Rural Clearinghousefor Lifelong Education and Development,1990): 59-66.

29. T. Sobol,"Understanding Diversity,"

Educational Leadership 48, no. 3 (1990):27-30.

30. National Center for EducationStatistics, Digest ofEducation Statistics(Washington, DC: U.S. Department ofEducation, National Center for EducationStatistics, 2000).

31. E. Aronson and A. Gonzalez,

"Desegregation, Jigsaw, and the Mexican-

American Experience," in Eliminating

Racism, ed. P. Katz and D. Taylor (New York,

NY: Plenum, 1988); and Signithia Fordham,

"Racelessness in Private Schools: Should We

Deconstruct the Racial and CulturalIdentity of African American Adolescents?"

Teachers College Record92 (1991): 470-84.

846

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32. L.J. Swanson,"Learning Styles: A

Review of the Literature," ERICDocument 387067 HE028652 (1995); and

L. Laosa, "Multicultural Education-How Psychology Can Contribute,"Journal of Teacher Education 28 (1977):26-30.

33. J.A. Banks, "Ethnicity, Class,

Cognitive, and Motivational Styles:Research and Teaching Implications,"Journal of Negro Education57 , vol. 4

(1988): 452-466.

34. C. Walker, "Learning English: The

Southeast Asian Refugee Experience,"Topics in Language Disorders 5 (1985):

53-65.

35. L. Espinosa and S. Lesar, "IncreasingLanguage Minority Family and ChildCompetencies for School Success" (paperpresented at the annual meeting of theAmerican Educational ResearchAssociation, New Orleans, Louisiana,April 1994); and L.B. Liontos, At-Risk

Families and Schools: Becoming PartnersERIC Document 342 055 (Eugene, OR:

ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational

Management, 1992).

36. U.S. Department of Education,Implementing Schoolwide Projects: AnIdeabook for Educators (Washington, DC:

U.S. Department of Education, 1994).

37. Janice E. Hale-Benson, Black Children:

Their Roots, Culture, and Learning Style(revised edition) (Baltimore, MD: Johns

Hopkins University Press, 1986).

38. C. Zaslavsky, "IntegratingMathematics with the Study of CulturalTraditions," ERIC Document 303 540(paper presented to the 6th AnnualInternational Conference onMathematical Education, Budapest,Hungary, 1988).

39. M. Fulton-Scott, "BilingualMulticultural Education vs. Integratedand Non-Integrated ESL Instruction,"NABE Journal 11, no. 3 (1983): 1-12.

40. W.G. Stephan, "Intergroup Relations,"in The Handbook of Social Psychology(3rd edition, 2nd volume), ed. G. Lindzeyand E. Aronson (New York, NY: Random

House, 1985), 599-658.

41. K. Cotton and K. Reed Wikelund,"Parent Involvement in Education,"School Improvement Research Series,Close-Up #6(Portland, OR: NorthwestRegional Educational Laboratory,1989).

42. J.L. Epstein, "School and FamilyPartnerships," in Encyclopedia ofEducational Research, ed. M. Alkin (New

York, NY: MacMillan, 1992), 1141.

43. Iowa State Department of Education,Parent Involvement in Education: AResource for Parents, Educators, andCommunities (Des Moines, IA: Iowa State

Department of Education, 1998).

44. A. Henderson, "Parent Involvement inSchool Restructuring," Policy Briefs no. 9

(Naperville, IL: North Central Regional

Educational Laboratory, 1990).

45. W. Sanders and J. Rivers, Cumulativeand Residual Effects of Teachers onFuture Student Academic Achievement(Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee,

Value-Added Research and Assessment

Center, 1996).

46. Boston Public Schools, "High School

Restructuring," 9 March 1998.

47. John F. Kain and Kraig Singleton,

"Equality of Educational OpportunityRevisited," New England EconomicReview(Maygune 1996).

48. H. Lankford, J. Wyckoff, and E Papa,

The Labor Market for Public SchoolTeachers: A Descriptive Analysi:s. of New

York State's Teacher Workforce (Albany,

NY: University at Albany, 2000).

49. Ronald Ferguson, "Evidence thatSchools Can Narrow the Black-White TestScore Gap," in The Black-White Test Score

Gap, ed. C.S. Jencks and M. Phillips(Washington, DC: Brookings Institution

Press, 1998).

50. Education Trust, "Good TeachingMatters: How Well-Qualified Teachers

Can Close the Gap," Thinking K-163, no.2 (Summer 1998).

51. U.S. Department of Education, UrbanSchools: The Challenge of Location andPoverty(Washington, DC: U.S.

Department of Education, Office ofEducational Research and Improvement,1996).

52. Education Trust, "The Other Gap:Poor Students Receive Fewer Dollars,"Education Trust Data Bulletin, 6 March2001.

53. National Association of State Boardsof Education, The Full Measure: The

Report of the NASBE Study Group on

Statewide Assessment Systems(Alexandria, VA: NASBE, 1997).

54. Education Trust, Dispelling the Myth:High-Poverty Schools ExceedingExpectations (Washington, DC: EducationTrust, 1999), 2-3.

55. Eugene Garcia, The Education ofLinguistically and Culturally DiverseStudents: Effective InstructionalPractices (Santa Cruz, CA: University ofCalifornia-Santa Cruz, National Centerfor Research on Cultural Diversity andSecond Language Learning, 1991).

47

A MOIRE PERFECT UNllON

56. B.A. Kosmin and E. Mayer, American

Religious Identification Survey(NewYork, NY: City University of New York,

2001).

57. J.D. Spears, J.P. Oliver, and S.C. Maes,

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The Rural Clearinghouse for LifelongEducation and Development, 1990).

58. R. Beswick, Radsm in America'sSchools, ERIC Digest Series, Number EA

49, ERIC Document 320196 (Eugene, OR:

ERIC Clearinghouse on EducationalManagement Eugene OR, 1990).

59. J.P. Oliver, "The Relationship between

the Racial Attitudes of White CollegeFreshmen and Sophomores as Influencedby Exposure to Multicultural EducationPractices" (Ph.D. dissertation, KansasState University, 1991).

60. S. Tomlinson, Multicultural Educationin White Schools (London: B.T. BatsfordLtd, 1990).

61. National Council of the Social Studies(NCSS), Curriculum Guidelines for

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Directors in 1976 and revised in 1991).

62. Ibid.

63. J. Garbarino, Raising Children in aSocially Toxic Environment (San

Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1995); R.W.

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University of Minnesota, Division of

General Pediatrics and AdolescentHealth, 1997); and K.J. Pittman and M.Cahill, Pushing the Boundaries ofEducation: The Implications of a YouthDevelopment Approach to EducationPolicies, Structures, and Collaborations(Washington, DC: Council of Chief StateSchool Officers, 1992).

64. M. Inger, Increasing the SchoolInvolvement of Hispanic Parents, ERICDigest Number 80, EDO-UD-92-3 (New

York, NY: Columbia University, ERIC

Clearinghouse on Urban Education,1992).

65. S. Nicolau and C.L. Ramos, Together IsBetter: Building Strong Relationshipsbetween Schools and Hispanic Parents(Washington, DC: Hispanic Policy

Development Project, 1990), 13.

66. Cotton and Reed, "Parent Involve-

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67. Laosa, "Multicultural Education."

68. M.W. LaCelle-Peterson and C. Rivera,"Is It Real for All Kids? A Framework for

Equitable Assessment Policies for EnglishLanguage Learners," HarvardEducational Review64, no. 1 (Spring1994): 55-75.

69. President's Advisory Commission onEducational Excellence for HispanicAmericans, Creating the Will: HispanicsAchieving Educational Excellence(Washington, DC: President's AdvisoryCommission on Educational Excellencefor Hispanic Americans, 2000).

70. J. Cummins, "Empowering MinorityStudents: A Framework for Interven-tion," Harvard Educational Review56,no. 1 (1986): 18-36; S.B. Heath, Ways with

Words: Language, Life, and Work inCommunities and Classrooms (NewYork, NY: Cambridge University Press,

1983); T. Kochman, Black and White:Styles in Conflict (Chicago, IL:

University of Chicago Press, 1981); andS.U. Philips, The Invisible Culture:Communication in Classroom andCommunity on the Warm SpringsIndian Reservation (New York, NY:

Longman, 1983).

71. National Association of State Boardsof Education, T he Numbers Game:Ensuring Quantity and Quality in theTeaching Work Force (Alexandria, VA:


72. L. Darling-Hammond, "How Teaching

Knowledge Matters," Thinking K-164, no.1 (2000): 20.

73. NASBE, The Numbers Game.

74. National Association of State Boardsof Education, Principals of Change. WhatEducation Leaders Need to Guide Schoolsto Excellence (Alexandria, VA: National

Association of State Boards of Education,1999).

75. J. Liable and S. Harrington, "ThePower and Possibility of Leading withAlternative Values," InternationalJournal of Leadership Education 1, no. 2(1998): 111-135.

76. NASBE, Principals of Change.

77. James McPartland, cited in NationalAssociation of State Boards of Education,Failure Is Not an Option: The Next Stageof Education Reform (Alexandria, VA:


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