(1997). New Models for Re-forming Special Education. DISES Volume 4. View Finder, v4. The seven articles in this monograph explore the relationship between legislation and policies/regulations directed at the education of students with special educational needs, and actual practices in schools and classrooms. The first article, \The Impact of Special Education Legislation on Schooling: A United States Perspective\ (Mary Lynn Boscardin), discusses the possibilities and problems associated with the impact of special education legislation and school reform movements on the education of student with disabilities in the United States. \Dilemmas, Contradictions and Democracy: Models in the Governance of Special Needs Education in England and Wales\ (Alan Dyson), describes the tensions posed by the realignment of power and responsibility among the central government, local education authorities, and individual schools in special education in England and Wales. \Special Education Legislation and Policies in the Context of Education Reforms: The New Zealand Model\ (David… [PDF]
(2004). Race and Gender Issues on the AP United States History Examination. History Teacher, v37 n4 p501-512 Aug. Over the past two decades, remarkable strides have been made in examining, documenting, and incorporating race and gender issues in history courses, but it is time to take a look at the ways in which these curricular and pedagogical changes have impacted the Advanced Placement United States History Examination. This paper focuses on three interrelated issues: first, the inclusion of race and gender questions on the examination; second, the steps taken to ensure that the exam is fair to all candidates; and three, the performance of women and minority students on the examination. Similarities and differences between female and male educational learning styles and achievements is an intriguing and perplexing problem. Several studies have documented that girls have greater verbal ability while boys have stronger quantitative and visual skills. Standardized test results indicate that on history examinations women, African Americans, and Hispanic students tend to perform better on… [Direct]
(1995). Selecting Educational Equipment and Materials for School and Home. This revised publication focuses on selection issues relating to multicultural anti-bias curriculum, diversity, and inclusion while giving special consideration to the use of computers in classrooms. The first part of the booklet deals with the learning environment. The first article, "Creating the Learning Environment: Context for Learning and Living" (S. Vianne McLean), discusses the role of the environment in building the curriculum and factors to consider when setting up a classroom environment. The second article, "Collecting, Compiling, Constructing, Creating" (Oralie McAfee), offers suggestions for evaluating materials in commercial kits and help in selecting materials appropriate for achieving a teacher's curriculum goals. The third article, "Some Considerations in Equipping a Child Care Center or School" (E. Anne Eddowes), addresses the specifics of selecting equipment on the basis of program goals, children's needs, cultural factors and… [PDF]
(2005). Inclusive Play: Practical Strategies for Working with Children Aged 3 to 8. Paul Chapman Publishing Inclusive play embraces dimensions of richness, diversity, appreciation of difference and is both simple and complex too. By aiming for inclusive play educators are simply aiming for the best play experiences to all children. Play opportunities ought to be full of possibilities with which the children can engage and questions that they can pose for themselves. Play recognizes that children, including children with disabilities or additional support needs, are active seekers and makers of meaning. They are explorers, discoverers and experimenters. Inclusive Play: Practical Strategies for Working with Children aged 3 to 8 comes about through experience of developing and enabling inclusive play in a number of settings and therefore identifying the contribution it has to make. This book draws on contemporary research, in particular the findings of the Play Inclusive (P.inc) Action Research project. This was a two-year project looking at the ways in which play supports inclusion of…
(1993). Working toward an Inclusive School Culture: A University-Secondary School Collaborative Model of Reflective Practice. Since the mid-1960s, some affluent white schools, both public and private, have made efforts to welcome low-income students of color into their student bodies. However, studies of these efforts have usually ignored the complex and deep ambivalence experienced by many young people of color in white middle-class institutions. This paper attempts to gain insight into the challenges that young men of color face in education, with a focus on faculty and student development, and to clarify the phenomenon of institutional inclusion and exclusion. It describes a university-school collaborative effort to create a more inclusive school environment at an urban high school of 1,110 male students. The school increased its minority student population from less than 5 percent to 12 percent in 1991. A new Director of Diversity, a graduate student of color at Boston College, the second member of the partnership, was hired to work collaboratively with faculty, students, and a college faculty member…. [PDF]
(2000). TASH Newsletter, 2000-2001. TASH Newsletter, 26-27 2/3-12/1 Feb/Mar-Dec/Jan 2000-2001. Nine year 2000 issues of the newsletter of TASH, formerly The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, comprise this document. Each issue typically contains news items, a column by the organization's executive director, reports from special interest groups, legislative testimony, conference information, and several major articles relating to equity, quality and social justice for people with disabilities. The February/March 2000 through December 2000/January 2001 issues address: (1) 1999 TASH conference highlights, including excerpts from keynote addresses by Rich Villa and Kyle Glozier, and Inclusion and Universal Cooperation (Rosangela Berman Bieler); (2) inclusive schooling, with articles such as Including Students with Disabilities in Standards Based Education Reform (Kathy Boundy), Collaboration at Whittier High School (Mary Falvey and others), Whole Schooling: Linking Inclusive Education to School Renewal (Michael Peterson), The Inclusion of a Youth with Significant… [PDF]
(1993). Working with the "Only One" in the Division. The call for greater diversity among college faculty and administrators is a prominent feature in the literature of higher education and especially of community colleges. For faculty members and administrators who may be the only, or the first, or even the token minority within their division, it is important to resolve what being the "only one" means and what opportunities it represents. Interviews with five African Americans, two Hispanics, one Native American, one Asian, two physically handicapped, and one female vocational education instructor, each identified as the "only ones" in their academic departments, combined with a review of the literature, helped to identify a number of issues that were common in the experiences of the "only ones." These issues include: (1) the comments or behavior of these individuals tended to be enlarged and generalized to the groups they represented, often leading to overachieving behavior; (2) the individuals often… [PDF]
(1993). The New Politics of Race and Gender. Education Policy Perspective Series. This book demonstrates that liberal policy cannot adequately address deep-seated assumptions and traditional practices that undermine minorities and women in schools. Chapters focus on educational policy and its implementation at all levels of school politics in the United States, Australia, and Israel. Part 1, "Cutting Across Race and Gender," includes the following: (1) "Demographic Politics and American Schools: Struggles for Power and Justice" (James Gordon Ward); (2) "Categorical Wars: Zero-Sum Politics and School Finance" (Thomas Timar and Dale Shimasaki); (3) "Accountability, Invisibility, and the Politics of Numbers: School Report Cards and Race" (Carolyn D. Herrington); (4) "Race, Ideology, and the Battle over Curriculum" (Caroline B. Cody, Arthur Woodward, and David Elliott); (5) "The Micro-Politics of Student Voices: Moving from Diversity of Bodies to Diversity of Voices in Schools" (Gary L. Anderson and Kathryn…
(1989). Report of the VCCS Task Force on Educational Telecommunications. The Task Force on Educational Telecommunications was formed to develop a statewide approach to educational telecommunications (e.g., public, cable, and satellite television; audio and video tapes; teleconferencing; and computer conferencing) for the Virginia Community College System (VCCS). The task force assumed that the instruction should have the same academic rigor and quality as traditional course offerings; that the systemwide approach should take into account diversity among individual colleges; and that the goals of media-based instruction should be to increase educational access, while increasing efficiency and reducing the costs of course delivery. The task force identified several key instructional and faculty issues, including equity of course availability, flexibility without compromise of academic quality and integrity, planning and evaluation, balance in resource allocation, interaction between teacher and learner, faculty employment, instructional quality, staff…
(1988). Report of the New York State Board of Regents' Panel on Learning Styles. This report comprises the results of a panel commissioned by the New York State Board of Regents to review the status of knowledge on learning styles and group tendencies in learning behavior. The panel commissioned background papers, and debated various aspects of learning style as they relate to education. Of particular note was the role of culture and learning style, cognition, multiple intelligence, left brain-right brain development, and environmental conditions. The panel also considered pedagogy, instructional strategy, school organization and administration, diversity and educational equality and equity, and educational policy and practice as each related to learning style and behavioral tendency. The deliberations of the panel were consistently framed in the historical and educational experience of African-American and Latino American children in particular, and people of racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural difference in general. Recommendations are provided to advise…
(2004). Cultural Competence in Evaluation: An Overview. New Directions for Evaluation, n102 p5-19 Sum. Evaluation inarguably takes place within social, cultural, historical, economic, and political contexts–the contexts defined by human existence and experience. These contexts envelope many dimensions. Race, ethnicity, language, gender, age, religion, and sexual orientation are among the commonly listed demographic attributes of contextual diversity. Not so commonly discussed in conversations about evaluation are the contextual dimensions of power, economy, living situation, and class, among other denominators of equity and sociopolitical status, \and\ the contextual dimensions specific to culture. That is, despite the recent flurry of activity and discussion in a number of disciplines meant to lift issues of culture and cultural context to the fore of discovery, theory, and application, the evaluation field has lagged behind. Yet culture is an undeniably integral part of the diverse contexts of evaluation, and therefore an integral part of evaluation. Culture is present in… [Direct]
(1999). The Transition to Kindergarten. A Series from the National Center for Early Development and Learning. On the premise that early school transitions affect children's future educational success and that these critical transitions need to be improved, this book explores the research on early schooling and reexamines educational beliefs, policies, and practices relating to the first years of school, including readiness assessment, entrance ages, diversity, and personnel preparation. The chapters are: (1) "Introduction: An Ecological Approach to Kindergarten Transition" (Robert C. Pianta, Sara E. Rimm-Kaufman, and Martha J. Cox); (2) "Early Schooling and Social Stratification" (Doris R. Entwisle and Karl L. Alexander); (3) "Assessing Readiness" (Samuel J. Meisels); (4) "Promoting Educational Equity and Excellence in Kindergarten" (Nicholas Zill); (5) "Diverse Perspectives on Kindergarten Contexts and Practices" (Elizabeth Graue); (6) "Families and Schools: Rights, Responsibilities, Resources, and Relationships" (Sandra L…. [PDF]
(1997). The Governor's Pilot Distance Learning Project: The Experiences of Four Wyoming Schools. This report presents the results of the evaluation of the Governor's Pilot Distance Learning Project conducted during the spring of 1997 in four rural Wyoming high schools that served as pilot sites for the use of compressed video technology. Such technology provides coursework via two-way interactive video and is used in several states as a way of expanding the diversity and equity of curriculum offerings available to geographically disperse populations of students. Sections of the report provide: (1) description of the evaluation methodology employed; (2) an overview of the pilot project in terms of enrollment by course and school, academic performance of student participants, dropout rates, and how the technology was used; (3) a detailed description of what supports will be needed to promote effective statewide implementation of distance learning; (4) participants' perceptions and attitudes about the appropriateness of the technology for different content areas and audiences,… [PDF]
(2002). Reaching New Horizons: Gifted and Talented Education for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. This book provides 14 readings on issues in the education of gifted and talented students from culturally or linguistically diverse populations. Its overall theme is the insoluble and reciprocal dependence of excellence and equity in education. Chapters include: (1) \Framing an Historical Context for the Education of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students with Gifted Potential: 1850s to 1980s\ (Eva I. Diaz); (2) \Framing a Contemporary Context for the Education of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students with Gifted Potential: 1990s to the Present\ (Eva I. Diaz); (3) \Advanced Cognitive Development and Bilingualism: Methodological Flaws and Suggestions for Measuring First- and Second-Language Proficiency, Language Dominance, and Intelligence in Minority Children\ (Virginia Gonzalez); (4) \Voice and Validation: Creativity and Bilingualism\ (Jo Ann Robisbeaux and Mary M. Banbury); (5) \Renavigating the Waters: The Identification and Assessment of Culturally and…
(1997). Culture and Power in Practice: Cultural Democracy and the Family Support Movement. Best Practices Project Commissioned Paper III. The Best Practices Project of the Family Resource Coalition of American (FRCA) began in 1991 with the aim of meeting the need for better definition and articulation of what constitutes best practice in family support programs. This monograph, the third in a series of four, reports on some of the ideas about cultural democracy which have generated debate, challenge, and change within the FRCA. Cultural democracy is an operational framework in which family support professionals actively seek to include the experiences, ideas, and practices of ethnic and language minority family members, practitioners, academics, and lay workers in family support policy implementation, program development, and service delivery. Rather than being a dispassionate study of the phenomenon of cultural diversity within the family support movement, this monograph is written from the perspective of the Latino and African-American Caucuses of the FRCA and reflects their concerns. It discusses issues that have… [PDF]