Culturally Responsive Schools

Make Learning More Relevant

Increasingly diverse cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds of students in today's U.S. classrooms and new requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act make addressing the impact of cultural responsiveness on student achievement more timely than ever before.

The June 2005 By Request—a twice-yearly booklet published by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory—travels the Northwest and over to Hawaii featuring Culturally Responsive Practices for Student Success. Authors Jennifer Klump and Gwen McNeir introduce common themes found in existing research on successful practices, including bridging academics to prior knowledge; building trust and partnerships with families; teaching educators about their students' culture; and holding students to high standards.

The publication's examples of vastly different schools offer readers context to apply what's relevant to the unique needs of their own students. For instance, Alaska's remote Russian Mission School has seen results with its Subsistence Education Program. By integrating Native knowledge with academic content, youth are engaged in learning essential skills to live successfully in the community, enrollment rates are on the rise, and achievement scores are improving.

Linapuni Elementary School in Honolulu has cultural responsiveness at the core of its mission—"Helping all students to meet high academic standards, while responding to the unique needs of English language learners and students and families living in poverty." To this end, a team of teachers, inspired by a training on working with families of poverty, designed a program in which parent and child set academic goals and develop action plans to meet those goals. This program addresses the critical role of parent involvement in student achievement: parents are shown the link between their goals and state standards, and students learn to take ownership of their learning and achievements.

Download this issue at www.nwrel.org/free or call Amy Steve at (503) 275-9720 for a printed copy.