Abstract
Each day in schools throughout the United States, students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds go into schools pursuing their right to a free and equitable public-school education. Due to the flourishing diversification of the United States, and the expanding immigrant refugee populations, the need for an educational system that provides all students with equal access to success in school is imperative. In urban areas, primarily those with minority and low-socioeconomic status students, continue to fall far behind their suburban white non-low socioeconomic status counterparts in terms of academic achievement. Students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds, primarily minority, within urban K12 school districts are struggling to meet the academic expectations in the United States. The authors seek to provide information that informs educators and policy makers on the history of the school system, educational policy and curriculum, and strategies and solutions that assist in closing the achievement gap for students of diverse backgrounds.
TopJourney Of Discovery Through The Classroom For Minority Students
School is an exceedingly important place for students to feel safe and comfortable. In order for students to retain information and learn, they need an atmosphere that is inviting and welcoming. Students that come from diverse cultural backgrounds may feel as if they stand out in the classroom, they may feel underrepresented in the instructional materials, etc. Beginning in elementary school, educators should take the time to plan for instruction that includes instruction centered around racial and culturally unique differences in the past, present, and future. Public schools across this country are required to educate all children regardless of race, national origin, or ethnicity. However, the zip code, socioeconomic status, and other demographic indicators have somewhat pre-determined the educational prosperity of a child. Given the increasing diversity in schools within the U.S., teachers must be able to recognize how race, ethnicity, and culture shape the learning experience for many students (Howard, 2010).
Leaders in the field of multicultural education such as Ladson-Billings (1995), Nieto (2000), Gay, (2000), Howard (2003), and Banks and Banks (2004), have advocated that the underachievement of African Americans and other minority groups, such as Latinos and Asian Pacific Islanders, comes as a result of the lack of culturally responsive teaching. Indeed, it has been argued that the key to learning is an understanding of culture. The researchers posit that in order to meet the educational needs of children, educators must first be able to understand the social, cultural and political experiences of the child. In traditional schooling, these experiences are either absent or ignored (Bankston, 2002; Murrell, 2002; Nieto, 2002).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT): The ability to understand the importance of respecting diverse cultures and life experiences and having positive perspectives on culturally diverse communities ( Park, 2010 )
Common Core State Standards: Learning goals that establishes what students should know and be able to do at each grade level and it ensures that high school graduates are prepared to enter college or careers (Rowan et. al, 2022 AU72: The in-text citation "Rowan et. al, 2022" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ).
No Child Left Behind: A law that was passed to hold states and schools to higher standards as well as measure their accountability using high stakes testing to monitor the educational gains of disadvantaged students ( U.S. Department of Education, 2013 ).
African American: An ethnic group of Americans with total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa.
Critical Race Theory: An explanation of the underachievement of African American students through the lens of race, class, and gender ( Howard, 2008 ).
Minority Students: A minority student is one who is identified as either African American/Black or Hispanic/Latino.
Racism: Racism can be defined as the transformation of racial prejudice into individual racism by using power directed against racial members who are defined as inferior (Neville, 2004 AU73: The in-text citation "Neville, 2004" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ).
Socio-Economic Status (SES): The American Psychological Association (2017) defined socio-economic status as the social standing of an individual measured by the yearly income of their household. Low socio-economic status often indicates inequities and lack of access to resources ( American Psychological Association, 2017 ).
Public Schools: An elementary or secondary school operated by a publicly elected governing board or appointed officials receiving its major financial support from public funds to provide equal opportunities for the education of all children of a district.
Culture: A lens through which life is perceived. Each culture, through its differences generates a phenomenologically different experience of reality. Thus, the same situation may be experienced and interpreted very differently, depending on the cultural backgrounds of the individuals involved ( Diller & Moule, 2005 , p. 5).
Student Achievement: Measures that amount of academic content a student learns in a determined amount of time. The most common indicator of achievement refers to a student’s performance in academic areas such as reading, languages arts, math and science as measured by achievement tests. (NBPTS, n.d. AU74: The in-text citation "NBPTS, n.d." is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. )
Culturally Competent: Being able to understand, effectively communicate with, and effectively interact with individuals across cultures. A culturally competent individual has a positive attitude towards cultural differences, is knowledgeable about different cultures, and is aware of their own world view ( Park, 2010 ).
Achievement Gap: The disparity between the academic performance of white students and other ethnic groups as well as that between English learners and native English speakers; socio-economically disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students; and students with disabilities as compared with students without disabilities (Cronin et.al, 2004).