Effective Multicultural Education

~Annotated Bibliography~
Page 1

Defining multicultural education: What is it?
The following bibliography will explore the what,
why's and how's of multicultural education.

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Annotated Bib Page 3
"A Synthesis of Scholarship in Multicultural Education"
by Geneva Gay
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/leadrshp/le0gay.htm
Gay, Geneva. "A Synthesis of Scholarship in Multicultural Education." 1994. NCREL's (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory) Urban Education Program, part of Urban Education Monograph Series.

This article on the web takes a thorough and comprehensive look at why multicultural education is needed in the United States. The author explains how culturally diverse, socially stratified, and racially divided the United States is, yet most of the formal institutional policies, practices and power is predominately represented by Anglocentric and middle class — an unbalanced equation.

Gay contends that there are three major reasons multicultural education should become a regular part of the education system; they are: social realties of our society, the influence on culture and ethnicity on human development, and conditions of effective teaching and learning. The social reality of the United States is that separation along racial and economic lines are pronounced, therefore implementing multicultural education will help change those attitudes and trends so youth can learn about culturally different groups and have opportunities to positively interact with them, thereby changing the direction of society. The second point the author makes is that humans are socialized within their culture and those influences effect the individual for their entire life, so acknowledging and respecting the characteristics of their unique cultures, rather than treating everyone alike, honors the individual and enables their growth and development. The third point is made that teaching and learning are cultural events occurring within a social context, therefore, it should be accessible and equitable for all students from a multicultural perspective rather from the standard, dominant culture’s perspective.

The author then discusses the major goals of multicultural education, they are as follows: ethnic and cultural literacy, personal development, attitude and values clarification, multicultural social competence, basic skills proficiency, educational equity and excellence, and empowerment for societal reform.

Approaches to multicultural education is described according to advocates in the field. The approaches according to James Banks vary from teaching about contributions groups and individuals of different cultures made, to supplementing existing curricula with multicultural lessons, to transforming the entire curriculum to reflect diverse ethnic, racial, and social groups. Christine Sleeter and Carl Grant’s approaches include, teaching culturally different students to fit into mainstream society, emphasizing diverse peoples living harmoniously together, concentrating on learning about one group at a time, and last focusing on prejudice reduction and equity for all.

Gay concludes by urging a reform toward a comprehensive multicultural curriculum and general mind-set which will serve the needs of all children.

This essay was the most comprehensive and useful of all the resources I found on multicultural education. I appreciate the depth the author goes into on this subject.

"Defining of Multicultural Education"
by Paul Gorski & Bob Covert (1996, 2000)
http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/multicultural/initial.html

Multicultural Pavilion: Resources and Dialogues for Educators, Students and Activists. Created by Paul Gorski. 2002.
The author begins by explaining what multicultural education is, and is not. He draws from early shapers and researchers of multicultural education (James Banks being one) on curriculum transformation suggestions. He explains the different stages that can be implemented by teachers wishing to reform their curriculum. Stage 1 is the curriculum of the mainstream that offers no change or difference from the Eurocentric, male-centric standard, Stage 2 is the heroes and holidays approach, Stage 3 is the integration approach that offers multicultural supplements to the existing curricula, Stage 4 is a structural reform completely making over the curriculum with a multicultural perspective, and lastly Stage 5 implements social, race, sex, and class issues to the already reformed Stage 4.

The author provides links to a plethora of teacher resources for implementing curricula reform strategies, suggestions of activities to break barriers for classroom settings for groups and individuals, and a forum for teachers to display their stories from the classroom.

For anyone interested in multicultural education, this web site is a great place for information on these issues and a great resource to related links. Multicultural Pavilion is a meeting place for people, more specifically educators, concerned that children from all backgrounds, ethnically, socially and racially, be taught with respect and attention in the education system.

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Annotated Bibliography, page 1 ~ Effective Multicultural Curriculum
© Tammia Madden, 2002
URL of this webpage: http://www.cocc.edu/tammiam/TermProject/annobiblio1.htm
Last Updated: 04 June 2002


~Annotated Bibliography~ Page 1 Defining multicultural education: What is it? The following bibliography will explore the what, why's and how's of multicultural education.

Home Term Project Home Page Annotated Bib Page 1 Annotated Bib Page 2 Annotated Bib Page 3	"A Synthesis of Scholarship in Multicultural Education" by Geneva Gay http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/leadrshp/le0gay.htm Gay, Geneva. "A Synthesis of Scholarship in Multicultural Education." 1994. NCREL's (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory) Urban Education Program, part of Urban Education Monograph Series. This article on the web takes a thorough and comprehensive look at why multicultural education is needed in the United States. The author explains how culturally diverse, socially stratified, and racially divided the United States is, yet most of the formal institutional policies, practices and power is predominately represented by Anglocentric and middle class — an unbalanced equation. Gay contends that there are three major reasons multicultural education should become a regular part of the education system; they are: social realties of our society, the influence on culture and ethnicity on human development, and conditions of effective teaching and learning. The social reality of the United States is that separation along racial and economic lines are pronounced, therefore implementing multicultural education will help change those attitudes and trends so youth can learn about culturally different groups and have opportunities to positively interact with them, thereby changing the direction of society. The second point the author makes is that humans are socialized within their culture and those influences effect the individual for their entire life, so acknowledging and respecting the characteristics of their unique cultures, rather than treating everyone alike, honors the individual and enables their growth and development. The third point is made that teaching and learning are cultural events occurring within a social context, therefore, it should be accessible and equitable for all students from a multicultural perspective rather from the standard, dominant culture’s perspective. The author then discusses the major goals of multicultural education, they are as follows: ethnic and cultural literacy, personal development, attitude and values clarification, multicultural social competence, basic skills proficiency, educational equity and excellence, and empowerment for societal reform. Approaches to multicultural education is described according to advocates in the field. The approaches according to James Banks vary from teaching about contributions groups and individuals of different cultures made, to supplementing existing curricula with multicultural lessons, to transforming the entire curriculum to reflect diverse ethnic, racial, and social groups. Christine Sleeter and Carl Grant’s approaches include, teaching culturally different students to fit into mainstream society, emphasizing diverse peoples living harmoniously together, concentrating on learning about one group at a time, and last focusing on prejudice reduction and equity for all. Gay concludes by urging a reform toward a comprehensive multicultural curriculum and general mind-set which will serve the needs of all children. This essay was the most comprehensive and useful of all the resources I found on multicultural education. I appreciate the depth the author goes into on this subject. "Defining of Multicultural Education" by Paul Gorski & Bob Covert (1996, 2000) http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/multicultural/initial.html Multicultural Pavilion: Resources and Dialogues for Educators, Students and Activists. Created by Paul Gorski. 2002. The author begins by explaining what multicultural education is, and is not. He draws from early shapers and researchers of multicultural education (James Banks being one) on curriculum transformation suggestions. He explains the different stages that can be implemented by teachers wishing to reform their curriculum. Stage 1 is the curriculum of the mainstream that offers no change or difference from the Eurocentric, male-centric standard, Stage 2 is the heroes and holidays approach, Stage 3 is the integration approach that offers multicultural supplements to the existing curricula, Stage 4 is a structural reform completely making over the curriculum with a multicultural perspective, and lastly Stage 5 implements social, race, sex, and class issues to the already reformed Stage 4. The author provides links to a plethora of teacher resources for implementing curricula reform strategies, suggestions of activities to break barriers for classroom settings for groups and individuals, and a forum for teachers to display their stories from the classroom. For anyone interested in multicultural education, this web site is a great place for information on these issues and a great resource to related links. Multicultural Pavilion is a meeting place for people, more specifically educators, concerned that children from all backgrounds, ethnically, socially and racially, be taught with respect and attention in the education system. Top of Page

Annotated Bibliography, page 1 ~ Effective Multicultural Curriculum © Tammia Madden, 2002 URL of this webpage: http://www.cocc.edu/tammiam/TermProject/annobiblio1.htm Last Updated: 04 June 2002