This study followed six "culturally aware" elementary school teachers through student teaching and their first two years of teaching to look at how their life experiences as minority people affected their classroom practices. The study was a qualitative inquiry based on reciprocal and interactive relationships. The approach was…

This monograph is intended to provide a rationale for multicultural education and to serve as a manual for teachers. It includes activities and strategies for teaching preschool and primary-age children from a multicultural perspective. The document is organized into six chapters, four of which include sample lessons. Chapter 1 provides the basis…

In the drive to facilitate inclusion in the classroom, one often overlooked factor that affects the environment of all classrooms is nonverbal interaction. This study was conducted to identify some specific nonverbal messages that are often culturally bound; to help educators and others involved in education understand nonverbal signals and avoid…

Education and law enforcement officials are all committed to ensuring that students throughout the nation are able to attend school safely, free from all forms of harassment. However, some students are subject to verbal and physical abuse and intimidation based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, disability, or sexual…

This report uses text, graphs, and tables to present findings of a 1996 survey of 575 adolescents voluntarily participating in residential behavioral treatment facilities in Minnesota. Compared with public school students, these adolescents were: 62 percent male, more likely to be of color, especially American Indian, and twice as likely as other…

This brief highlights some of the trends in the literature related to intercultural understanding and provides a list of resources that can be used by educators in promoting it. The consensus of the literature on promoting cultural understanding is that the term "culture" generally refers to a system of beliefs, customs, and behaviors…

Derived from two national multicultural symposia, this compendium focuses on an array of topics that combine research and educational practices for youth from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds with disabilities and/or gifts. Specific papers include: (1) "Parent-Involved Social Skill Instruction and the Perceptions of Children…

This teaching guide contains the materials required to teach a 6-week course in interpersonal communications that was developed for the workers of a Chicago medical center through a partnership involving the medical center, its employees, their union, and Northeastern Illinois University. Based on the student-centered philosophy of teaching, the…

The increasing racial and ethnic diversity of classrooms in the United States presents a significant challenge to the next generation of teachers and to those responsible for their training. This book explains the steps teacher educators and policymakers must take in order to prepare a teaching force that is both culturally diverse and culturally…

The 29 articles in this theme issue of "The Bookmark" focus on various aspects of school library media programs. The articles are as follows: (1) "School Library Media Program Connections for Learning" (Betty J. Morris); (2) "Humanity and Technology in the School of the Future" (Michael V. McGill); (3) "Community…

Focusing on one of the critical questions in the shift to new forms of assessment, researchers, policymakers, and teachers met at the 1993 Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) to consider equity in assessment. The opening remarks of CRESST co-director Robert Linn stressed that equity is at the center of…

The third annual external evaluation of the Choctaw Special Alternative Instruction program is reported. The program has its roots in two efforts by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians to improve their schools, an English-as-a-Second-Language education effort, and a curriculum implementation program. The Mississippi Band preserves many…

This practicum was designed and implemented to reduce the underrepresentation of minority students in gifted programs, and to help minority students improve their academic achievement in Westmoreland County, Virginia. The practicum involved examining the gifted student nomination/identification process to see if instruments or procedures were…

This study reports on nine family literacy projects that focus on families whose primary language is not English. The first six projects fall under the Kenan service model, which sees that children receive more or as many services as adults and is organized around children's needs. These include the Canoncito Family Support/Early Childhood…

Two themes which run through a majority of education reform reports are the need better to prepare teachers for cultural diversity and to forge partnerships between universities and public schools. In an effort to fill these needs a collaborative project was undertaken between the University of Central Florida and a local elementary school (in…