EDU 1143

Rethinking Schools began as a local effort to address problems such as basal readers, standardized testing, and textbook-dominated curriculum. Since its founding, it has grown into a nationally prominent publisher of educational materials, with subscribers in all 50 states, all 10 Canadian provinces, and many other countries. While the scope and influence of Rethinking Schools has changed, its basic orientation has not. Most importantly, it remains firmly committed to equity and to the vision that public education is central to the creation of a humane, caring, multiracial democracy. While writing for a broad audience, Rethinking Schools emphasizes problems facing urban schools, particularly issues of race. Throughout its history, Rethinking Schools has tried to balance classroom practice and educational theory. It is an activist publication, with articles written by and for teachers, parents, and students. Yet it also addresses key policy issues, such as vouchers and marketplace-oriented reforms, funding equity, and school-to-work. Brazilian educator Paulo Freire wrote that teachers should attempt to "live part of their dreams within their educational space." Rethinking Schools believes that classrooms can be places of hope, where students and teachers gain glimpses of the kind of society we could live in and where students learn the academic and critical skills needed to make that vision a reality. Rethinking Schools attempts to be both visionary and practical: visionary because we need to be inspired by each other's vision of schooling; practical because for too long, teachers and parents have been preached at by theoreticians, far-removed from classrooms, who are long on jargon and short on specific examples.

RADICAL TEACHER, founded in 1975, is a socialist, feminist, and anti-racist journal dedicated to the theory and practice of teaching. It serves the community of educators who are working for democratic process, peace, and justice. The magazine examines the root causes of inequality and promotes progressive social change. RADICAL TEACHER publishes articles on classroom practices and curriculum, as well as on educational issues related to gender and sexuality, disability, culture, globalization, privatization, race, class, and other similar topics. We welcome inquiries and ideas for articles, issues, or conferences from people actively engaged in progressive education. Radical Teacher is a peer-reviewed journal.

The Freire Project is dedicated to building an international critical community which works to promote social justice in a variety of cultural contexts. We are committed to conducting and sharing critical research in social, political, and educational locations. The project promotes research in Critical Pedagogy, and brings together local and international educators. We are committed to continuing the global development of Critical Pedagogy and to highlighting its relevance with marginalized and indigenous peoples. The Freire Archives and International Journal of Critical Pedagogy are publicly accessible, publications will be available in both hard copy and virtually through this website. Housed in the project are the papers of seminal scholars who have contributed to the evolution of Critical Pedagogy. In addition, the project will promote research in Critical Pedagogy and bring together both local and international educators and continue its development globally while highlighting its relevance with marginalized and indigenous peoples. Critical Pedagogy is a domain of education and research that studies the social, cultural, political, economic, and cognitive dynamics of teaching and learning. Critical Pedagogy emphasizes the impact of power relationships in the educational process. Emerging in the late 1960s with the work of Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, Critical Pedagogy has evolved as a cross-disciplinary field.

In the current climate of increasing nativism and intolerance as reflected in recent anti-affirmative action and English-only initiatives, and increasing acts of racist violence,(n1) we should anticipate that the racial divide will intensify in our schools as it has in the larger society. Yet teacher education, like higher education generally, often seems oblivious to the magnitude of this problem. By and large, teacher education does not require a serious study of race relations or critical multicultural education as preparation for teaching in our multiracial and racially divided society (Zeichner and Hoeft, 1996). Where multicultural education courses are offered, race is often marginalized under the multicultural umbrella (Kailin, 1996; McCarthy, 1995; Ng, et.al., 1995). In this article I will argue that to properly prepare teachers to teach in our schools and communities we need to incorporate an anti-racist perspective in teacher education.

The purpose of this article is to present an overview of the overrepresentation of students of color in special education programs. For this purpose, we outline background history on the problem and discuss its magnitude. We also identify several forces that shape this problem such as poverty, structural factors, instructional and assessment issues, and the cultural discontinuity between teachers and students. We conclude with a brief discussion about ways to address overrepresentation.

This article places the problem of disproportionate representation of African American students in special education in the context of the White privilege and racism that exist in American society as a whole. The author discusses how educational resource allocation, inappropriate curriculum and pedagogy, and inadequate teacher preparation have contributed to the problem of disproportionate representation. More important, she argues that remedies designed to address the disproportionality challenge must place the aforementioned structural forces at the center of education research, policy, and practice.

Two major premises are developed in this discussion. One is that many students of color are disproportionately assigned to special education because educators lack knowledge about or appreciation for their cultural values and socialization, and how these affect learning behaviors. The other premise is that the educational quality of students of color in both special and regular education can be improved significantly by using instructional programs and practices that reflect their cultural heritages, experiences, and perspectives. Several components of this ``culturally responsive teaching'' are explained, along with some research findings about its effects on student achievement. These include critical cultural consciousness of teachers; culturally pluralistic classroom climates; diverse communities of learners; and multicultural curriculum and instruction. The author concludes that without culturally responsive teaching education can never be the best it should be for students who are not part of the majority and mainstream of schools and society.

In the debate over the achievement gap between white and minority children in Connecticut, the overrepresentation of black and Hispanic children in special education classes is among the most sensitive subjects.

Children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds comprise a large percentage of public school students. Diversity is increasing, and one of the most troublesome issues associated with its growth is the overrepresentation of minority children in special education--that is, more minority children are served in special education than we would expect based on their percentage in the general school population.

With so many unanswered questions and controversies regarding intelligence, testing in general, and testing diverse students in particular, what can educators in gifted education do to ensure that these students have access to and are represented in gifted education programs and services? In this monograph, the author examines test bias by first reviewing seminal publications and research. This discussion provides the historical context for the monograph. Next, a discussion of intelligence tests is presented, paying specific attention to interpretations of and explanations for the comparatively low performance of racially and culturally diverse students on cognitive ability tests. Most of the research has targeted Black students' test performance and Black-White IQ differences. Definitions of and strategies for determining the nature and extent of test bias are then explored. Finally, the findings are summarized and implications for the field of gifted education are discussed.

Few school districts in the United States have successfully recruited and retained culturally diverse students in programs for gifted students. Black, Hispanic, and Native American students are underrepresented in gifted education programs nationally, with underrepresentation ranging from 50-70%. This article addresses two questions that are at least as old as gifted education itself" Why are diverse students underrepresented, and how can we recruit and retain more diverse students in our gifted programs? Factors contributing to the persistent underrepresentation of Black students in gifted education are presented, along with suggestions for changes. The central premise of this article is that deficit thinking held by educators about diverse students hinders access to gifted programs for them.

Talking about what appear to be racial issues with respect to student interactions, student-teacher interactions or interactions among members of the school staff is uncommon. Race is a "hot button" issue in our country, and it may feel that discussing potential misunderstandings or conflicts would make things worse. Moreover, many worry about being seen as insensitive or preoccupied with race. No doubt some issues that could be race-related are not actually related to race. But, this cannot be known without bringing up the issue. The country has made great progress in reducing racial prejudice and discrimination, but negative stereotypes, concerns about fairness, and the absence of comfort in interracial relationships persist. For racial issues to be openly dealt with, school leaders must make clear that it is important to be candid and to trust one another while ensuring that action is taken when problems are identified.

This Good Morning America video examines a famous 1940s experiment, which used dolls to gain insight into children's race perspectives and revisits this experiment in 2009. The video shares the results and implications of these experiments.

Founded in 1990, GCIR provides resources that foundations need to address the challenges facing newcomers and their host communities and to strengthen society as a whole. Its mission is to influence the philanthropic field to advance the contributions and address the needs of the country's growing and increasingly diverse immigrant and refugee populations.

The United States experienced phenomenal growth in the number of English-language learners over the first decade of the 21st century, expanding the need in many public schools to provide special language instruction.

This online toolkit provides an introduction to the multiple facets of diversity. It offers basic information, a short list of strategies and tools, and suggestions for how to find out more. Neither the short list of topics in this toolkit nor the content within each topic is meant to be exhaustive. For more in-depth information, please visit the Web links listed under each topic.

This publication of the James R. Squire Office of Policy Research offers updates on research with implications for policy decisions that affect teaching and learning. Each issue addresses a different topic. This issue addresses English Language Learners.

In many classrooms across America, race and ethnicity are very much on the table. Teachers dream of seeing their students discuss difference in a constructive way. Some educators actively encourage their classes to get outside their comfort zones and confront the country's racial history. But in many faculty rooms, there's little to no talk about race. Whether the topic is a racial disparity in students' academic achievement, a teacher who feels victim to racial discrimination or even simply a question about a black student's hair, teachers often elect to keep their mouths shut. If teachers can't have the race talk with each other, how can schools effectively educate their students about difference?

Explores issues of race and white privilege Excerpted from White Anti-Racist Activism: A Personal Roadmap by Jennifer R. Holladay, M.S. (Crandall, Dostie & Douglass Books, Inc., 2000)

"What does "white anti-racist" mean? How can guilt get in the way? And what's all this talk about being "colorblind"? Teaching Tolerance asked community activists to share their thoughts on these questions, and others. Their answers shine light on the concepts of comfort, power, privilege and identity."