How do deficit, expectation, and cultural difference theories explain disparate academic performance among various racial, ethnic, and cultural groups? Most white Americans believe that schools offer equitable educational opportunities to all children, and do not "see" the invisible privileges that they enjoy. Deficit, expectation, and cultural difference theories offer different explanations for the academic gaps that characterize different group performance in America's schools.
What major developments have marked the educational history of Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, and Arab Americans? Each ethnic and racial group in America shares a unique history. Despite a national commitment to educate all citizens, bias and discrimination characterize the histories of many of these groups. Native Americans have seen their culture attacked through forced schooling practices. Even educating African Americans during the colonial period was sometimes illegal, and, when schools were provided, they were inadequate and underfunded. The doctrine of "separate but equal" (Plessy v. Ferguson) legalized segregated schools, but, in 1954 (Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka), "separate but equal" was declared unconstitutional. Yet resegregation increases, due in large part to racially segregated neighborhoods. Hispanics (or Latinos) are now the largest minority group in the United States, comprising large proportion of Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans. Hispanic immigration from Central America, including Nicaragua and El Salvador, is increasing. Asian is a broad label assigned to several billion people from a score of nations. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders comprise another rapidly growing population, and like Hispanics, must adjust to a new culture and language. Students from China and India are stereotyped as model minorities, a label that often masks the impact of prejudice on these children. Misunderstanding and intolerance have been all-too-common facts of life for three million Americans of Arab descent. Many Americans confuse Arabs and Moslems, mistaking Islam, a religion, with Arabs, a cultural group.
What educational barriers and breakthroughs have girls and women experienced? For much of this nation's history, females were denied access to or segregated within schools. Researchers continue to find subtle bias in classroom interactions, curriculum materials, and enrollment patterns. Title IX of the 1972 Educational Amendments Act prohibits sex discrimination in schools that receive federal financial assistance, and progress is evident by increased female participation in athletics and improved test scores in math and science. Compliance with Title IX, however, remains erratic.
What classroom strategies are appropriate for teaching culturally diverse learners? Teachers can create more equitable classrooms through a variety of instructional techniques: ensuring that seating and grouping patterns are not segregated by gender, race or language, varying learning activities, increasing wait-time, using space and eye contact in a culturally sensitive manner, and using materials to meet individual student needs and interests.
What impact do changing family patterns and economic issues have on children and schools? Nearly one in six U.S. children lives in poverty, a condition that frequently short-circuits educational promise. The traditional family unit of the past has undergone a radical transformation. Divorce, remarriage, wage earning, parenting, and alternative relationships have restructured the family and the home-school connection. Latchkey children are found throughout society; the more educated the parent, the more likely there is a latchkey child at home. Passage of the 1987 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, amended in 1990, was strengthened in 2001 and is intended to lessen the impact of homelessness on Americans. This law protects the rights of children who have no permanent address to attend school and receive all necessary services and opportunities.
How can educators respond to social issues that place children at risk? Today, approximately nine in ten white students complete high school; poor students, urban students, students of color and especially Hispanics are far more likely to drop out. The mixed sexual messages sent to students in our society have contributed to an alarmingly high rate of teenage pregnancy. Many pregnant teenagers are destined for abbreviated educational careers, and ultimately poverty. Fear of AIDS and STDs has served as a catalyst for establishing sex education programs, but the quality of these programs varies tremendously. "Abstinence-only" programs compete with comprehensive sex education. The courts, contending that AIDS is a disability, do not allow schools to discriminate against students or teachers with HIV. Substance abuse by teens has generally declined since the 1970s, yet both alcohol and smoking remain major problems. For the general population, the suicide rate has decreased, yet youth suicide has tripled in the last quarter century, a warning sign of a persistent and undetected social problem. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth are more likely to commit suicide than are heterosexual youngsters, and face a generally hostile school climate. Today, bullying is being taken as a more serious problem than in the past, and schools and teachers are working to create safer school climates. Guidelines for teachers include taking an active role in recognizing and confronting bullying,
