"I cannot learn from you
unless you can accept me and find value in me for who and what
I am." --From
Beverly Tatum, "Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together
in the Cafeteria?"
Effective schools work consciously and mindfully to
provide a caring, respectful community for all students that acknowledges
and values them and who they are. In addition to personalization
and ongoing relationships, this work involves a serious commitment
to multicultural and antiracist teaching, which promotes respect
for diversity and creates a context within which students’
experiences can be understood, appreciated, and connected to the
curriculum.
The
Effect of Low Expectations Many students of color have had negative
experiences in society that undermine their self-confidence and
their conception of their own ability to succeed – and they
may well have had those experiences in school. Jacqueline Irvine’s
(1990) review of research about teacher expectations found that
teachers hold more negative attitudes about black children’s
ability, language, behavior and potential, than they do of white
children’s. Other studies have documented similar teacher
perceptions of Latino students. Still other studies have found that
children of color have fewer favorable interactions with their teachers
and are more likely to be punished for offenses that white students
commit with little or no consequence. Black students, particularly
males, are more likely to be suspended from schools than whites
for similar situations (Carter & Goodwin, 1994; Fine, 1991;
Nieto, 1992).
Most disturbing is what happens when students
fail to conform to the expectations that schools have for them.
In one study, 66 white student teachers each worked with two white
students and two black students. One student of each race was identified
to the teacher as gifted. The study found that the black student
who was labeled “gifted” – especially when he
was male – received less attention, less praise, less encouragement,
and more criticism, than any of the other students in the class
(Rubovitz & Maehr, 1973).
The
Effect of Discrimination Outside of schools, students experience
discrimination in a variety of ways as well, ranging from the employment
and housing conditions in their communities to the encounters they
have with others to the dismal conditions of many of their schools.
In contrast to other countries that fund their schools centrally
and equally, U.S. schools are funded extremely inequitably. Across
the country, the richest 10 percent of schools spend nearly 10 times
more than the poorest 10 percent. Study after study has found that
schools serving low-income and minority students have fewer dollars,
less well-qualified teachers, larger class sizes, larger school
sizes, fewer books, materials, and equipment, and more dilapidated
facilities. Within large schools, tracking systems segregate students
and allocate lower-quality curriculum and teaching to those in the
bottom tracks – once again, disproportionately those students
who have the least political voice (Darling-Hammond, 1997).
Young people are very observant. They note these patterns. They
understand when they are not considered to be deserving of a rigorous
and humane education. It is little wonder then that some students
create an identity that is oppositional to school: How can you buy
into something that has identified you as unworthy or incapable
of succeeding?
Culturally
Responsive Pedagogy Effective schools develop and maintain
environments that explicitly embrace the cultures represented by
the students in their classrooms as well as in the larger society.
There is a large body of research showing that effective teachers
of students of color, white teachers and teachers of color alike,
form and maintain connections with students within their social
contexts. They celebrate their students as individuals and as members
of specific cultures. They ask students to share who they are and
what they know with the class in a variety of ways. They regularly
incorporate instructional materials that provide various viewpoints
from different cultures. These teachers exhibit a culturally responsive
pedagogy (Irvine, 1992; Ladson-Billings, 1992; Garcia, 1993).
Knowledge
of the Community Successful teachers of students of color
do not shy away from issues of race and culture. With students of
varying language backgrounds, they allow the use of multiple languages.
They are familiar with students’ ways of talking and ways
of working, even when they instruct in standard English and traditional
content. Connections to the community are an essential component
of multicultural and anti-racist learning environments. Teachers
consistently use their knowledge of the community to advance student
learning and to fortify feelings of solidarity with the students
they teach. They share students' passion and affection for the community
and its multiple cultures. They acknowledge the realities that students
encounter and work with them in pro-social ways to increase equity
and opportunity.
Active
Approach to Teaching These teachers are passionate about their
content as well as about their students’ learning. They use
an active approach to teaching – demonstrating, modeling,
explaining, writing, giving feedback, reviewing, emphasizing higher
order skills, pushing and prodding. They do not allow students to
settle for less than they are capable of achieving. They avoid relying
on rote learning, drill and practice, or excessive punishment; instead,
they see the teacher-student relationship as humane and equitable
and characterized by a sense of community and teamwork.
Multiculturalism At the school level, multiculturalism
is reflected through both subtle and explicit norms and mores. Tracking
does not exist in these schools, although students can choose different
classes based on their interests as they reach their junior and
senior years. Students are not segregated, nor are they excluded
from any part of the school's life. They are actively encouraged
to create and participate in social clubs and activities that reflect
the local community's cultures, values and traditions. Their families'
participation in the school is a valued contribution that staff
members pursue through persistent outreach via multilingual invitations
and announcements, home visits, and social events.
Democratic
Schools that Construct Diversity One of the major challenges facing small
schools is that there will be a tendency in some cases for them
to become homogeneous. All of us feel more comfortable with people
who are like us, whom we already understand and identify with. It
will be a special challenge for us to create democratic schools
that seek out diversity, in people, perspectives, ideas, and experiences,
and then to work to ensure that the diversity is valued as a great
source of strength.
In Democracy and Education, John Dewey (1916) noted
that “a democracy is more than a form of government; it is
primarily a mode of associated living” (p. 87). He stressed
the importance of creating circumstances in which people share a
growing number of interests and participate in a growing number
of associations with other groups, noting that:
In order to have a large number of values in common, all the members
of the group must have an equitable opportunity to receive and to
take from others. There must be a large variety of shared undertakings
and experiences. Otherwise, the influences which educate some into
masters educate others into slaves. And the experience of each party
loses in meaning, when the free interchange of varying modes of
life experiences is arrested (p. 84).
Communications that, in Dewey’s words,
are “vitally social or vitally shared” allow people
to experience the perspectives of others, and by that connection
to develop understanding and appreciation for that person’s
experience of the world, thus expanding their own knowledge and
building a broader common ground. This is the fundamental goal of
education in a democratic society.
