ETE 663 - CHAPTER 2 - CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE APPROACH TO TEACHING

Achievement gap in schools as reported by NAEP (National Assessment of Education Progress).  In critical grades 4^th and 8^th the gap between blacks and whites is largest. Unfortunately in state of IL , the learning gap is  large for both 4^th and 8^th grade. Of significance is the gap in Math. Why? Studies cite high poverty schools, ill-equipped and prepared teachers, facilities gaps and lack of comprehensive tracking as contributory factors. Socioeconomic issues, such as hunger, crime and/or unstable housing, may distract some students. However I also believe the lessor qualified, poorly qualified or trouble teachers (tenured but won’t teach) are relegated to these schools because the perception is these kids don’t matter.

Foreign-born population is younger than native born and reside in the city. Age is also a barrier or should be a consideration in teaching. Teachers of a younger age may be able to better reach foreign-born students in the inner city.  Multicultural education approaches have to be as varied as the demographic it seeks to reach.

Nieto’s definition of Multi-Cultural Education, which begins with the tenet of Anti-racist education and ends with critical pedagogy is in my opinion begins at a point most people are not willing to own or accept, which is racism. Racism exists whether we attempt to sugar coat it or not. Bias, which is, in my opinion, the kissing cousin of racism also exists. Both are alive and well in America’s public school systems which is one of the reason minority children   consistently under-performing. A large part of both racism and bias begin with lack of education and fear.

 If Gay’s 7 Categories of Multicultural Education are applied more often, a greater tolerance and acceptance of multi-cultural people would lead to better educated multi-cultural children.  Content integration and empowerment as identified by James Bank’s definition of multicultural education are also actionable tools to improve multicultural education.  The Social Action Approach is the area I most identify with respect to making changes to improving relevant interaction between executives in my field.

Question: The theories shared in this Chapter, from Gardner’s to Gay’s are not new to educators. Why then is change so slow?  Is it possible to incentivize cultural teaching?