 nsuring Educational Excellence
Key Components of Educational Equity
Although our nation remains divided along class, racial, and ethnic lines, equity in education offers to bring greater unity among America's diverse groups because it involves inclusion, a uniting force brought about by transforming public policy and curriculum. Several primary components of educational equity that successfully incorporate fair practices and equal learning opportunities to each student are necessary:
Access - Legislation alone cannot establish equal access to schools, courses, and activities. Access problems still occur even though virtually all districts have taken measures to comply with nondiscrimination laws. Equal access means more than the provision of equal courses, facilities, and programs. It takes into consideration the different needs of students, including those who require special educational programs to benefit from the curricular offerings of a school. Equal access ensures that schools:
 Help students of limited English proficiency acquire language skills so they may
benefit from instruction in the classroom and simultaneously achieve appropriate
academic levels
- Provide racial and ethnic minorities and females with support that encourages their enrollment in higher-level mathematics, science, and computer courses, which remain predominantly attended by White males
- Value, encourage, and provide a learning environment where all students can succeed and grow to their fullest potential, regardless of race, sex, or socioeconomic status
Where disproportionate access may exist, intentional or not on the part of the school, staff members should assess what might be occurring in the school that contributes to the inequities.
Attitudes - Behaviors and attitudes are not created or changed by law or policies. Changes begin at the personal level first and extend outward. Schools and parents can take measures, such as training, modeling tolerance, and exposure to multicultural events, that encourage positive attitudes among all individuals connected to the educational process. Students, parents, and staff are entitled to being respected and treated with positive personal regard. Biased or prejudiced attitudes against individuals or groups are unacceptable because they lead to discrimination.
Language - Language is one of the most powerful influences in the development or reinforcement of attitudes. Bias occurs in language both in vocabulary and in usage. For example, using generic masculine occupational titles and pronouns presents an unreal picture of the world of work and limits aspirations because people, especially young people, tend to take language literally. Language can convey biased or ethnocentric attitudes, for example, referring to war triumphs of the U.S. cavalry as "victories" but calling Indian triumphs "massacres."
Close attention must be paid in schools to the connotations and innuendoes of the daily use of language. Language is particularly important in multicultural education because it defines and describes people of many groups. When educators are sensitive and appropriate in language usage and identify people as they would want to be identified, they affirm diversity.
Interactions - The messages students receive from others about their gender, race, or national origin greatly influence how they perceive their own worth and how others perceive them. Extensive research emphasizes the significant influence teachers and other school staff have on their students. The following research-based examples illuminate some of the many biased interactive patterns that often occur in classrooms:
- Disciplinary action taken by teachers is sometimes based on factors other than
misbehavior; and discipline based on sex or cultural biases is especially harmful and may be one of the most subtle forms of discrimination in the educational system
- Students who are asked only easy questions do not have an opportunity to fully
develop their intellectual skills
- Students who are not given enough time to answer questions have less opportunity to demonstrate their abilities, and teachers generally give less answering time to students for whom they have low expectations
- Male students receive more teaching attention than female students
- Teachers tell and expect males to do tasks, but often assist and do these same tasks for females
The following research-based points demonstrate examples of interactions that help create an unbiased approach that can benefit every student:
- In a collaborative classroom environment, students develop their potential with fewer restrictions imposed by expectations based on sex, race, or national origin
- Teachers' physical closeness to students during classroom interactions directly relate to their ratings of students' ability, which in turn impacts students' sense of self-worth
- Groups that are mixed according to race, national origin, sex, and ability levels
promote more positive attitudes and social behavior than those that are not
- Students' attitudes and social behavior are more positive when they perceive that
teachers have a balanced approach in their reactions to student behavior
Most teachers are unaware that they may treat students differently based on their sex, race, national origin, or other group identification. Once teachers examine their own ideologies and participate in interactive training, they begin using alternative and equitable teaching methods, such as equity-focused staff development activities, personal research and exploration, openness to intercultural experiences, among others.
Disparities may also occur in the interaction of administrators who may unwittingly leave some teachers out of educational or policy discussions or give positive or negative feedback to other teachers, but not to others who may need it. By giving more attention to a select few, the principal may demonstrate favor for teachers who she or he perceives to be high achievers or who are of an ethnicity or sex with which the principal is more comfortable.
Parents may feel uncomfortable dealing with a teacher or an administrator who is of a different ethnicity or gender. The discomfort may cause the parent to avoid interacting with the school or to wrongly suspect hostility on the part of school staff. However, parents remain the pivotal influence in the socialization of young people. Their children and other students have a far greater chance of being treated equitably and developing just attitudes if inclusive behavior is modeled at home as well as by school leadership.
The interactions of school counselors, media specialists, aides, and classified staff with students impact all aspects of their academic and social adjustment and development. Every school staff member should examine their ideologies, explore resources, and pursue staff development opportunities that support their participation in and commitment to equitable practices in school to serve every learner fairly.
The benefits of tolerant communication at home and school extend to personal interactions and relationships in the community and workplace, resulting in mutual trust and respect among all people. Most people are fired from their jobs because of poor interpersonal skills rather than ineffective job skills. Therefore, students' learning positive and unbiased attitudes helps alleviate the problems that occur as a result of not knowing how to effectively communicate with others.
Instruction - Instruction includes and extends beyond materials, interactions, and language. Although teachers are required to follow the adopted texts when planning their lessons, they have latitude in how the material is presented, what topics are emphasized, what assignments are given, and what supplemental materials are used. Teachers' lack of awareness about equity concepts results in promoting a biased perspective. An equitable outlook can be sustained through the use of instructional materials that promote positive images of diverse groups and the strong commitment to an equitable approach to teaching and learning.
Equity and multicultural education are not separate subjects to be added to a multifaceted curriculum and busy workday, and do not add more content to the curriculum. Rather, equity and multiculturalism require teachers to rethink and reconceptualize the content being taught, and to use bias-free instructional methods to create inclusive lessons in every subject area.
Materials - Resources and materials often reflect bias in their content, graphics, pictures, and language. By using evaluation instruments, reviewers can determine whether minorities, females, or males depicted in materials are:
- Left out or ignored
- Inaccurately represented
- Subjects of ridicule, jokes, or insults
- Discussed in a stereotypic way
- Given scattered peripheral coverage
- Presented as figures without authority
- Romanticized so much that colorful characteristics are emphasized
and injustices and suffering are played down
- Represented in images and perspectives that encourage discrimination
Many supplemental materials, such as library books, posters, and audiovisual materials, are outdated and do not reflect equity principles. Teaching students to recognize bias in existing written and visual materials contributes to their critical thinking skills and eliminates consideration of censorship. There are abundant high-quality equity and multicultural materials and resources on the market that range from textbooks and multiethnic literature to comparative studies, trade books, and hands-on classroom activities. These resources can be readily accessed online, in print, and through interpersonal exchange with community members.
|
