Over the past half century, the student population in American schools has changed dramatically. Understanding diversity and helping each student are teaching challenges of the twenty-first century.
Using appropriate language when discussing diversity or referring to students' backgrounds and abilities is critical.
Theoretical and Empirical Support
Much of the research and concern with diversity has focused around three topics: equity, differential treatment, and variations of the learning abilities of students.
Equity refers to the making conditions in schools impartial and equal for everyone. Historically, these conditions have not existed. Some students have been provided restricted opportunities because of their race or abilities.
Differential treatment refers to the differences in educational experiences of the majority race, class, culture, and gender and those of minorities.
Studies over the years have shown that minority students receive a lower-quality education as a result of enrollment patterns, tracking and grouping patterns, and differential interactions with teachers.
Teachers' expectations affect relationships with students, what they learn, and students' perceptions of their own abilities. Teachers can learn to be aware of and minimize their biases about students of different backgrounds.
Students vary in their abilities to learn. For many years, human intelligence was conceived as a single ability.
Modern theorists view ability and intelligence as more than a single ability and propose the theory multiple intelligences.
Debates have existed for a long time over whether ability to learn is inherited (nature) or is a result of the environment (nurture). Today, most psychologists believe it is a combination of both and also recognize that an individual's capacity to learn reflects cultural backgrounds.
Learners vary in the way they process information and also in their preferred styles of learning. It is important to tailor instruction to students' learning styles and preferences. However, this is not always possible because the different styles in a classroom are simply too varied to make it practical for teachers to accommodate every student's style.
Exceptionalities
Students who have learning disabilities have special needs that must be met if they are to successfully function in and out of school. Traditionally, these students have received an inferior education. Current efforts to mainstream and include students with special needs are aimed at correcting this situation.
Inclusion is an effort to extend regular classroom educational opportunities to students with special needs, a group that traditionally has been segregated and has received inferior educational opportunities.
Public Law 94-192 specified that students with disabilities must be educated in the least restrictive environment and that each must have an individualized educational plan (IEP).
Teachers' responsibilities for working with special-needs students include helping with the IEP process and adapting instruction and other aspects of teaching so all students can learn.
Perspectives differ on how best to work with students with disabilities. Some advocate highly structured approaches whereas others argue that instruction should stem from the student's interest and emphasize problem solving and critical thinking.
There is a lack of consensus about how to identify and educate students who have special gifts and talents. Some believe that paying attention to the gifted takes resources away from students who need them more.
Characteristics of gifted students can include extraordinary cognitive functioning, the ability to retain lots of information, flexible and creative thought processes, large vocabularies, and advanced artistic talents.
Effective strategies for working with gifted students include differentiating instruction, creating rich learning environments, using flexible groupings, compacting curriculum and instruction, using independent study, and helping gifted students set high standards for themselves.
Race, Ethnicity, and Culture
Contemporary perspectives reject ideas about cultural deficits and instead embrace cultural differences theories and cultural discontinuity to account for the difficulties minority students experience in school.
To work effectively with students in culturally and racially diverse classrooms, teachers must recognize, understand, and appreciate cultural groups, whether based on racial, ethnic, language, gender, or other differences.
Becoming aware of one's own bias and developing understandings and sensitivities of students' cultures is an important first step for successful teaching in culturally diverse classrooms.
Effective teachers of racially and culturally different students know how to create culturally relevant and multi-cultural curricula and how to use culturally relevant pedagogies.
Specific teaching models and strategies available to accomplish multicultural learning goals include direct instruction, cooperative learning, reciprocal teaching, and community problem solving.
Language Diversity
Teachers will find significant language diversity in today's classrooms. This includes diversity in dialects spoken as well as many students who speak English as their second language.
Second-language acquisition is a difficult and long-term process for students. It includes not only learning phonology, morphology, syntax, and vocabulary, but also how to interpret gestures and facial expressions, learning the norms that surround language usage, and using language to acquire cognitive knowledge.
Language diversity must be respected and bilingual skills must be encouraged and developed for students who do not speak the dominant language.
Gender Differences
Even though education has been a field dominated by women, gender bias and differential treatment of girls have been problems in schools.
Most studies show that there are few major, inherent differences between the abilities of men and women. However, some evidence exists that girls do better in language arts, reading, and oral and written communication whereas boys seem to excel slightly in mathematical reasoning.
Although some aspect of female and male personality and behavior can be attributed to nature, socialization likely plays a more important role in role identity.
Traditionally, teachers have interacted differently with boys and girls. They ask boys more questions, give them more praise, and afford them greater independence.
Effective teachers are aware of their own possible gender bias, show respect, challenge all students, and make sure their language and curriculum materials are gender-free and balanced.
Social Class Differences
Low-SES students, for the most part, come from families who are poor, have limited formal education, and who often speak English as a second language. They come to school in poor health, with old clothes, and speak a language other than English.
Socioeconomic status has rather dramatic effects on school learning, mainly because of tracking and grouping and because of differential interactions with teachers.
Low-SES students respond to teachers who show them respect, who challenge them by holding high expectations for their academic learning, and who will be advocates for their rights to an equal education.
Final Thoughts and Schoolwide Issues
Teachers alone cannot solve all the problems faced by schools today. Many of the challenges of providing equal opportunities can be met only through community and schoolwide actions and reform.
