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Diversity Within Unity: Essential Principles for Teaching and Learning in a Multicultural Society

November 2001
Phi Delta Kappan 83(3)

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Incl. abstracts and bibl. references What do we know about education and diversity and how do we know it? This two-part question guided the Multicultural Education Consensus Panel that was sponsored by the Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Washington and the Common Destiny Alliance at the University of Maryland. This article is the product of a four-year project during which the Panel reviewed and synthesized research related to diversity. The findings of the Multicultural Education Consensus Panel, which are called essential principles, describe ways in which educational policy and practice related to diversity can be improved. These principles are derived from research and practice and are designed to help educational practitioners in all types of schools increase student academic achievement and improve intergroup skills. Another aim is to help schools successfully meet the challenges of and benefit from the diversity that characterizes the United States and its schools.

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James A. Banks

Peter Cookson

Geneva Gay

Willis D. Hawley

Jacqueline Jordan Irvine

Sonia Nieto

Janet Ward Schofield

Walter G. Stephan

Essential Principles for Teaching and Learning

in a Multicultural Society

DIVERSITY WITHIN UNITY

Center for Multicultural Education, College of Education

University of Washington, Seattle

means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage

retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright holder.

Center for Multicultural Education

College of Education

University of Washington

110 Miller

Box 353600

Seattle, WA 98195-3600

PHONE: 206-543-3386

E-MAIL: centerme@u.washington.edu

WEB SITE: http://depts.washington.edu/centerme/home.htm

DIVERSITY WITHIN UNITY

Essential Principles for Teaching and Learning

in a Multicultural Society

James A. Banks

Peter Cookson

Geneva Gay

Willis D. Hawley

Jacqueline Jordan Irvine

Sonia Nieto

Janet Ward Schofield

Walter G. Stephan

A publication of the Center for Multicultural Education,

College of Education, University of Washington, Seattle

Executive Summary 3

Teacher Learning 5

Student Learning 7

Intergroup Relations 9

School Governance, Organization, and Equity 10

Assessment 12

Conclusion 13

Essential Principles Checklist 14

References 19

The Authors 25

CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A consensus panel of interdisciplinary scholars worked over a four-year period to determine what we know from

research and experience about education and diversity. The panel was cosponsored by the Center for Multicultural

Education at the University of Washington and the Common Destiny Alliance at the University of Maryland. The

panel was supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and chaired by James A. Banks. The 12

major findings of the panel, which are called essential principles, constitute this publication. They are presented in this

Executive Summary.

This publication also contains a checklist designed to be used by educational practitioners to determine the extent to

which their institutions and environments are consistent with the essential principles.

Teacher Learning

Principle 1: Professional development programs should

help teachers understand the complex characteristics of

ethnic groups within U.S. society and the ways in which

race, ethnicity, language, and social class interact to

influence student behavior.

Student Learning

Principle 2: Schools should ensure that all students have

equitable opportunities to learn and to meet high

standards.

Principle 3: The curriculum should help students

understand that knowledge is socially constructed and

reflects researchers’ personal experiences as well as the

social, political, and economic contexts in which they live

and work.

Principle 4: Schools should provide all students with

opportunities to participate in extra- and cocurricular

activities that develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes that

increase academic achievement and foster positive

interracial relationships.

Intergroup Relations

Principle 5: Schools should create or make salient

superordinate crosscutting group memberships in order

to improve intergroup relations.

Principle 6: Students should learn about stereotyping and

other related biases that have negative effects on racial

and ethnic relations.

Principle 7: Students should learn about the values shared

by virtually all cultural groups (e.g., justice, equality,

freedom, peace, compassion, and charity).

Principle 8: Teachers should help students acquire the

social skills needed to interact effectively with students

from other racial, ethnic, cultural, and language groups.

Principle 9: Schools should provide opportunities for

students from different racial, ethnic, cultural, and

language groups to interact socially under conditions

designed to reduce fear and anxiety.

School Governance, Organization, and Equity

Principle 10: A school’s organizational strategies should

ensure that decision-making is widely shared and that

members of the school community learn collaborative

skills and dispositions in order to create a caring

environment for students.

Principle 11: Leaders should develop strategies that

ensure that all public schools, regardless of their locations,

are funded equitably.

Assessment

Principle 12: Teachers should use multiple culturally

sensitive techniques to assess complex cognitive and social

skills.

DIVERSITY WITHIN UNITY

The e

he ethnic,

thnic, cult

cultur

ural,

al, and languag

and language di

ediv

rsit

sity in the U

y in the Unit

nite

ed S

dStat

tates and in the

es and in the

nat

nation

ion’

’s s

ssc

cho

hoo

ols is inc

ls is incr

reasing c

easing conside

onsider

rab

abl

. B

wee

een 1991 and 1998,

n 1991 and 1998, 7.6 mil

7.6 million

lion

immig

immigr

rants e

ants ent

nte

ed the U

d the Unit

nite

ed S

dStat

tates (R

es (Ric

iche,

he, 2000),

2000), most fr

most from nat

om nations in A

ions in Asia

sia

and L

and Lat

atin A

in Ame

mer

rica.

ica. T

The U

he U.S.

.S. C

ens

nsus est

us estimat

imates that mor

es that more than one mil

e than one million

lion

immig

immigr

rants w

ants wil

ill e

lent

nte

er the U

r the Unit

nite

ed S

dStat

tates eac

es each y

hyear f

ear for the f

or the for

ores

eseeab

eeable fut

le futur

ure

(Ric

iche,

he, 2000).

2000). T

Thir

hirt

ty-fi

y-fiv

ve p

epe

ent o

nt of

f the st

the stude

udents e

nts enr

nro

lle

led in the nat

d in the nation

ion’

’s

cho

hoo

ols in 1995 w

ls in 1995 we

re st

estude

udents o

nts of

f c

olor (Pr

lor (Pratt & R

att&Ritt

itte

enho

nhous

use,

e, 1998).

1998). I

f cur

curr

ent

demog

mogr

raphic t

aphic tr

ends c

nds cont

ontin

inue,

ue, st

stude

udents o

nts of

f c

olor w

lor wil

ill mak

l make up 46% o

e up 46% of

f the

the

nat

nation

ion’

’s st

sstude

udents in 2020 (P

nts in 2020 (Pal

allas,

las, N

Nat

atr

rie

iel

llo

lo,

, & M

&McD

cDil

ill,

l, 1989).

1989).

Essential Principles for

Teaching and Lear

eaching and Lear

ning in a Multicultural Society

Many of the students entering our nation’s schools speak

a first language other than English. The 1990 census indi-

cated that 14% of the nation’s school-age youth lived in

homes in which the primary language was not English. In

addition to the increase of racial, ethnic, and language di-

versity among the student population, more and more

students are poor. The percentage of children living in

poverty rose from 16.2% in 1979 to 18.7% in 1998 (Terry,

2000). The gap between rich and poor students is also

increasing. While the student population is becoming

increasingly diverse, the teaching force remains predomi-

nantly White, middle-class, and female. In 1996, 90.7% of

the nation’s teachers were White, and almost three-

quarters (74.4%) were female (National Education

Association, 1997). Consequently, a wide cultural, racial,

and economic gap exists between teachers and a growing

percentage of the nation’s students.

The increasing diversity within the nation and its schools

poses serious challenges as well as opportunities (Gay,

2000; Hawley & Jackson, 1995). An important goal of the

schools should be to forge a common nation and destiny

from the tremendous ethnic, cultural, and language diver-

sity. To forge a common destiny, educators must respect

and build upon the cultural strengths and characteristics

that students from diverse groups bring to school. At the

same time, educators must help all students acquire the

knowledge, skills, and values needed to become partici-

pating citizens of the commonwealth. Cultural, ethnic,

and language diversity provide the nation and the schools

with rich opportunities to incorporate diverse perspec-

tives, issues, and characteristics into the nation and the

schools in order to strengthen both.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT DIVERSITY AND EDUCATION

What do we know about education and diversity and how

do we know it? This two-part question guided the

Multicultural Education Consensus Panel that was spon-

sored by the Center for Multicultural Education at the

University of Washington and the Common Destiny Alli-

ance at the University of Maryland. Diversity Within Unity

is the product of a four-year project during which the

panel reviewed and synthesized research related to diver-

sity. The panel’s work was supported by a grant from the

Carnegie Corporation of New York. The panel members

are specialists in race relations and multicultural educa-

tion. An interdisciplinary group, it was made up of two

psychologists, a political scientist, a sociologist, and four

multicultural education specialists. The panel was mod-

eled after the consensus panels that develop and write re-

ports for the National Academy of Sciences. In Academy

panels, an expert group decides, based on research and

practice, what is known about a particular problem and

the most effective actions that can be taken to solve it.

The findings of the Multicultural Education Consensus

Panel, which are called essential principles in this publica-

tion, describe ways in which educational practice related

to diversity can be improved. These principles are derived

from research and practice. They are designed to help

educational practitioners in all types of schools increase

student academic achievement and improve intergroup

skills. Another aim is to help schools successfully meet the

challenges of and benefit from the diversity that charac-

terizes the United States and its schools.

We believe that schools can make a difference in the lives

of students and are a key to maintaining a free and demo-

cratic society. Democratic societies are fragile and are

works-in-progress. Their existence depends upon a

thoughtful citizenry that believes in democratic ideals and

is willing and able to participate in the civic life of the na-

tion-state (Dahl, 1998). We realize that the public schools

are experiencing a great deal of criticism. However, we be-

lieve that they are essential to maintaining our democratic

way of life.

We have organized these twelve essential principles into

five categories: (1) Teacher Learning; (2) Student Learn-

ing; (3) Intergroup Relations; (4) School Governance,

Organization, and Equity; and (5) Assessment. Although

these categories overlap to some extent, we think that this

organization will be helpful to readers.

TEACHER LEARNING

Principle 1: Professional development programs should help

teachers understand the complex characteristics of ethnic

groups within U.S. society and the ways in which race,

ethnicity, language, and social class interact to influence stu-

dent behavior.

Most educators, like most other U.S. citizens, are social-

ized within homogeneous communities and have few op-

portunities to interact with people from other racial, eth-

nic, language, and social-class groups. The formal cur-

riculum in schools, colleges, and universities provides

educators with scant and inconsistent opportunities to

acquire the knowledge and skills needed to work effec-

tively in culturally diverse educational settings.

Although significant gains have been made since the

1960s and 1970s in incorporating ethnic and cultural

content into the teacher education curriculum, many stu-

dents complete their programs with incomplete knowl-

edge about the cultural, racial, ethnic, and language diver-

sity that characterize today’s classrooms and schools

(Banks & Banks, 1995; Ladson-Billings, 2000).

Continuing education about diversity is especially impor-

tant for educators because of the increasing cultural and

ethnic gap that exists between the nation’s teachers and

students. Effective professional development programs

should help educators to: (1) uncover and identify their

personal attitudes toward racial, ethnic, language, and

cultural groups; (2) acquire knowledge about the histories

and cultures of the diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, and lan-

guage groups within the nation and within their schools;

(3) become acquainted with the diverse perspectives that

exist within different ethnic and cultural communities;

(4) understand the ways in which institutionalized knowl-

edge within schools, universities, and popular culture can

perpetuate stereotypes about racial and ethnic groups;

and (5) acquire the knowledge and skills needed to de-

velop and implement an equity pedagogy, defined by

Banks (1995) as instruction that provides all students

with an equal opportunity to attain academic and social

success in school.

Within the popular and academic communities ethnic

groups are often described in ways that give little atten-

tion to the enormous diversity that exists within each.

Some interpretations of the educational literature itself,

especially that written during the late 1960s and 1970s, re-

inforce these static and essentialized conceptions of ethnic

groups. Notable among the educational literature pub-

lished during this period is the learning style research

(Ramírez & Castañeda, 1974; Shade, 1989). It is often the

interpretation of such research that results in misleading

and over-generalized conceptions of ethnic group behav-

ior, rather than the research itself. Many educators inter-

pret this research to mean that ethnic status can predict

learning style, yet the researchers give a much more com-

plex interpretation of their findings. Cox and Ramírez

(1981) lament the ways in which their work has often

been interpreted and used by educational practitioners.

Professional development programs should help teachers

understand the complex characteristics of ethnic groups

and how variables such as social class, religion, region,

generation, extent of urbanization, and gender strongly

influence ethnic and cultural behavior. These variables in-

fluence the behavior of groups both singly and interac-

tively. Social class is one of the most important variables

that mediate and influence behavior. In his widely dis-

cussed book The Declining Significance of Race, Wilson

(1978) argues that class is becoming increasingly impor-

tant in the lives of African Americans. The increasing sig-

nificance of class rather than the declining significance of

race is a more accurate description of the phenomenon

that Wilson describes. Racism continues to affect African

Americans in every social-class group, although it does so

in complex ways that to some extent—but by no means

always—reflect social-class status (Feagin & Sikes, 1994).

The widening gap between the rich and poor that is a sa-

lient characteristic of American society today is affecting

all racial, ethnic, cultural, and social-class groups. The top

1% of households in the U.S. have doubled their share of

national wealth since the 1970s (Collins, Leondar-Wright,

& Sklar, 1999). The class schism within the United States

is strikingly manifested within ethnic communities of

color. African Americans and Latinos join the exodus to

the suburbs when they experience social–class mobility.

Low-income members of these groups are left in urban

communities and have few interactions with the upper-

status members of their ethnic groups (Wilson, 1987). So-

cial class strongly influences the opportunities and possi-

bilities of ethnic group members such as Asian Ameri-

cans, Latinos, and African Americans. However, it does

not protect them from institutional and structural racism

(Feagin & Sikes, 1994).

If teachers are to increase learning opportunities for all

students, they must be knowledgeable about the social

and cultural contexts of teaching and learning. Although

students are not solely products of their cultures and vary

in the degree to which they identify with them, there are

some distinctive cultural behaviors that are associated

with ethnic groups (Boykin, 1986; Deyhle, 1986; Irvine &

York, 1995). Teachers should become knowledgeable

about the distinctive cultural backgrounds of their stu-

dents. They should also acquire the skills needed to trans-

late that knowledge into effective instruction and an en-

riched curriculum (Gay, 2000). Teaching should be

culturally responsive to students from diverse racial,

ethnic, cultural, and language groups (Gay, 2000; Ladson-

Billings, 1995; Valdés, 2001).

Making teaching culturally responsive involves strategies

such as constructing and designing relevant cultural

metaphors and multicultural representations to help

bridge the gap between what students already know and

appreciate and what they will be taught. Culturally re-

sponsive instructional strategies transform information

about the home and community into effective classroom

practice (Gay, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Villegas, 1991)

and use community members and parents as resources

(Moll, 1990).

Research on learning styles emphasizes the powerful, yet

often overlooked, social and cultural factors that influence

both the teaching and learning processes (Cazden &

Mehan, 1989; Irvine & York, 1995; Nieto & Rolon, 1997;

Villegas, 1991). These cultural factors influence the values,

beliefs, norms, languages, and symbols of students and

teachers. Effective teachers for a multicultural society

contextualize instruction by first understanding how their

own teaching styles and preferences may hinder the learn-

ing of students who have different learning styles and

preferences. In addition to being self-aware, teachers

should probe and reflect upon the existing knowledge and

cultural experiences of their students and use those in-

sights to increase access to knowledge (Giroux, 1992).

Rather than relying on essentialized and generalized no-

tions of ethnic groups that can be misleading, effective

teachers use knowledge of their students’ culture and

ethnicity as a framework for inquiry. They also use cultur-

ally responsive activities, resources, and strategies to

organize and implement instruction.

STUDENT LEARNING

Principle 2: Schools should ensure that all students

have equitable opportunities to learn and to meet

high standards.

Schools can be thought of as collections of opportunities

to learn (Hawley, Hultgren, & Abrams, 1996). A good

school maximizes the learning experiences of students.

One might judge the fairness of educational opportunity

by comparing the learning opportunities students have

within and across schools. The most important of these

opportunities to learn are: (1) teacher quality (indicators

include experience, preparation to teach the content being

taught, participation in high-quality professional devel-

opment, verbal ability, and teacher rewards and incen-

tives); (2) a safe and orderly learning environment; (3)

time actively engaged in learning; (4) student-teacher

ratio; (5) rigor of the curriculum; (6) grouping practices

that avoid tracking and rigid forms of student assignment

based on past performance; (7) sophistication and

currency of learning resources and information

technology used by students; and (8) access to extra-

curricular activities.

Although the consequences of these different

characteristics of schools vary with particular conditions,

the available research suggests that when two or more

cohorts of students differ significantly in their access to

opportunities to learn, differences in the quality of

education also exist (Darling-Hammond, 1995; Dreeban

& Gamoran, 1986). Such differences affect student

achievement and can undermine the prospects for

positive intergroup relations.

The content that comprises the lessons students are

taught influences the level of student achievement. This

is hardly surprising, but the curriculum students experi-

ence, and the expectation of teachers and others about

how much of the material students are expected to learn,

varies from school to school (Darling-Hammond, 1995).

In general, students taught curricula that are more rigor-

ous learn more than their peers with similar prior knowl-

edge and backgrounds who are taught less rigorous cur-

ricula. For example, early access to algebra leads to greater

participation in higher math and increased academic

achievement.

Most researchers agree that tracking, in which students

are grouped by interest, prior performance, and presumed

ability into curricular tracks that define most or all of

their academic experiences, has a negative effect on the

achievement of many students in lower tracks and does

not particularly benefit those in higher tracks (Oakes,

1985; Levine & Lezotte, 1995). There is an ongoing debate

about whether this generalization applies to the 3% to 5%

of students who are most able academically (Kulik &

Kulik, 1982). A number of effective instructional strate-

gies do group students by past academic performance for

limited and particular purposes (Mosteller, Light, &

Sachs, 1996). These practices, commonly but inappropri-

ately called ability grouping, can become unproductive if

they result in continuous assignment to the same groups,

cluster students by performance levels for all subjects, or

restrict student access to more demanding curricula

(Oakes, 1990). There are many alternatives to tracking

and unproductive ability grouping, including various ap-

proaches to cooperative learning, peer tutoring, and

multi-aged classrooms (Cohen, 1994).

Principle 3: The curriculum should help students under-

stand that knowledge is socially constructed and reflects

researchers’ personal experiences as well as the social, po-

litical, and economic contexts in which they live and work.

In curriculum and teaching units and in textbooks, stu-

dents often study historical events, concepts, and issues

only or primarily from the points of view of the victors

(Sleeter & Grant, 1991). The perspectives of the van-

quished are frequently silenced, ignored, or marginalized.

This kind of teaching privileges mainstream students—

who most often identity with the victors or dominant

groups—and cause many students of color to feel left out

of the American story.

Concepts such as the discovery of America, the westward

movement, and pioneers are often taught primarily from

the points of view of the European Americans who con-

structed them. The curriculum should help students to

understand how these concepts reflect the values and per-

spectives of European Americans as well as their experi-

ences in the United States. Teaches should help students

learn how these concepts have very different meanings for

groups indigenous to America and for groups such as Af-

rican Americans who came to America in chains.

In teaching concepts and topics such as the westward

movement, teachers should help students to raise and dis-

cuss these kinds of questions: What is the westward

movement? Who invented this concept? Why? Who ben-

efits from this concept? Who loses? Teachers should help

students to understand that the westward movement has

very different meanings for Native Americans who were

indigenous to the West and for European Americans who

migrated to the West. The West was not the west for Na-

tive Americans who lived there but was their homeland

and the center of the universe. The West represented

hope, possibilities, and progress for most of the European

American migrants who went there. For the Native

Americans, the West often meant death, destruction,

and defeat.

Teaching students the different and often conflicting

meanings of concepts and issues for the diverse groups

that make up the United States will help them to better

understand the complex factors that contributed to the

birth, growth, and development of the nation, to develop

empathy for the points of views and perspectives that are

normative within various groups, and to increase their

ability to think critically (Banks, 1996). These kinds of

lessons will also help students to understand the powerful

ways in which personal and cultural experiences influence

and mediate the construction of knowledge. Students

should also be provided opportunities to construct

knowledge themselves in order to deepen their under-

standing of the ways in which point of view influences the

construction of knowledge and to become more critical

consumers of the knowledge within the popular, aca-

demic, and school communities (Banks, 2001).

Principle 4: Schools should provide all students with op-

portunities to participate in extra- and cocurricular ac-

tivities that develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes that

increase academic achievement and foster positive inter-

racial relationships.

Research evidence that links student achievement to

participation in extra- and cocurricular activities is

increasing in quantity and consistency (Braddock, 1991;

Eccles & Barber, 1999; Gutiérrez et al., 1999; Jordan, 1999;

Mahiri, 1998). There is significant research that supports

the proposition that participation in after-school

programs, sports activities, academic associations like

language clubs, and school-sponsored social activities

contributes to academic performance, reduces high

school drop-out rates and discipline problems, and

enhances interpersonal skills among students from

different ethnic backgrounds. Gutiérrez and her

colleagues, for example, found that “non-formal learning

contexts,” such as after-school programs, are useful in

bridging home and school cultures for students from

diverse groups. Braddock concluded that involvement in

sports activities was particularly beneficial for African

American male high school students. When designing

extracurricular activities, educators should give special

attention to recruitment, selection of leaders and teams,

the cost of participating, allocation of school resources,

and opportunities for cooperative equal-status intergroup

contact (Allport, 1954).

INTERGROUP RELATIONS

Principle 5: Schools should create or make salient

superordinate crosscutting group memberships in order to

improve intergroup relations.

Creating superordinate groups, or groups with which

members of all the other groups in a situation identify,

improves intergroup relations (Gaertner, Rust, Dovidio,

Bachman, & Anastasio, 1994; Sherif, 1966). When

membership in superordinate groups is salient, other

group differences become less important. Creating

superordinate groups stimulates liking and cohesion,

which can mitigate pre-existing animosities.

In school settings there are many superordinate group

memberships that can be created or made salient. For ex-

ample, it is possible to create superordinate groups

through extracurricular activities. There are also many

existing superordinate group memberships that can be

made more salient: the classroom, the grade level, the

school, the community, the state, and even the nation.

The most immediate superordinate groups are likely to be

the most influential (e.g., students or members of the

school chorus rather than Californians), but identifica-

tion with any superordinate group can decrease prejudice.

Another potentially useful approach to improving inter-

group relations is to create or make salient crosscutting

group memberships (Commins & Lockwood, 1978).

These are aspects of identity (religion, age, sex) that

people share with some of the members of their own ra-

cial or ethnic group but not with other members. Making

crosscutting group memberships salient can reduce preju-

dice because it is hard to dislike people with whom you

share important aspects of your identity.

Principle 6: Students should learn about stereotyping and

other related biases that have negative effects on racial

and ethnic relations.

We use categories in perceiving our environment because

categorization is a natural part of information processing.

But the mere act of categorizing people as ingroup and

outgroup members can result in stereotyping, prejudice,

and discrimination (Tajfel, 1970; Tajfel & Turner, 1986).

Specifically, making distinctions between groups often

leads to perceiving the other group as more homogenous

than one’s own group and to an exaggeration of the ex-

tent of the perceived group differences (Tajfel & Turner,

1986; Linville, Salovey, & Fischer, 1986). Thus, categoriz-

ing leads to stereotyping and to behaviors influenced by

those stereotypes. In addition, people often enhance their

self-esteem by favorably evaluating the groups to which

they belong (Tajfel & Turner, 1986). Unfortunately, this is

often accomplished by negatively evaluating other racial

and ethnic groups.

Intergroup contact can counteract stereotypes if the situa-

tion allows members of each group to behave in a variety

of ways across different contexts so that their full human-

ity and diversity are displayed. Negative stereotypes can

also be modified in noncontact situations by providing

ingroup members with information about multiple

outgroup members who disconfirm the stereotype across

a variety of situations (Crocker, Hannah, & Weber, 1983;

Johnston & Hewstone, 1992; Mackie, Allison, Worth, &

Asuncion, 1992; Rothbart & John, 1985). Experiential ex-

ercises can also be used. One well-known technique that

increases the participants’ intentions to act in nondis-

criminatory ways is a simulation that divides students by

eye color and demonstrates to them the arbitrariness of

intergroup distinctions (Byrnes & Kiger, 1990).

Principle 7: Students should learn about the values shared

by virtually all cultural groups (e.g., justice, equality, free-

dom, peace, compassion, and charity).

Teaching students about the values that virtually all

groups share, such as those described in the UN Universal

Bill of Rights (Banks, 1997a; Kohlberg, 1981; Schwartz &

Bilsky, 1990), can provide a basis for perceived similarity

that can promote favorable intergroup relations. In addi-

tion, the values themselves serve to undercut negative in-

tergroup relations by discouraging injustice, inequality,

unfairness, conflict, and a lack of compassion or charity.

The value of egalitarianism deserves special emphasis

since a number of theories suggest that it can help to un-

dermine stereotyping and prejudice (Allport, 1954) and

to restrict the direct expression of racism (Gaertner &

Dovidio, 1986; Katz, Glass, & Wackenhut, 1986). An em-

phasis on egalitarianism, both as a value and in actual in-

teraction, counteracts one of the most invidious aspects

of ethnocentrism: the idea that the ingroup is superior to

the outgroup. There are ways to promote egalitarianism

in schools. For example, Cohen (1990; Cohen & Roper,

1972) uses cooperative groups to accomplish this goal,

combined with treatments designed to counteract nega-

tive stereotypes of the ability of minority group members.

Other cooperative techniques have attempted to equalize

the roles played by the participants of different back-

grounds by assigning them roles of equal importance or

rotating the more important roles (e.g., teacher, learner)

(Aronson, Blaney, Stephan, Sikes, & Snapp, 1978).

Principle 8: Teachers should help students acquire the so-

cial skills needed to interact effectively with students from

other racial, ethnic, cultural, and language groups.

One of the most effective techniques for improving

intercultural relations is to teach members of the cultural

groups the social skills necessary to interact effectively

with members of another culture (Bochner, 1986; 1993).

Students need to learn how to perceive, understand, and

respond to group differences. They need to learn not to

give offense and not to take offense. They also need to

be helped to realize that when members of other groups

behave in ways that are inconsistent with ingroup

norms these individuals are not necessarily behaving

antagonistically.

Being the target of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimi-

nation is a painful experience. People react in a variety of

ways, many of them potentially damaging. For instance,

people respond with anger, rage, and violence, they recip-

rocate the prejudice and discrimination, or they can ac-

cept the stereotypes as potentially applicable to them. One

intergroup relations trainer (Kamfer & Venter, 1994) asks

members of the minority and majority groups to discuss

what it feels like to be the target of stereotyping, preju-

dice, and discrimination. Sharing such information in-

forms the majority group of the pain and suffering their

intentional or thoughtless acts of discrimination cause.

It also allows the members of minority groups to share

their experiences with one another. Other techniques that

involve sharing experiences through dialogue have also

been found to improve intergroup relations (Zúñiga &

Nagda, 1993).

Conflict resolution is a skill that can be taught in the

schools in order to improve intergroup relations (Deutsch,

1993). Learning to resolve conflicts involves understanding

their origins, which might include disputes over resources

(e.g., power and resources), differences in values, beliefs,

and norms, or inability to meet basic human needs (e.g.,

respect, security, affirmation). Students should also learn

how to avoid conflicts by using techniques of de-escalation

such as negotiation, bargaining, making concessions, or

giving apologies or explanations (Fisher, 1994). A number

of school districts throughout the United States are teach-

ing students to act as mediators for disputes among other

students (Deutsch, 1993). This type of mediation holds

promise as one approach to resolving certain intergroup

conflicts in schools.

Principle 9: Schools should provide opportunities for

students from different racial, ethnic, cultural, and lan-

guage groups to interact socially under conditions de-

signed to reduce fear and anxiety.

One of the primary causes of prejudice is fear (Gaertner

& Dovidio, 1996; Katz, Glass, & Wackenhut, 1986;

McConahay, 1986; Sears, 1988; Stephan & Stephan, 1996).

Fear leads members of social groups to avoid interacting

with outgroup members and causes them discomfort

when they do (Stephan & Stephan, 1996).

Fears about members of other groups often stem from

concern about realistic and symbolic threats to the

ingroup—that the ingroup will lose some or all of its

power or resources or that its very way of life will be un-

dermined. Many such fears have little basis in reality or

are greatly exaggerated.

To reduce uncertainty and anxiety concerning interaction

with outgroup members, the contexts in which interac-

tion takes place should be relatively structured, the bal-

ance of members of the different groups should be as

equal as possible, the probabilities of failure should be

low, and opportunities for hostility and aggression should

be minimized (Stephan & Stephan, 1985).

Providing factual information that contradicts

misperceptions can also counteract prejudice based on a

false sense of threat. Undercutting myths about the values

of outgroups can also facilitate social interaction with

members of the other group. Stressing the value similari-

ties that exist between groups should also reduce the de-

gree of symbolic threat posed by outgroups and thus re-

duce fear and prejudice.

SCHOOL GOVERNANCE, ORGANIZATION, AND EQUITY

Principle 10: A school’s organizational strategies should

ensure that decision-making is widely shared and that

members of the school community learn collaborative

skills and dispositions in order to create a caring environ-

ment for students.

School policies and practices are the living embodiment

of a society’s underlying values and educational philoso-

phy. They also reflect the values of those who work within

schools. Whether in the form of curriculum, teaching

strategies, assessment procedures, disciplinary policies, or

grouping practices, school policies do not emerge from

thin air; they embody a school’s beliefs, attitudes, and ex-

pectations of its students (Nieto, 1999). This is true

whether the school is one with extensive or limited finan-

cial resources, with a relatively monocultural or a richly

diverse student body, or located in a crowded central city

or an isolated rural county.

School organization and leadership can either enhance or

detract from developing learning communities that pre-

pare students for a multicultural and democratic society.

School models of pluralism and democracy can serve as

apprenticeships of these values for students, or conversely,

they can distort the messages of democracy and pluralism

that are conveyed in exalted mission statements and bi-

ased textbooks. Thus, for example, if schools are rigidly

authoritarian, students might learn that democracy is a

lofty ideal but an elusive practice. Likewise, if diversity is

celebrated in superficial and meaningless activities but

important knowledge continues to be defined as that

which is found in a static and monocultural canon, the

message to students is that diversity is irrelevant in learn-

ing (Banks, 1993).

Schools that are administered from the top-down are

unlikely to create collaborative, caring cultures. Too often

schools talk about democracy but fail to practice shared

decision-making. Powerful multicultural schools are

organizational hubs that include a wide variety of

stakeholders, including students, teachers, administrators,

parents, and community members. There is convincing

research evidence that parental involvement, in particular,

is critical in enhancing student learning (Fruchter,

Galleta, & White, 1992; Klimes-Dougan, Lopez, Nelson,

& Adelman, 1992). A just multicultural school is

receptive to working with all members of the students’

communities.

One formative step in creating a school that encourages

collaborative skills and dispositions is the process by

which shared decision-making is institutionalized in

school governance. Opening schools up to an honest and

productive form of discourse is an important step in

creating schools in which diversity is valued.

Issues of institutional power and privilege in society are

played out in daily interactions in a school through its

policies and practices. Unfortunately, these issues are

rarely made part of the public discourse in schools

(Freire, 1985; Fine, 1991). Instead, individual merit, am-

bition, talent, and intelligence are touted as the only

source of academic success, with little consideration given

to the impact of structural inequality based on race,

ethnicity, gender, social class, and other differences.

Students whose difference may relegate them to a

subordinate status in society are often blamed for their

lack of achievement (Nieto, 2001). Although it is true that

individual differences are also important in explaining

relative academic success or failure, they must be

understood in tandem with the power and privilege of

particular groups in society (McIntosh, 1988).

Leaders in schools can confront issues of power and privi-

lege in a number of ways. Teachers and other school per-

sonnel, for example, can be encouraged to individually

reflect on their own status, values, perspectives, biases,

and experiences and how these might influence their rela-

tionships with students and with students’ families

(Cummins, 1989). Racism and other manifestations of

both individual and institutional discrimination need to

be considered in terms of their impact on policy decisions

and on classroom and school-wide practices. It follows

that teachers and administrators need to continually

examine the personal, social, and cognitive consequences

of policies and practices in order to promote equity in

their schools. Thus, for example, retention, ability group-

ing, and testing are policies laden with value judgments

about students’ capabilities (Darling-Hammond, 1991).

Tracking is generally supported by a privileged few whose

children might benefit from it. Consequently, it continues

even though it might jeopardize the opportunity to learn

for the majority of students (Oakes, 1990). Also, the cur-

riculum can explicitly focus on issues of power and privi-

lege through the countless examples found in history, lit-

erature, art, science, and other disciplines (Banks, 1997a).

Including a study of racism and social justice as part of

the curriculum is not enough. It needs to be accompanied

by structural changes in the school and changes in peda-

gogical assumptions and strategies. Thus, recruitment and

retention of a diverse staff is an important part of chang-

ing a school; changing decision-making structures to be

more democratic is another. Pedagogical strategies that

promote social responsibility and action, as well as equi-

table relations of power in the classroom, are also needed.

In the final analysis, all those who work in schools need to

analyze critically how their policies and practices benefit

some students and jeopardize others, and make changes

that will contribute to promoting learning among greater

numbers of students.

Principle 11: Leaders should develop strategies that ensure

that all public schools, regardless of their locations, are

funded equitably.

School finance equity is a critical condition for creating

just multicultural schools. The current inequities in the

funding of public education are startling (Kozol, 1991).

Two neighborhoods, adjacent to one another, can provide

wholly different support to their public schools, based on

property values and tax rates (McCall, 1996). Students

who live in poor neighborhoods are punished because

they must attend schools that are underfunded when

compared to the schools located in more affluent

neighborhoods.

Some policy makers and researchers argue that variations

in funding are not strongly correlated with variations in

student learning (Hanushek, 1994). This literature has

convinced some policy makers and politicians that fund-

ing is not a critical issue in improving America’s schools.

Investigators who have examined this situation more

carefully have found that when funds are used for instruc-

tional purposes there are positive effects on student learn-

ing (Dreeben & Gamoran, 1986). Thus, schools that have

adequate supplies and learning aids such as computers are

more likely to increase student learning than schools

without these supplies and aids. While this finding may

seem obvious, it has been obscured by those who wish to

substantially reduce funding for public education.

There is considerable debate on whether money makes a

difference in the quality of education (Burtless, 1996).

However, there is growing agreement among researchers

that when money is allocated to enhance student oppor-

tunities to learn and is used well, the consequence is, on

average, improved student performance (Hedges, Laine, &

Greenwald, 1995). Of course, as is true for many other in-

vestments, educational expenditures are often poorly

spent and are sometimes allocated to nonproductive pri-

orities (Murnane & Levy, 1996). Equity does not mean

sameness. It focuses attention on need. Thus, students

with needs for special assistance to ensure that they maxi-

mize their potential should receive additional learning

opportunities (usually involving greater expenditures) if

their education is to be equitable. The failure of schools

and school systems to provide all students with equitable

resources for learning will, of course, work to the disad-

vantage of those receiving inadequate resources and will,

usually, widen the achievement gap in schools. Since

achievement correlates highly with student family in-

come, and since persons of color are disproportionately

low income, inequity in opportunities to learn contribute

to the achievement gap between students of color and

students who are White.

ASSESSMENT

Principle 12: Teachers should use multiple culturally sensi-

tive techniques to assess complex cognitive and social

skills.

Evaluating student progress is one of the most frequent

instructional behaviors performed by teachers. If done ef-

fectively, assessment enhances student learning and per-

formance. However, unidimensional and cursory assess-

ments not only delay achievement but can also reduce the

confidence and self-esteem of students. Evaluating the

progress of students from diverse racial, ethnic, and so-

cial-class groups is complicated by differences in lan-

guage, learning styles, and cultures. Hence, the use of a

single method of assessment will likely further disadvan-

tage students from particular social classes and ethnic

groups.

Teachers should adopt a range of formative and

summative assessment strategies that give students an op-

portunity to demonstrate mastery. These strategies should

include observations, oral examinations, performances,

and teacher-made as well as standardized measures and

assessments.The intellectual, affective, and action skills re-

quired to adequately prepare students for a multicultural

future are diverse and complex. Students must be able to

know, think, feel, believe, and behave in ways that demon-

strate respect for people, experiences, issues, and per-

spectives that are different from their own. They must be

informed, critical, socially conscious, and ethical change

agents who are committed to social, political, cultural,

and educational equality. Other goals include self-knowl-

edge and acceptance, understanding other cultures, im-

proving intergroup relations, combating racism and other

forms of oppression, and increasing the academic

achievement of students of color. Diverse strategies and

programs are required to attain these goals.

This range and complexity of skills defy a single standard,

indicator, or measure of achievement or competence. Al-

though test scores on knowledge about the contributions

of ethnic groups can provide an indication of how much

factual information a student has acquired, they provide

few insights into how well individuals can relate to people

from other racial and ethnic groups. They also provide

little information about a student’s sense of moral out-

rage about racial, gender, and social-class inequities, or

about her or his will and skill to oppose racism (Howell &

Rueda, 1994; Moreland, 1994; Padilla & Medina, 1994).

Yet, these abilities, along with many others, are essential

for the nation’s multicultural future. Schools must help

students develop them and must use some systemic

ways of determining the degree to which they have been

attained.

Students learn and demonstrate their competencies in

different ways. The preferred mode of demonstrating

task mastery for some is writing, while others do better

speaking, visualizing, or performing; some are stimulated

by competitive and others by cooperative learning

arrangements; some prefer to work alone while others like

to work in groups (Shade, 1989; Barbe & Swassing, 1979;

Lazear, 1994). Consequently, a variety of assessment pro-

cedures and outcomes that are compatible with different

learning, performance, work, and presentation styles

should be used to determine if students are achieving the

levels of skill mastery needed to function effectively in a

multicultural society. These assessments might include a

combination of observations, performance behaviors,

self-reflections, portfolios, writing assignments, case study

analyses, critical thinking, problem-solving, creative

productions, real and simulated social and political ac-

tions, and acts of crosscultural caring and sharing.

Assessment should go beyond traditional measures of

subject matter knowledge and include complex cognitive

and social skills. Effective citizenship in a multicultural

society requires individuals who have values and abilities

to promote equality and justice among culturally diverse

groups. This empowerment encompasses a complex and

wide-ranging set of personal, social, intellectual, moral,

and political knowledge, beliefs, ethics, and skills. It is not

enough simply to teach isolated facts about the national

origins, cultural contributions, historical experiences, and

social problems of a few highly visible ethnic groups in

several subjects at selected times during the school year.

Nor should only one or a few aspects of the educational

enterprise, such as social studies or language arts, bear the

responsibility for teaching multicultural knowledge and

skills. Rather, schools should use systemic and holistic re-

form strategies, in which all of their component parts are

directly involved. All classroom teachers in all subject

areas, along with all administrators, counselors, policy

makers, and support staffs, should be actively involved in

and held accountable for preparing students for a multi-

cultural future (Banks & Banks, 2001; Bennett, 1995).

CONCLUSION

Powerful multicultural schools help students from diverse

racial, cultural, ethnic, and language groups to experience

academic success. Academic knowledge and skills are es-

sential in today’s global Internet society. However, they

are not sufficient. Students must also develop the knowl-

edge, attitudes, and skills needed to interact positively

with people from diverse groups and to participate in the

nation’s civic life (Banks, 1997b). Students must be com-

petent in intergroup and civic skills to function effectively

in today’s complex and ethnically polarized nation and

world.

Diversity in the nation’s schools is both an opportunity

and a challenge. The nation is enriched by the ethnic, cul-

tural, and language diversity among its citizens and

within its schools. However, whenever diverse groups in-

teract, intergroup tension, stereotypes, and institutional-

ized discrimination develop (Howard, 1999; Stephan,

1999). Schools must find ways to respect the diversity of

their students as well as help to create a unified nation-

state to which all of the nation’s citizens have allegiance.

Structural inclusion into the nation-state and power shar-

ing will engender feelings of allegiance among diverse

groups. E pluribus unum–diversity within unity–is the

delicate goal toward which our nation and its schools

should strive. We offer these design principles with the

hope that they will help educational practitioners realize

this elusive and difficult but essential goal of a democratic

and pluralistic society.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We would like to acknowledge the contributions of these

scholars who gave us thoughtful comments on an earlier

draft of this publication: Cherry A. McGee Banks (Uni-

versity of Washington, Bothell), Kris Gutiérrez (University

of California, Los Angeles), Gloria Ladson-Billings (Uni-

versity of Wisconsin, Madison), and Jeffrey D. Milem

(University of Maryland, College Park).

1. 0 Do professional development programs in your school district help

teachers understand the complex characteristics of U.S. ethnic,

racial, and cultural groups?

1.1 Do professional programs help teachers to understand the ways

in which race, ethnicity, culture, language, and social class interact

in complex ways to influence student behavior?

1.2 Do professional programs help teachers to uncover and identify

their personal attitudes toward different racial, ethnic, language,

and social-class groups?

1.3 Do professional programs help teachers to uncover and identify

their behaviors related to diverse racial, ethnic, language, and

social-class groups?

1.4 Do they help teachers acquire knowledge about the history and

cultures of diverse ethnic, racial, and cultural groups?

1.5 Do they help teachers become knowledgeable about the diverse

perspectives on historical and current events within different

ethnic, racial, language, and cultural communities?

1.6 Do they help teachers develop the knowledge and skills needed

to modify their instruction so that students from diverse ethnic,

racial, cultural, and language groups will have an equal

opportunity to learn in their classrooms?

2.0 Do the schools in your district ensure that all students have equitable

opportunities to learn and to meet high standards?

2.1 Are the teachers and administrators in schools with large minority

and low-income populations comparable in terms of experience,

degrees held, and endorsements with teachers and administrators

in other schools in the district?

2.2 Are the curricula in schools with large minority and low-income

populations as rigorous as the curricula in other schools in the

district?

2.3 Do schools in your district avoid tracking and rigid forms of

student assignment?

2.4 Are the learning resources and information technology in schools

with large minority and low-income populations comparable to

those of other schools in the district?

2.5 Is access to technology distributed equitably within the school

among students from different ethnic, cultural, and social-

class backgrounds?

Diversity Within Unity

Essential Principles Checklist

Principles

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Rating

2.6 Are the opportunities for access to extra- and cocurricular activities

comparable in schools throughout the district?

2.7 Are language minority students provided with the extra services

and support they need to achieve academic success?

2.8 Are schools with large minority and low-income populations given

extra services that provide students with the support they need to

attain high levels of academic achievement?

2.9 Are language minority students, students of color, and low-income

students represented proportionately in particular schools and

classrooms?

3.0 Does the curriculum in your school help students to understand that

knowledge is socially constructed and reflects the personal

experiences and the social, political, and economic contexts in

which they live and work?

3.1 Does the curriculum help students to understand historical events

from the perspectives of various racial, ethnic, and cultural groups?

3.2 Does the curriculum help students understand the ways in which

the unique experiences of peoples or groups cause them to view

the same historical and social events differently?

3.3 Do the instructional materials used in your district, such as

textbooks, supplementary books, and videotapes, describe

historical, social, and political events from the perspectives of

different racial, ethnic, cultural, and language groups?

3.4 Are the textbooks and other instructional materials used in your

school written by authors from different racial, ethnic, and cultural

groups?

4.0 Do the schools in your district provide all students with opportunities

to participate in extra- and cocurricular activities that are congruent

with the academic goals of the school and that develop knowledge,

skills, and attitudes that increase academic achievement and foster

positive interracial relationships?

4.1 Do students who attend schools with large minority and low-

income populations have as many opportunities to participate in

extra- and cocurricular activities as students who attend other

schools in the district?

4.2 Are ethnic and language minority students represented

proportionately in the extra- and cocurricular school activities?

4.3 Are deliberate actions taken by the school staff to make sure that

ethnic and language minority students are represented

proportionately in the school’s extra- and cocurricular activities?

4.4 Do fees and other policies and practices inadvertently exclude many

minority and low-income students from participating in specific

extra- and cocurricular activities?

Principles Rating

Hardly at All Somewhat Strongly

Principles Rating

4.5 Does the school staff take deliberate steps to make sure that students

from different racial, ethnic, language, and social-class groups

experience cooperative equal status in extra- and cocurricular

activities?

4.6 Are some extra- and cocurricular activities in the school stratified

by race or social class?

5.0 Do teachers and school administrators act to create or make salient

superordinate and crosscutting group memberships in order to

improve intergroup relations in the school?

5.1 Do teachers in your school take steps to make extra- and

cocurricular activities interracial and crossethnic so that

superordinate group memberships can be created?

5.2 Do the schools in your school have rituals, exercises, or activities

that highlight or emphasize crosscutting group memberships that

exist in the classroom and school?

5.3 Do teachers in your school organize activities and projects that

enable students from diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, and language

groups to work together cooperatively and develop a superordinate

group identity?

6.0 Are students in your school taught about stereotyping and other

related biases that have negative effects on racial and ethnic relations?

6.1 Are the students taught social science information about how

stereotyping and categorization can result in prejudice and

discrimination?

6.2 Are students given opportunities to have meaningful contact with

students from other racial and ethnic groups in order to observe

them behaving in a variety of ways across different contexts?

6.3 Are students provided information about individuals from outside

ethnic and racial groups who refute the stereotypes about these

groups?

6.4 Do the students have opportunities to participate in simulations,

role-playing, and other activities that enable them to experience

what it is like to be a victim of discrimination?

7.0 Are students taught about the values shared by virtually all cultures,

such as justice, equality, freedom, peace, compassion, and charity?

7.1 Are students taught about the values that undergird the founding

documents of the United States, such as the Declaration of

Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights?

7.2 Do teachers implement democratic values, such as egalitarianism

and social justice, in their interactions with students and colleagues?

7.3 Do teachers use teaching strategies, such as cooperative groups, to

promote and teach egalitarianism?

Hardly at All Somewhat Strongly

7.4 Do teachers require students to act in ways consistent with

democratic values when interacting with each other?

8. 0 Do teachers help students to acquire the social skills that are needed

to interact effectively with students from other racial, ethnic, and

cultural groups?

8.1 Do teachers in your school talk openly and constructively about

race with students?

8.2 Do teachers encourage students from different ethnic and racial

groups to talk openly and constructively about race?

8.3 Do teachers help students to acquire the knowledge and skills they

need to have thoughtful, constructive, and heartfelt discussions

about race?

8.4 Do teachers encourage students from different racial and ethnic

groups to have open and constructive conversations about being

victims of racism and discrimination?

8.5 Do teachers encourage students from different racial and ethnic

groups to discuss the benefits and costs to groups who are the

perpetuators of racial discrimination?

8.6 Do teachers in your school talk openly and constructively about

race with each other?

9.0 Does your school provide opportunities for students from different

racial, ethnic, cultural, and language groups to interact socially under

conditions designed to reduce fear and anxiety?

9.1 Do teachers structure interracial cooperative groups that enable

students from different racial and ethnic groups to become

acquainted as individuals?

9.2 Are students provided with factual information in the social

studies or other subjects that contradicts misconceptions about

ethnic and racial groups?

9.3 When teaching about ethnic and cultural differences, do teachers

point out the important ways in which all human groups are

similar?

10.0 Does the organizational structure of the school ensure that decision-

making is widely shared and that members of the school community

learn collaborative skills in order to create a caring environment

for students?

10.1 Is decision-making within the school widely shared among school

administrators, teachers, parents, and students?

10.2 Do members of the school community learn collaborative skills?

10.3 Do the adults in the school community create a collaborative and

caring environment for the students?

Principles Rating

Hardly at All Somewhat Strongly

10.4 Are parents involved in meaningful ways in school policy and

decision-making?

10.5 Do teachers and administrators continually examine the personal,

social, and cognitive consequences of policies and practices in order

to promote equity in their schools?

10.6 Does the school curriculum include a focus on issues of power and

privilege through examples in history, art, science, and other

disciplines?

10.7 Are structural changes being made in the school to make it a more

affirming and just environment for students from different racial,

ethnic, cultural, language, and social-class groups?

10. 8Are changes being made in teaching strategies to accomodate

students from different racial, ethnic, cultural, language, and

social-class groups?

10.9 Are successful efforts being made at the district and school level to

recruit a racially, culturally, and ethnically diverse administrative

and teaching staff?

11.0 Are leaders developing strategies to ensure that all public schools,

regardless of their locations, are funded equitably?

11.1 Are school administrators endeavoring to help state legislators and

other state policy makers to understand the significant influence

that funding has on student outcomes?

11.2 Are teacher organizations endeavoring to educate state legislators

and other state policy makers about the influence of funding on

student outcomes?

11.3 Are parent and community groups endeavoring to ensure that

schools are funded equitably?

11.4 Are state and district level officials endeavoring to provide

additional funding for schools with low-income populations?

12.0 Do school district policies encourage the use of multiple ways of

assessing student learning that are culturally sensitive and that

measure complex cognitive and social skills?

12.1 Do teachers use a range of formative and summative assessment

strategies that give students opportunities to demonstrate their

mastery of knowledge and skills?

12.2 Do teachers use a variety of assessment devices to ensure that

students from diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, and language groups

meet rigorous standards in the academic subjects?

12.3 Do teachers use a variety of assessment devices to measure student

outcomes that are related to improved race relations?

12. 4Does assessment go beyond traditional measures of subject matter

knowledge to include complex cognitive and social skills?

Principles Rating

Hardly at All Somewhat Strongly

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Multicultural education is an idea, an educational reform movement, and

a process. As an idea, multicultural education seeks to create equal

educational opportunities for all students, including those from different

racial, ethnic, and social-class groups. Multicultural education tries to

create equal educational opportunities for all students by changing the

total school environment so that it will reflect the diverse cultures and

groups within society and within the nation’s classrooms. Multicultural

education is a process because its goals are ideals that teachers and

administrators should constantly strive to achieve.

The Center for Multicultural Education focuses on research projects and activi-

ties designed to improve practice related to equity issues, intergroup relations,

and the achievement of students of color. The Center also engages in services

and teaching related to its research mission.

THE AUTHORS

James A. Banks is Professor and Director of the Center for

Multicultural Education at the University of Washington,

Seattle. A specialist in social studies and in multicultural

education, he has written widely in these two fields. His

books include Educating Citizens in a Multicultural Society

and Cultural Diversity and Education: Foundations,

Curriculum, and Teaching. Professor Banks is a member of

the National Academy of Education.

Peter Cookson is a faculty member at Teachers College,

Columbia University, and President of Teachers College

Enterprises. A sociologist who specializes in education, he is

the author or co-author of 14 books on education reform,

including School Choice: The Struggle for the Soul of

American Education.

Geneva Gay is Professor of Education and Faculty

Associate of the Center for Multicultural Education at the

University of Washington, Seattle. A specialist in general

curriculum and multicultural education, she has written

more than 100 articles and 3 books, including At the Essence

of Learning: Multicultural Education and Culturally

Responsive Teaching.

Willis D. Hawley is Professor of Education and Public

Affairs at the University of Maryland, where he served as

Dean of the College of Education from 1993 to 1998.

Hawley has published numerous books, articles, and book

chapters, including Toward A Common Destiny (co-edited

with Anthony W. Jackson).

Jacqueline Jordan Irvine is the Charles Howard Candler

Professor of Urban Education at Emory University, Atlanta.

Her research interests are multicultural education and

urban teacher education. Her books include Black Students

and School Failure, which received two national awards, and

Critical Knowledge for Diverse Learners, published by the

American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.

Sonia Nieto is Professor of Language, Literacy, and

Culture in the School of Education, University of

Massachusetts, Amherst. She is the author of numerous

publications in bilingual education and in multicultural

education, including Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical

Context of Multicultural Education, and The Light in Their

Eyes: Creating Multicultural Learning Communities.

Janet Ward Schofield is Professor of Psychology and a

Senior Scientist in the Learning Research and Development

Center at the University of Pittsburgh. She is a social

psychologist whose major interest has been social processes

in desegregated schools. Black and White in School: Trust,

Tension or Tolerance? is one of her best-known publications.

Walter Stephan is Professor of Psychology at New Mexico

State University. He has published articles on attribution

processes, cognition and affect, intergroup relations, and

intercultural relations. He wrote Reducing Prejudice and

Stereotyping in Schools and is co-author (with Cookie White

Stephan) of Improving Intergroup Relations.

Center for Multicultural Education

focuses on research projects and activities designed to improve practice related to equity issues, intergroup

relations, and the achievement of students of color. The Center also engages in services and teaching related to its

research mission.

Research related to race, ethnicity, class, and education represents the central mission of the Center. This research

contributes to the improvement of practice in schools, colleges, and universities through the synthesis and

dissemination of findings in multicultural education and the development of guiding principles for the field.

Publications such as the Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education (1995), edited by James A. Banks and

Cherry A. McGee Banks, provide remarkable depth and breadth and an impressive look at research and scholarship

in the field.

The Symposium-Lecture Series focuses attention on topics related to race, ethnicity, class, and education. The

symposium-lecture series features prominent scholars and outstanding practitioners such as Shirley Brice Health,

Linda Darling-Hammond, Claude M. Steele, and Lisa Delpit.

Graduate Study with top university scholars at the master’s and doctoral levels prepares educators for working in

an increasingly diverse nation and world. At the master’s level, practicing teachers and other education

professionals acquire essential knowledge and skills necessary to work in multicultural environments. At the

doctoral level, researchers and scholars develop expert knowledge and leadership skills necessary to teach in

colleges and universities or lead educational institutions and agencies.

A wide range of courses in multicultural education offers opportunities to build a broad and deep understanding

of the issues confronting our society and the world and the means to reconcile them. Courses run throughout the

regular academic year. In addition, the Center offers several short summer courses, institutes, and workshops.

Examples of courses include Educating Ethnic Minority Youths; Teaching the Bilingual-Bicultural Student; and

Race, Gender, and Knowledge Construction: Curriculum Considerations.

College of Education

University of Washington

110 Miller

Box 353600

Seattle, WA 98195-3600

PHONE: 206-543-3386

E-MAIL: centerme@u.washington.edu

WEB SITE: http://depts.washington.edu/centerme/home.htm

Multicultural

CENTER FOR

Education

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Jun 2023

Pablo Campos

La planificació urbanística-arquitectònica d’un campus, en clau de qualitat, es nodreix tant d’un procés previ de recerca en la cultura local com d’un altre que explori les tipologies espacials més transcendents generades a l’evolució secular de les universitats, així com l'estudi de les circumstàncies locals. Aquestes dinàmiques han estat presents a la gènesi d’un cas recent situat a l’Àfrica, que s'exposa en aquest text: la planificació del nou campus de la Universitat Agostinho Neto. Seguint una metodologia predeterminada intencionada, la primera estratègia de recerca científica es va centrar en l'estudi d'arquitectures vernacles i formes d'assentaments humans primitius a Angola, perquè la ideació morfològica estigués arrelada a la cultura local; un dels formats que van inspirar patrons espacials va ser el "kimbo". La segona línia de recerca científica definida en l’aproximació metodològica preliminar va explorar les tipologies universitàries que s’han distingit històricament per la seva excel·lència. De la dilatada herència de pautes compositives que han estat emprades als complexos dedicats a l’Educació Superior en destaca el quadrangle. La tercera línia de recerca científica explora els condicionants acadèmics i geogràfics del projecte a Luanda. La feina explica com la planificació del Campus UAN es va inspirar en els resultats dels tres processos d'indagació. Finalment, s’enuncien certes conclusions, entre les quals cal destacar la validesa de la metodologia emprada, així com la potencial extrapolació del procés de disseny dut a terme a altres possibles projectes d’Educació Superior. The urban & architectural planning of a campus that aspires to a high standard of quality must draw inspiration from research of the local culture and an exploration of the key spatial typologies that the long history of universities has brought forth, as well as the study of the local circumstances. These factors were present in the genesis of a recent project located in Africa that forms the subject matter of this paper: the planning of the new campus for the Agostinho Neto University. Following a predefined intentional methodology, the first scientific research strategy focused on the study of vernacular architectures and forms of primitive human settlements in Angola, so that morphological ideation was rooted in the local culture; one of the formats that inspired spatial patterns was the "kimbo". The second line of scientific research already defined in the preliminary methodological approach explored those university typologies that have historically attained to excellence. From the long legacy of compositional patterns used in complexes dedicated to Higher Education, one of the most distinguished is the quadrangle. The third scientific research line explores the academic and geographical conditionings of the project in Luanda. The paper explains the methodology used to generate the planning of the UAN Campus, as inspired by the outcomes of the processes of inquiry. Finally, some conclusions are stated. Among them are the valid methodology used, as well as the potential extrapolation of the design process followed to other possible projects of Higher Education La planificación urbanístico-arquitectónica de un campus, en clave de calidad, se nutre tanto de un proceso previo de investigación en la cultura local como de otro que explore las tipologías espaciales más trascendentes generadas en la evolución secular de las universidades, así como el estudio de las circunstancias locales. Estas dinámicas han estado presentes en la génesis de un caso reciente situado en África, que se expone en el presente texto: la planificación del nuevo campus de la Universidad Agostinho Neto. Siguiendo una intencionada metodología predeterminada, la primera estrategia de investigación científica se centró en el estudio de arquitecturas vernáculas y formas de asentamientos humanos primitivos en Angola, para que la ideación morfológica estuviera arraigada en la cultura local; uno de los formatos que inspiraron patrones espaciales fue el "kimbo". La segunda línea de investigación científica definida en la aproximación metodológica preliminar, exploró aquellas tipologías universitarias que se han distinguido históricamente por su excelencia. De la dilatada herencia de pautas compositivas que han sido empleadas en los complejos dedicados a la Educación Superior destaca el quadrangle. La tercera línea de investigación científica explora los condicionantes académicos y geográficos del proyecto en Luanda. El trabajo explica cómo la planificación del Campus UAN se inspiró en los resultados de los tres procesos de indagación. Finalmente, se enuncian ciertas conclusiones, destacando entre ellas la validez de la metodología empleada, así como la potencial extrapolación del proceso de diseño llevado a cabo a otros posibles proyectos de Educación Superior.

Sosyal Bilgiler Öğretmenlerinin Demokrasi ve Çok Kültürlü Eğitime Yönelik Tutumlarının İncelenmesiInvestigation of Social Studies Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Democracy and Multicultural Education

Article

Mar 2023

Dünyada birçok farklı kültürden insan bir arada yaşamaya başlamıştır. Buna bağlı çok kültürlülük bazı olumsuzlukları da beraberinde getirmiştir. Olumsuzlukların çözümlenmesinde eğitimin ayrı yeri bulunmaktadır. Bu bağlamda öğretmenlerinin demokrasi ve çok kültürlü eğitime ilişkin tutumlarının belirlenmesi önemlidir. Sosyal bilgiler öğretmenlerinin demokrasi ve çok kültürlü eğitime yönelik tutum düzeylerini ortaya koymak bu araştırmanın amacını oluşturmaktadır. Tarama modelinin kullanıldığı araştırmaya 332 öğretmen katılmıştır. Verilerin toplanmasında Toraman ve ark., (2015) tarafından geliştirilen “Demokrasi ve Çok Kültürlü Eğitim Tutum Ölçeği”, analizinde ise Mann Whitney U ve Kruskall Wallis H testleri ile frekans (f), yüzde (%), ağırlıklı ortalama (X̅) kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın sonucunda öğretmenlerinin tutumlarının olumlu olduğuna ulaşılmıştır. Öğretmenlerin çok kültürlü eğitime yönelik ön yargılı tutum alt boyutunda tutumları olumlu iken; çok kültürlü eğitime yönelik, demokrasi eğitimine yönelik, demokrasiye yönelik ve kültürel farklılıklara yönelik tutum alt boyutlarında daha olumlu düzeyindedir. Öğretmenlerin tutumları ölçek genelinde kıdem eğitim düzeyi, branş, cinsiyet, görev yaptıkları bölge ve alt boyutlarda cinsiyet, branş ve görev yapılan bölge değişkenleri açısından anlamlı farklılık göstermemektedir. Eğitim düzeyi değişkeni, demokrasi eğitimine yönelik, demokrasiye yönelik ve kültürel farklılıklara yönelik tutum alt boyutlarında lisans mezunu öğretmenler lehine; kıdem değişkeni çok kültürlü eğitime yönelik ön yargılı tutum boyutunda 1-5 yıl arası mesleki kıdemi olan öğretmenler lehine anlamlı farklılık göstermektedir.

Teachers’ Perceptions of Multicultural EfficacyÖğretmenlerin Çokkültürlü Yeterlik Algiları

Article

Apr 2023

Hülya PEHLİVAN

This study aims to analyse the perceptions of teachers who teach in high schools concerning multicultural efficacy in terms of several variables. Teachers were analysed according to a) gender, b) years of service, c) domain of teaching, d) in what order they chose teaching profession, e) reason for choosing the profession, f) whether or not they joined cultural events, g) whether or not they had any other teachers in their family, h) marital status and i) whether or not they thought of quitting teaching. The research was conducted in general high schools located in the centre districts of Ankara and 434 teachers were included in the study. The “perceptions of multicultural efficacy scale” developed by Başbay and Kağnıcı (2011) was used for data collection. The Alpha reliability of the scale was found as 0.92. The t test was used to compare paired groups whereas one-way variance analysis and the Scheffe test were used to compare more than two groups in data analysis. It was found as a result that teachers’ perceptions of multicultural efficacy differed significantly according to a) gender, b) domain of teaching, c) in what order they chose teaching profession, d) whether or not they joined cultural events and e) marital status. On the other hand, no significant differences were found according to their years of service, reasons for teaching the profession or whether or not they thought of quitting teaching.

PENGHAYATAN NILAI-NILAI PANCASILA TERHADAP KEBERAGAMAN UNTUK MEWUJUDKAN BHINNEKA TUNGGAL IKA DI SEKOLAH

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2023

Artikel ini bertujuan untuk mengungkap nilai-nilai pancasila dalam mewujudkan kebhinneka tunggal ikaan yang ada di ekosistem sekolah. Makna dari setiap butir kalimat yang mengandung nilai-nilai harus diaplikasikan dalam kehidupan ekosistem sekolah sebagai ideologi bangsa. Penghayatan nilai-nilai Pancasila yang ada di sekolah menguatkan identitas manusia Indonesia yakni kebhinnekaan, pancasila dan religiusitas yang membawa jati diri bangsa dengan segala keanekaragaman dan saling menghormati serta menghargai segala bentuk perbedaan. Bhinneka Tunggal Ika menjadi cerminan keseimbangan antara unsur perbedaan dengan unsur kesamaan yang menjadi ciri kesatuan. Pancasila punya peranan besar dalam membentuk pemikiran dan juga pemahaman terkait keberagaman dalam lingkungan sekolah. Metode penelitian ini adalah studi literatur dengan pengumpulan data pustaka, membaca dan mencatat, serta mengelola bahan penelitian. Hasil penelitian menyatakan bahwa nilai-nilai Pancasila dapat memberikan landasan yang kuat untuk mewujudkan keberagaman di sekolah. Melalui penghayatan nilai-nilai Pancasila, sekolah dapat mendorong pengertian dan penghargaan terhadap keberagaman budaya, agama, suku, dan latar belakang lainnya di ekosistem sekolah.

Distributed Leadership Promotes Teacher Self-Efficacy in Multicultural Classrooms Through School Capacity Building: A Multilevel SEM Approach Using U.S. Teaching and Learning International Survey

Article

Jul 2023
EDUC ADMIN QUART

Soobin Choi

Purpose: This study examines the direct and indirect effects of distributed leadership on teacher self-efficacy in multicultural classrooms (TSMC) through school capacity building, specifically teacher team innovativeness and a feedback network. Research Design: Using data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey 2018, this study employs a 2-2-1 multilevel structural equation modeling to account for the nested data structure (teachers nested within schools). Latent variables are constructed, and their validity is tested, followed by an analysis of the relationships among distributed leadership, teacher team innovativeness, a feedback network, and TSMC. Findings: This study finds that distributed leadership has an indirect-only mediation effect on TSMC via a feedback network but not via teacher team innovativeness. The effect of distributed leadership on TSMC is fully mediated by a feedback network. In addition, the study shows that distributed leadership is positively associated with a feedback network and teacher team innovativeness. Conclusions: This study contributes to our understanding of the role of distributed leadership in fostering school capacity building and promoting TSMC. Given the increasing diversity in schools, it is crucial for school leaders to prepare teachers to teach students in multicultural classrooms. The findings suggest that school leaders can enhance teachers’ efficacy in teaching students from diverse backgrounds by facilitating their participation in school improvement processes and establishing a collective feedback network where teachers receive feedback from various sources. These results emphasize the importance of distributed leadership in equipping teachers for culturally responsive teaching in multicultural classrooms.

Intergroup dialogue success in racially diverse high school classrooms

Article

May 2023

Today’s hyper-partisan world makes civil discourse across differences seem almost impossible for many adults, let alone young people. U.S. public schools are tasked with educating our young people with the goal that they each can be productive members of society. High-school students participating in an intergroup dialogue on race as part of their English classes report significant growth in their intergroup understanding, intergroup relationships, and intergroup action. Further, no evidence was found that high-school participants of one racial group benefit significantly more than participants of different racial groups. The IGD programme appears effective at advancing the multicultural education of young people so that they may be better equipped to have difficult dialogues across difference.

Effects of Critical Multicultural Education on Preservice Teachers’ Multicultural Attitudes and EfficacyEleştirel Çokkültürlü Eğitim Uygulamasının Öğretmen Adaylarının Çokkültürlü Tutum ve Yeterliklerine Etkisi

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2023

The aim of this study is to find out the effects of critical multicultural education (CME) on preservice teachers’ multicultural attitudes and efficacy. In order to investigate the effects of critical multicultural education, a nine-week CME program is designed. The program is based on Banks’ (2015) multicultural education approaches and dimensions. For this study, the multicultural content is integrated into English Language courses of the preservice teachers studying at English Language Teaching (ELT) program. A total of 46 preservice teachers participated for the study and a quasy-experimental design with an experimental and a control group is employed. Before and after the application, Multicultural Efficacy Scale (MES) is administered to all the participants (23 in control and 23 in experimental group). The MES is composed of two subscales; one is multicultural attitudes and the other one is multicultural efficacy. While in the control group the existing language program is applied, the experimental group is provided with critical multicultural education which is integrated into English courses. At the end of 9 weeks, the analysis of pretest and posttest results revealed that there is a significant difference in the multicultural attitudes and multicultural efficacy of experimental group before and after the program. Further, the posttest results showed that there is a significant difference between the experimental and control group in terms of preservice teachers’ multicultural attitudes and efficacy. As a result, CME applied in experimental group had significant and positive effects on preservice teachers’ multicultural attitudes and efficacy. Therefore, in order to increase preservice teachers’ multicultural attitudes and efficacy, CME can be provided for preservice teachers at teacher training programs at the collage and universities.

An Integrated Threat Theory of Prejudice.” In Stuart Oskamp (ed.)

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2000

Race, Class, Gender, and Disability in Current Textbooks

Chapter

Sep 2017

The intercultural sensitizer

Article

Jan 1996

The Declining Significance of Race: Blacks and Changing American Institutions

Article

Mar 1979

The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, The Underclass, and Public Policy

Book

Jan 1987

William Julius. Wilson

"The Truly Disadvantagedshould spur critical thinking in many quarters about the causes and possible remedies for inner city poverty. As policy makers grapple with the problems of an enlarged underclass they—as well as community leaders and all concerned Americans of all races—would be advised to examine Mr. Wilson's incisive analysis."—Robert Greenstein,New York Times Book Review "'Must reading' for civil-rights leaders, leaders of advocacy organizations for the poor, and for elected officials in our major urban centers."—Bernard C. Watson,Journal of Negro Education "Required reading for anyone, presidential candidate or private citizen, who really wants to address the growing plight of the black urban underclass."—David J. Garrow,Washington Post Book World Selected by the editors of theNew York Times Book Reviewas one of the sixteen best books of 1987. Winner of the 1988 C. Wright Mills Award of the Society for the Study of Social Problems.

Bouncing Back: Sports and Academic Resilience among African-American Males

Article

Nov 1991
EDUC URBAN SOC

Student Council, Volunteering, Basketball, or Marching Band

Article

Jan 1999

We examined the potential benefits and risks associated with participation in five types of activities: prosocial (church and volunteer activities), team sports, school involvement, performing arts, and academic clubs. Our sample included 1,259 mostly European American adolescents (approximately equal numbers of males and females). First, we explore the link between involvement in these activities and our indicators of positive and negative development. Involvement in prosocial activities was linked to positive educational trajectories and low rates of involvement in risky behaviors. In contrast, participation in team sports was linked to positive educational trajectories and to high rates of involvement in one risky behavior, drinking alcohol. Then, we explore two possible mediators of these associations: peer associations and activity-based identity formation. The evidence supported our hypothesis that group differences in peer associations and activity-based identities help explain activity group differences.

Culture, Style and the Educative Process.

Article

Jan 1989

Experiments in Intergroup Discrimination

Article

Nov 1970

Henri Tajfel

Race, Instruction, and Learning

Article

Oct 1986

Racial differences in learning to read are explained by the application of a sociological model of school system, classroom, and instructional organization. Neither differences in individual background characteristics (aptitude and SES) nor variation in structural position (ability group assignment) alone suffice to explain why nonblacks learn more than blacks in a sample of 302 first graders. To account for such differences it is necessary to consider educational technology, the conditions and activities that constitute instruction. The results show that learning is produced through a set of technological conditions, primarily time spent in instruction and the coverage of curricular materials. These features of instruction in our sample differ in schools attended by blacks and in those attended by nonblacks, with black students being exposed to restricted learning opportunities orginating in district and school differences in the availability of technological resources.

Diversity Within Unity: Essential Principles for Teaching and Learning in a Multicultural Society

Abstract

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