Cultural Relevance
Culturally Relevant Content
Culturally Responsive Teaching:
Nine Principles
A teacher of diverse learners understands that culture is central to learning. Culture not only shapes the thinking process it defines modes of communicating and receiving information.
In a diverse classroom environment, a culturally sensitive teacher recognizes that cultural conventions inform his or her own approach to teaching, just as they inform a student’s approach to learning.
A pedagogy that ignores these fundamental differences gives an unfair advantage to students from the "mainstream," while alienating those with diverse backgrounds.
Although a teacher cannot be expected to gain an in-depth knowledge of the many languages and cultures represented in the classroom, it is essential to attain at least a general understanding of their underlying social and cultural norms. For more information go to:
CUL DE SAC AREA of ONLINE CURRICULUM
Educational CyberPlayGround provides K-12 interdisciplinary, multicultural collaborative online thematic curriculum modules for schools, home schooled, and learning centers. Gain access to individual curricula and tools. It's easy for beginners to start.
Native American Culture
A basic tenet of adult remedial education is to begin with what students know and then connect that knowledge to new information and skills. This practice provides a familiar foundation on which students can build. Additionally, cultural concepts are internal. They may be more emotional than rational, but they are an essential part of who we are. Al though this characteristic certainly is not restricted to Native Americans, perhaps we need to be more conscious of it when we work with Native American students. Providing a connection with their roots may enable them to more easily make sense out of new infor mation. If this practice produces more receptive students, who more readily assimilate new skills, then this may be a most efficient method to use. To learn more go to:
The Children's Partnership
The Children's Partnership is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose mission is to inform leaders and the public about the needs of America's 70 million children, and to engage them in ways that benefit children. The Partnership undertakes research and policy analysis, publishes reports and multimedia materials, and forges new alliances among parents, policymakers and the private sector to achieve tangible gains for children. For more information go to:
Content-Related Barriers to the Internet
Though many underserved communities are gaining access to the Internet, many are not benefiting fully because of barriers they face related to content. Four of the most important barriers are: lack of local information, literacy barriers, language barriers, and lack of cultural diversity.
For at least 50 million Americans -- roughly 20 percent of the population -- one or more content-related barriers stand between them and the benefits offered by the Internet. These barriers are taking a heavy toll on the underserved 50 million Americans. A high proportion of the underserved could become more active citizens, consumers, and entrepreneurs of this new medium, increasing their opportunities for success. For that to happen, Internet content must become relevant, and underserved communities must have access to content-related services such as training and technical assistance.
Welcome to Contentbank.org, a new online resource for information, tools and people dedicated to building Internet content that works for low-income and underserved communities.
Language and Cultural Diversity Program (LCD)
The Language and Cultural Diversity Program (LCD) seeks to enhance the capacity of educators to provide high quality education to students traditionally underserved by the existing system on the basis of language, culture, race or ethnicity. Working with teachers and other partners, we support professional development processes that build on community funds of knowledge to foster culturally-relevant curriculum, instruction, and assessment, and successful communication in the classroom. For more information go to:
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The National Clearinghouse for Comprehensive School Reform
The National Clearinghouse for
Comprehensive School Reform
2121 K Street, Suite 250
Washington, DC 20037-1801
Toll-free phone: 1-877-766-4CSR
Toll-free fax: 1-877-308-4995
Email: AskNCCSR@goodschools.gwu.edu
Web site: http://www.goodschools.gwu.edu
NCCSR is a partnership of The George Washington University, the Council for Basic Education and the Institute for Educational Leadership. NCCSR collects and disseminates information that builds the capacity of schools to raise the academic achievement of all students. Through its web site, reference and retrieval services and publications NCCSR is the central gateway to information on CSR. If you have documents on CSR that should be added to our database, please contact us for submission information.
For Information from monthly newsletter by the National Clearinghouse
for Comprehensive School Reform (NCCSR) go to:
***Feature Article, “Using Culturally Relevant Materials to Close the Achievement Gap,” by Sharon Camblin and Tom Barlow***
Designing and implementing curriculum materials that enable all students to meet challenging academic content and performance goals is a focus of the comprehensive school reform movement. There is often a gap, however, between the academic rigor of the materials used to teach linguistically or culturally diverse students and that of traditional classroom materials. The gap has existed because schools have used a deficit model and assumed that linguistically or culturally diverse students would not be able to meet high standards. Thus, these students were offered less challenging content and materials outside of the mainline curriculum. One step toward creating equity and closing this gap is the use of culturally relevant curriculum materials.
Linguistically and culturally diverse students can achieve academic success when materials used in the classrooms directly link their cultural experiences to learning and reflect the local values and traditions in the classroom environment.
Culturally relevant materials include formal curriculum materials, informal classroom materials, and classroom interactions. In this sense, culturally relevant materials enable diverse learners to be more successful by contextualizing learning and making connections with home cultures, allowing for learning and development to be based on the students’ experiences and learning styles, and building cultural capital that allows each student to feel valued in the school environment.
The use of culturally relevant materials to increase student achievement penetrates the inner core of the teaching and learning processes, as well as the lives of students (Gay, 1999). These materials enrich both the process and content of instruction and have the potential to enhance students’ classroom and extracurricular achievement and educational attainment. Strategies to use such materials include:
Infusing the classroom with multicultural experiences that provide all students the opportunity to learn about and reflect on different cultures and ethnicities. Students’ languages, cultures, and experiences are used as instructional tools and frameworks.
Building bridges between abstract concepts and real-life experiences by using examples, illustrations, vignettes, scenarios, and anecdotes that are familiar to the students.
Selecting materials based on familiarity to the student and the student’s ability to make connections with the larger instructional concepts. Factual information is complemented by the use of culturally diverse literature, art, and aesthetics.
Using communication and learning strategies that honor linguistic and cultural differences. In addition, the materials used to assess student learning should provide extensive opportunities for students to demonstrate mastery.
The result of these strategies is that the classroom and learning activities of students from different ethnic, cultural, racial, and social backgrounds also provide a challenging curriculum for all students.
Developing culturally relevant materials is no longer an isolated issue. Multilingual and multicultural classrooms exist in every part of this country and in communities of every size. Integral to the school reform effort will be a shift in how all educators think about linguistically and culturally diverse students and act on those beliefs. The use of culturally relevant materials must be seen as part of the larger systematic approach with a focus on student achievement rather than exclusively a multicultural activity.
A shift to such an approach has many implications for teachers, schools, and school districts. Teachers will need to acquire knowledge about the cultures of minority students and the impact of culture on the development of self-concept and social acceptance. It will be critical for teachers to understand how students’ self-concept, willingness to participate, and freedom to learn may be constrained or supported to the extent that they feel alienated from their peers, their community, and their cultural understandings (Pena, 1997).
Teachers will need to develop effective classroom strategies that are transferable to different cultural settings. The array of strategies that are proven to work will need to be expanded and deepened. In addition, new strategies must be explored that combine what we know about effective instruction with new understandings of cultural and ethnic diversity.
Lastly, school districts must re-examine professional development. Professional development activities have not often tackled issues such as inequity or prejudice even though they impact instruction, curriculum, and school relationships. Professional development programs and school reform efforts must take up the dual task of developing new expertise for teachers and addressing inequalities (Calderon, 1997).
*References*
Pena, R. (1997, April 8). Cultural differences and the construction of meaning: Implications for the leadership and organizational context of schools. “Educational Policy Analysis Archives, 5(10).” Retrieved from http://olam.ed.asu.edu/epaa/v5n10.html
SELECTED RESOURCES FOR USING CULTURALLY RELEVANT CURRICULUM MATERIALS
* Including Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students in Standards-Based Reform: A Report on McREL's Diversity Roundtable I -- Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (MCREL)
This report highlights the discussions at a 1998 MCREL roundtable on the implications of standards-based reform for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students. It provides suggestions and models for helping teachers acquire the information and skills they need to improve instruction for these students.
*National Directory of Teacher Preparation Programs for Cultural and Linguistic Diversity -- Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence (CREDE)
CREDE’s National Study of Effective Teacher Education for Diverse Student Populations project represents a nationwide investigation of the teacher education programs that prepare educators for the linguistic and cultural diversity of America’s classrooms. The Directory of Teacher Preparation Programs is a component of this study and is hosted online by the BUENO Center for Multicultural Education.
* Promoting Cultural Understanding in the Classroom & Community -- The National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language Instruction
This product includes multiple resources and links designed to assist teachers with facilitating cultural understanding in the classroom environment. The National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language Instruction Educational Programs (formerly NCBE, the National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education) is funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement & Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (OELA, formerly OBEMLA) to collect, analyze, and disseminate information relating to the effective education of linguistically and culturally diverse learners in the United States.
*United States Department of Education Equity Assistance Centers
The 10 equity assistance centers are funded by the U.S. Department of Education under Title IV of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. They provide assistance in the areas of race, gender, and national origin equity to public school districts to promote equal educational opportunities.
http://www.ed.gov/EdRes/EdFed/equity.html
* Including Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students in Standards-Based Reform: A Report on McREL's Diversity Roundtable I -- Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (MCREL)
This report highlights the discussions at a 1998 MCREL roundtable on the implications of standards-based reform for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students. It provides suggestions and models for helping teachers acquire the information and skills they need to improve instruction for these students.
*National Directory of Teacher Preparation Programs for Cultural and Linguistic Diversity -- Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence (CREDE)
CREDE’s National Study of Effective Teacher Education for Diverse Student Populations project represents a nationwide investigation of the teacher education programs that prepare educators for the linguistic and cultural diversity of America’s classrooms. The Directory of Teacher Preparation Programs is a component of this study and is hosted online by the BUENO Center for Multicultural Education.
* Promoting Cultural Understanding in the Classroom & Community -- The National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language Instruction
This product includes multiple resources and links designed to assist teachers with facilitating cultural understanding in the classroom environment. The National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language Instruction Educational Programs (formerly NCBE, the National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education) is funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement & Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (OELA, formerly OBEMLA) to collect, analyze, and disseminate information relating to the effective education of linguistically and culturally diverse learners in the United States.
*United States Department of Education Equity Assistance Centers
The 10 equity assistance centers are funded by the U.S. Department of Education under Title IV of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. They provide assistance in the areas of race, gender, and national origin equity to public school districts to promote equal educational opportunities.
Multicultural Mathematics and Science
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Multicultural Mathematics and Science
Effective K-12 Practices for Equity
by: Nancy Murphy, Lead Author
March 1996 (Updated April 2002)
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ERIC
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Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education
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DIGEST
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Educational reform initiatives such as the NCTM Standards, National Science Education Standards, and Project 2061 provide guidelines to reduce the diversity gap in science and mathematics literacy. Schools are applying these guidelines to classroom practice, posing questions about what changes are feasible given the multiple pressures on today's schools. This digest identifies references that provide images of effective practices which have increased mathematics and science achievement among diverse student populations.
Culturally Responsive Curriculum. ERIC Digest.
THIS DIGEST WAS CREATED BY ERIC, THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ERIC, CONTACT ACCESS ERIC 1-800-LET-ERIC
INTRODUCTION
Discourse about culturally responsive or culturally relevant curriculum (CRC) takes place within the context of debate about a larger issue, the validity and shape of a multicultural approach to public school education. A widely held view of multicultural or culturally pluralistic curricula sees them as strategies for improving academic performance and enhancing self-esteem among students whose racial, ethnic, or language heritage differs from that of the Anglo-European population (McCarthy, 1994; Association for the Advancement of Health Education, 1994). A corollary to this perspective is the belief that an inclusive curriculum can help promote intergroup harmony and reduce conflict between ethnic groups (Heller & Hawkins, 1994). In the minds of many educators, however, CRC benefits all students (Series Looks, 1993). Goal three of the original National Education Goals has as one of its objectives increasing the level of knowledge of all students about the country's diverse cultural heritage (Gronlund, 1993).
Assignment
In order to utilize the Internet in a productive way for all students, teachers should be able to evaluate the cultural relevance of lessons or information from the internet. Make an instrument to evaluate the cultural relevance of a web site. Post your instrument to our discussion list. An example of a possible questions could be: Are males and females represented equally and without stereotypes?
A. Not equal and with stereotypes
B. Equal, but with stereotypes
C. Not equal, but without stereotypes
D. Equal and no stereotypes
E. Can't tell, no humans shown
This assignment is worth 50 points (see following criteria)
Evaluation questions include diverse populations--
Special Needs 10 points
Gender 10 points
Ethnic Minorities 10 points
Language Barriers 10 points
Appropriate Content Students Can Relate To 10 points