Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

Latino Students In Lawrence: An Educational Profile, Lorna Rivera

Gastón Institute Publications

With financial support from the National Council of La Raza, the Gastón Institute is developing "Educational Profiles" for the sixteen Massachusetts public school districts with the highest Latino student enrollments: Boston, Springfield, Lawrence, Worcester, Holyoke, Lowell, Lynn, Chelsea, New Bedford, Brockton, Fitchburg, Salem, Chicopee, Framingham, Haverhill, and Somerville. The profiles present basic data provided by the Massachusetts Department of Education including information on student enrollment, MCAS results, dropout rates, and student aspirations. We hope this information will be used by Latino students, parents, educators, and policy-makers to make informed decisions and improve public education for Latino students in Massachusetts.

Latino Students In Boston: An Educational Profile, Miren Uriarte

Gastón Institute Publications

Having an impact on public policy requires that groups and communities be able to understand and manage information. But it is often the case that data and information that can be useful to community action is not accessible or understandable. Since 1992, when the 1990 census data became available, the Gastón Institute has developed data profiles of each city and town with significant Latino population in an effort to bridge this important aspect of the information gap facing Latino communities in the state. The feedback from community leaders and organizations about these data profiles led us to use a similar …

Access To Educational Opportunities For Latino Students In Four Massachusetts School Districts, Carole C. Upshur, Rodolfo R. Vega, Natalie Carithers, Charles Jones, Dale Lucy-Allen, Tatjana Meschede, Charles Ndungu

Gastón Institute Publications

This report was prompted by the pressing concerns over the high failure rates of Latino students on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exam. While 27% of White students failed the English portion of the MCAS test and 38% failed the Mathematics portion in 2000, the corresponding rates for Latino students were 66% and 79% respectively (Massachusetts Department of Education, 2000a). There is a great urgency to understand why Latino students score substantially behind students from other racial/ethnic groups. This urgency stems from the reality that students currently enrolled in the 10th grade will be required to pass this exam …

Latino Students And The Massachusetts Public Schools, Miren Uriarte, Lisa Chavez

Gastón Institute Publications

This report presents basic information about Latino students in the public schools of Massachusetts. First, recent population data on Latino youth and public school enrollment are presented, highlighting those areas of the Commonwealth where Latinos are densely concentrated. The report then proceeds to the achievement of Latino students in the schools, highlighting recently published cohort dropout data and MCAS test results for Latinos. Finally, the report examines the after-high-school plans of Latino graduates.

Let's Get It Started: Teaching Teachers How To Implement A Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Jamal A. Cooks

Trotter Review

In today's American schools, many teachers are faced with the problem of keeping African-American students engaged in the lessons taught in pre-K-12 classrooms, a problem which at times leads to low academic performance. According to data presented in the 1994 National Assessment of Educational Progress, 48% and 66% of African-American students scored below the basic competency level in reading and mathematics respectively. With many African-American students being labelled "not proficient" in some academic content areas, a growing achievement gap exists between African-American and European-American students. This gap contributes to fewer African-Americans 1) gaining access to institutions of higher education; 2) …

A Phenomenon Of Religious Relevance Developing At Predominantly White Institutions, Donald Brown

Trotter Review

In a recent conversation with a colleague at a neighboring institution, we reflected that in the nearly twenty-five years that we have worked at predominantly white universities, little has changed with respect to Black students dissatisfaction with campus life. Since the 1960's, a considerable amount of research has been done on the causes of attrition among Black students in higher education. A number of themes have emerged as causative factors of dissatisfaction and, in far too many cases, attrition among Black students. Three themes, however, seem to re-surface repeatedly. They are the feelings of alienation, isolation and loneliness. Many Black …

Leadership For Diversity: Effectively Managing For A Transformation, Adrian K. Haugabrook

Trotter Review

Diversity has become a contentious theme woven throughout many different aspects of higher education. Multiculturalism, ethnic studies, women's studies, curriculum reform, strategies for increasing access and opportunity to the under-represented and under-served and improving campus climate have all been vehicles to promote and further diversity initiatives. Diversity stands to challenge much of what has been the traditional views of higher education. The efforts to promote multiculturalism and diversity have caused the academy and the enterprise of higher learning to introspectively examine and reexamine its values, beliefs and relationships to a much larger society. American higher education now sees itself in …

Enhancing Multicultural Education Through Higher Education Initiatives, Porter L. Troutman Jr.

Trotter Review

This paper describes a comprehensive initiative intended to increase multicultural education and the amount of ethnic diversity among college of education faculty and undergraduate teacher education students at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The paper details six components of the on-going initiative: 1) staff development: to enhance the sensitivity of college of education faculty regarding cultural issues, 2) a minority mentoring program: to provide a stronger support system for under-represented populations enrolled in the teacher education program, 3) the multicultural education project (MCE): a collaborative effort with the public school district in multicultural education, 4) the College of …

Preparing White Undergraduate Pre-Service Teachers To Teach African-American Students: What Does It Take?, Frances Y. Lowden

Trotter Review

A strong appreciation and knowledge of diverse cultures is vital in delivering what the Association for Childhood Education International position paper identifies as the curricular areas that should be addressed in a preparation program for teachers of young children. Thus, undergraduates must develop: 1) an acquaintance with great music, art and literature, 2) a knowledge of health, safety and nutrition, 3) an understanding of the physical and biological aspects of the world and the universe 4) a knowledge of mathematical concepts 5) an ability to read with comprehension, then to analyze, interpret, and judge a wide range of written material, …

The Implementation Of Radical Constructivism Within The Urban Mathematics Classroom, Randy Lattimore

Trotter Review

One of the most serious problems in mathematics education continues to be the dismal statewide mathematics proficiency test performance of African-American students in urban schools. It has been argued that one of the best ways to improve performance is by connecting the pedagogy of mathematics to the lives and experiences of these students. Although many theories have been implemented in the urban mathematics classroom to assist African-American students in developing and increasing conceptual understanding, members of the urban mathematics education community should take a closer, more serious look at the implementation of radical constructivism within urban mathematics classrooms.

A number …

Commentary: An Interview With Dr. Clarence Williams, Special Assistant To The President Of Minority Affairs, Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Harold W. Horton

Trotter Review

Dr. Clarence Williams is a champion of commitment to racial and ethnic diversity in higher education, and is an individual who as folks might say with admiration and colloquially, "never forgot where he came from." Quietly, but powerfully and effectively, Dr. Williams has been a force for racial and ethnic diversity in higher education. Interview conducted by Harold Horton.

We Could Shape It: Organizing For Asian Pacific American Student Empowerment, Peter Nien-Chu Kiang

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

With the doubling of the school-age population of Asian Pacific Americans during the 1990s, the unmet needs of Asian Pacific Americans are escalating dramatically in schools throughout the country. In most settings, teachers, counselors, and administrators do not share the ethnic, linguistic, and racial backgrounds of their Asian Pacific American students. Constrained by limited resources, an increasingly hostile, anti-immigrant climate, and their own stereotypical assumptions, educators have been unable to respond effectively to the full range of academic, social, and personal challenges that face growing numbers of Asian Pacific American students.

Teaching African-American Children: The Legacy Of Slavery, Harold Horton

New England Journal of Public Policy

The pathetic state of urban public school education offered to African-American children stems from slavery, when it was against the law to educate slaves, who were regarded as chattel. This article traces the history of the blighting of their minds by stripping those slaves of their African culture, and its effect on African-American children, as well as other children of color, today. Horton offers suggestions for coping with the problems of modern schools as related to respecting and teaching these children, pointing out that the system is the problem, not the children.

Notes On Higher Education In The 1990s, Zelda F. Gamson

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article consists of a series of essays written for The Academic Workplace, the newsletter of the New England Resource Center for Higher Education, since 1990. The backdrop for the essays is the increasing inequality in higher education caused by changes in the political economy of higher education, especially in New England. The first essay analyzes the roots of contemporary faculty dissatisfaction with their work lives by tracing the impacts of the expansion of higher education, changes in the student body, and greater government involvement in higher education. Subsequent essays discuss multicultural education, faculty shortages, political correctness, responses to …

Are Today's Teachers Being Prepared For Diversity? An Analysis Of School Catalogues, James Jennings, Illene Carver

Trotter Review

A recent content analysis study shows that while leading educators in Massachusetts stress the importance of preparing teachers for an increasingly diverse world, most teacher preparation schools virtually ignore the issue of racial and ethnic diversity in catalogues recruiting new students. This not only discourages people from diverse backgrounds from becoming teachers, but could also create a lack of understanding in the classroom of the black, Latino, and Asian students being taught.

A summary of A Content Analysis of Racial and Ethnic Themes in Catalogues Distributed by Teacher Preparation Schools in Massachusetts, 1989 and 1990, a report issued by …

Thoughts On Black Conservativism: A Review Essay, Martin Kilson

Trotter Review

In Reflections of an Affirmative Action Baby, Stephen L. Carter, an Afro-American law professor at Yale University, has written a wide-ranging book on affirmative action policy. Like numerous other books on the subject, Carter covers the issues of its legitimacy as policy, white opposition, impact on black mobility, and contradictions faced by universities in administering affirmative action. Carter also offers a new area of discussion — namely, the evolving division among Afro-Americans regarding affirmative action, allocating six of eleven chapters to facets of this issue. Carter uses his own experiences to frame these discussions — a mode of discourse …

Introduction, James Jennings

Trotter Review

This issue of the Trotter Institute Review is devoted to a two-part proposition. The first is that institutions, agencies, businesses, and schools must begin to reflect the increasingly diverse ethnic and racial characteristics of American society. America is in the midst of a demographic revolution. It is unfortunate that some educators have chosen to ignore the social, economic, and intellectual implications of this change and that others have even become angry and attacked efforts to create an appreciation of multiculturalism.

This unfortunate resistance to the implications of America's unfolding demography leads to the second proposition reflected in this issue of …

Approaches To Multicultural Curriculum Reform, James A. Banks

Trotter Review

Several identifiable approaches to the integration of ethnic content into the curriculum have evolved since the 1960s, The Contributions Approach to in tegration is one of the most frequently used and is often used extensively during the first phase of an ethnic revival movement. This approach is characterized by the addition of ethnic heroes into the curriculum that are selected using criteria similar to those used to select mainstream heroes for inclusion into the curriculum. The mainstream curriculum remains unchanged in terms of its basic structure, goals, and salient characteristics.

Race And Excellence In American Higher Education, James Jennings

Trotter Review

W,E.B. DuBois’ assessment of American higher education’s posture toward black students in 1926 — “The attitude of the northern institution toward the Negro student is one which varies from tolerance to active hostility” — could have been written today based on several investigations. The American Council on Education reported recently that “the higher education community must continue to address the issues of losses in participation at all levels for blacks; the segregation of Hispanics; the retention and graduation of minority students, both undergraduate and graduate; the lack of growth for minorities in faculty and staff ranks.” The College Board reports …

Dynamics Of Minority Education: An Index To The Status Of Race And Ethnic Relations In The United States, James E. Blackwell

Trotter Review

Throughout this century scholars and legal experts have devoted special attention to the issue of race and ethnicity as a determinant of life chances in the United States. Some of the more influential treatises in the social and behavioral sciences, many of which have become classics, addressed fundamental, derivative (and often more compelling) extensions of race and ethnicity. They focused on such topics as race-based group dominance, ethnic stratification, structural inequality based upon racial or ethnic identification, beliefs in inherent racial superiority and status privilege, class exploitation, the nature of prejudice, and the maintenance of power over groups defined as …

The Quality Of Public Education In Boston: An Assessment And Some Recommendations, Karen Seashore Louis

Center for Survey Research Publications

Motivation, self-esteem, achievement and the development of tolerance and acceptance of others -- these are the goals that most, like Crain, et al., have come to accept as legitimate objectives of public schooling. Yet, there is substantial opinion that the public schools of Boston have been unable to achieve standards in these areas that are acceptable to the public, the students who occupy the schools, and the professionals who run them. For example, a recent survey of Boston residents' attitudes toward the schools indicates that approximately 3/4 of all respondents -- irrespective of race, or whether there were any school …