Suggests that teachers can work with children's families to study likenesses and differences in their respective cultures. Details a class project for 7- to 8-year-olds whereby children start with self-portraits and construct masks of their faces. Provides sample mask project timeline and steps for making masks out of paper molds and a…

Native Americans have oral traditions that are distinct from the European literacy consciousness, having different modes of discourse, different kinds of metaphorical thinking, and different conceptions of teaching as storytelling. Storytelling is important in children's education, but to be effective and respectful of Native culture, school…

Argues that identity and language issues are a powerful influence on education politics and policies in Switzerland. Uses the introduction of second language instruction as a case study to illustrate why and how education policy reflects Switzerland's cultural, linguistic diversity, and the strong local and regional identities of its citizens.…

Examines connections between diversity and disability in special education, noting increasing tendencies to locate special education under the umbrella of diversity. The paper maintains that the assumptions underlying disability are dramatically different from those supporting diversity and suggests that special educators transform their…

Describes the responses of white, affluent, ethnically-encapsulated first graders to four books that featured African-Americans as the central characters. Finds that students' responses showed a sensitivity for the feelings and actions of people they seldom interact with or even think about. Notes that the students frequently addressed issues of…

Fitchburg (Massachusetts) State College, surrounded by rapidly expanding African American, Asian, and Hispanic populations, was awarded a 1990 federal Student Literacy Corps grant to initiate a Literacy Corps Program. The program created and fostered literacy opportunities for area children, adolescents, and adults and helped participants develop…

In a lecture at Navajo Community College in fall 1995, Russell Means discussed freedom and responsibility in our present-day world. He talked about the true nature of education, the difference between knowledge and wisdom, and why Indian peoples must think critically about the educational and government structures constraining them. (Author/TD)

Describes an action research project which began by asking how English teachers could improve the writing of their African American students, and gradually came to ask how the teachers' own cultural assumptions might be blocking their teaching relationships. Identifies and discusses eight principles of their approach, and discusses changes in…

Educators are challenged to develop specialized programs to serve the varied cultural norms, beliefs, and values espoused by different Native American tribes. To counter bureaucratic pressures toward uniformity, individual schools must foster development of shared school-community culture. To assist at-risk students, schools and communities must…

A modified version of the Societal, Attitudinal, Familial, and Environmental Acculturative Stress Scale (SAFE) was administered to 71 Latino and Euramerican children aged 8-10 from southern California. Despite being U.S.-born, Latino children experienced significantly more acculturative stress than their Euramerican peers, thereby helping to…

Thirty-five staff members' views on developmental assessment in a multicultural early childhood setting are described and used to initiate a critique of current practice in assessment of young children. Staff expressed a range of opinions from endorsement to frank rejection of the utility, validity, and ethics of developmental assessment.…

Examined how risky peer group behaviors at school impacted junior high students' experience of victimization, extending findings from an earlier study of elementary students. Surveys of Arab and Jewish Israeli junior high students indicated that risky peer behaviors in school were one of the strongest predictors of victimization in both elementary…

This article reviews factors affecting the persistent underrepresentation of black students in gifted education and offers suggestions for recruiting and retaining these students. It is argued that a deficit orientation held by educators hinders access to gifted programs for diverse students, and that too often educators interpret differences as…

Six gifted African American students (grades 4-5) were bused to a predominately white school and then returned to their predominately African American school. Students identified 6 of 16 teachers as effective. Ineffective teachers were described as having a lack of understanding of African American culture resulting in low academic expectations.…

Discusses the assimilation of Vietnamese immigrants into U.S. life. Describes the role of the Vietnamese family and Vietnamese attitudes towards education. Stresses the role of the educator in fostering cultural diversity while preserving an ideology of freedom and acceptance in the classroom. (RW)