Transcript Decreasing the Achievement Gap

Decreasing the Achievement
Gap
Teaching to Diverse
Populations
What is diversity?
On the paper in front of you list what
diversity means
After 1 minute you will share with your
group and write the consensus in the
middle
After 3 minutes the group will share
with the audience
Differences in…
Age
Race
Home life
Culture
Gender
Religion
Learning Ability
Physical Ability
Socio-economic Status
The Achievement
Gap in Numbers
Reading Ability
At a fourth grade level NAEP results
showed that in 2003 …
75% of Whites read at a basic level or
above
44% of Hispanics read at a basic level or
above
40% of Blacks read at a basic level or
above
By the time of graduation, Blacks and
Hispanics read at the equivalent of
White eighth graders
College
Blacks and Hispanics are less likely to
graduate than Whites
From the 1998 to 2002 school term
59% of Whites graduated
36% of Latinos
40% of African Americans
In Berkeley County
There is an excess of students of
color being referred for Special
Education
Reasons for the
Achievement Gap
In the Classroom
Students of color
Receive less instructional attention
Are called on less
Are not asked higher order thinking or
probing questions
Are praised less
Are reprimanded more often
Are complimented for “acting nice” rather
than their thinking ability
Reasons
The teacher may
Be impatient waiting for the child to
come up with a response
Be intimidated by students of color
Not have experience dealing with
students of color
Have difficulty understanding the child’s
speech
Not want to “waste” time on those
students who are unprepared
Teacher Expectations
Expectations change consciously or
unconsciously depending on race, gender,
social class, home language, and physical
appearance
Social interactions with the teacher have
an effect on achievement
Expectations also change with students
who do not speak politely, do not use
standard grammar, or use few words when
speaking
Trends in Teaching
“You cannot teach those children
because they are not motivated to
learn” (Gay, 2000, p. 57)
Teachers blame achievement on
home life
Teachers spend less time with low
achieving students
Teachers do not base expectations on
reality, but instead preconceived
beliefs
Changing Schools
Mismatch of School and Culture
Problem
If students conform to school, they are isolated
by their culture
If students conform to culture, they are isolated
by the school
Students may by used to working together at
home, but never are able to do so in school
Students may not have been brought up to look
at adults when they are being reprimanded
Some cultures do not believe in interactions
between students and teachers
Students culture may lead to students answering
factual questions with stories that eventually get
to the correct answer.
Mismatch of School and Culture
Solution
Build a bridge between home culture
and school culture
Train teachers in diversity
Get to know students and understand
why they behave as they do
Approaches to Diversity
Contribution Approach
Celebrating special days and months such as
Kwaanza, Cinco de Mayo, Black History Month,
etc.
Must make sure representations are accurate
and not stereotyped
Transformation Approach
School looks at reality through many cultures,
not just the “WASP” (White, Anglo-Saxon
Protestant) viewpoint.
Change of curriculum
Teaching to students’ learning styles
School Climate
All students can succeed!
Develop every students’ potential
Safe and orderly
Feeling of respect and fairness
Code of conduct well publicized
Take responsibility for students rather
than blaming home
Working with Parents
Encourage participation in the school
Provide parents with basic skills,
community, parent and job education
Provide guidance on how to help students
with homework, organization, and study
skills
Teach parents to have high expectations
for the students
Encourage parents to learn with the child
Give parents an opportunity for input within
the school system
Time to Focus
Spend at least 2.5 hours reading –
incorporate it into other classes
Provide instructional materials for individual
needs
Provide time for teachers to see how
diversity is incorporated into others’
classrooms
Provide teachers with training and time to
discuss diversity
Teaching children in poverty
Teaching English learners
Teaching analysis of reading skills
Teachers as Learners
“Cycle of Inquiry” (Legler, 2004)
Teachers explore data
Ask questions
Try new approaches
Evaluate results
Start at the beginning of the cycle
Discussion
What does your school do at the
present to promote diversity?
What could the administration do in
the future?
Changing a Teacher
at a Time
Teaching Styles
Use learning inventories, questionnaires
and journaling to find cultural mismatches
Teach to different learning styles
Use cooperative learning
Create time to use discussion, appreciating
all viewpoints
Reading teachers should concentrate on
holistic methods rather than pronunciation
Teach learning strategies
Teaching Style (cont.)
Teach students to persist in problem
solving
Use various forms of assessment
Connect learning with previous knowledge
Build on student strengths
Show students how information can be
applied
Understand the beliefs of the students so
that one knows where the
misunderstandings are
Curriculum
Change curriculum to teach from
different view points such as teaching
Columbus from an Indian viewpoint
Teach the World Wars from another
country’s viewpoint
Read literature from other countries or
about diverse populations
Discussion
How can you change your
curriculum in order to make
it more diverse?
Teaching Affect
Be sure not to devalue home language or culture
Do not ignore social aspects of education
Show patience, persistence, facilitation, validation,
and empowerment towards the students
Honor the humanity of the students
Maintain high expectations for all students
Be a “warm demander”
acquire a knowledge base about ethnic and
cultural diversity and using this information to
relate to students
Teaching Affect (cont.)
Promote positive interactions between
students
discuss reflections with others and
collaborate with them to improve teaching
show concern for the whole student
psycho-emotional well being
Morality
social actions
obligations and celebrations
community and individuality
unique cultural connections
Your Turn
List three ways that you can use what
we have talked about today and apply
it in your classroom this week.
List three ways that you can use what
we have talked about today and apply
it in your classroom next year.
What can you do to get your entire
school to become a diverse learning
community?
Annotated
Bibliography
Bennett, A., Bridglall, B., Cauce, A., Everson, H., Gordon, E.,
Lee, C., et. al. (2004). All students reaching the top: Strategies
for closing academic achievement gaps. North Central Regional
Educational Laboratory. Retrieved August 7, 2005 from
http://www.ncrel.org/gap/studies/thetop.htm
This site concentrates on tips to move
between low SES and minority students
towards high levels of achievement. It
consists of information for teachers,
parents, community members and
administration. It emphasizes the
importance of critical thinking. The paper
was written by members of the National
Study Group for the Affirmative
Development of Academic Ability.
Bowman, B. (1994). Cultural diversity and academic
achievement. Pathways Home. Retrieved August 9, 2005, from
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/leadrshp/le0bow.
htm
This source emphasizes that all
students come to school with different
backgrounds. It focuses on how the
home life influences school
achievement and behavior.
Brandt, R. (May 1994). On educating for diversity: A
conversation with James A. Banks. Educational Leadership
51(8) 28-31.
This is an interview with James A.
Banks who discusses how to change
the mainstream classroom to help
students of all backgrounds deal with
the school and home life more easily.
He talks about the transformation
approach to making school more
diverse in addition to the contributions
approach.
Gay, G. (2000). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research
& practice. New York: Teachers College Press.
This is one of the course texts for
ED838. It discusses using culturally
responsive teaching in order to
improve the performance of students
of students of color. The book mostly
concentrates on students of African
American, Latino, and Asian
background. This book may be
borrowed from April Rearick at
Martinsburg North Middle School.
Hollins, E., King, J., and Hayman, W. (1994). Teaching diverse
populations: Formulating a knowledge base. New York: State
University of New York Press.
This book concentrates on improving
the quality of education for students of
diverse backgrounds. It also presents
background information on diversity
and discusses current research and
future research trends. This book can
be borrowed from Shepherd Library.
Legler, R. (Ed.). (2004). Perspectives on the gaps: Fostering the
academic success of minority and low-income students. North
Central Regional Educational Laboratory. Retrieved August 7,
2005 from http://www.ncrel.org/gap/studies/perspectives.htm
The paper summarizes four research
studies that work to close the
achievement gap. It highlights
possible ways to close the gap and
presets evidence to support each. It
is full of very helpful information.
Riehl, P. (1993). Five ways to analyze classrooms for an antibias approach. In Todd, C.M. (Ed.), School-age connections,
2(6), pp.1-3. Urbana-Champaign, IL: University of Illinois
Cooperative Extension Service. Retrieved August 7, 2005 from
http://www.nncc.org/Diversity/sac26_antibias.analyz.html#Anchor-6296#Anchor-6296
This website discusses five ways to be
sure that your classroom is unbiased and
accepts diversity. These five ways include
making sure it happens everyday and
everywhere, establishing positive self
esteem, presenting diversity as a positive
issue, making sure information is culturally
appropriate, historically accurate and nonstereotypical, and promoting critical
thinking.
Villegas, M. & Lucas, T. (2002). Educating culturally responsive
teachers. New York: State University of New York Press.
This book gives information on how to
teach culturally responsive teachers.
It focuses on how to teach teachers
information such as is presented in
Gay’s book. This book is available
through Shepherd Library.