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Who are Today’s Students?
Chapter Five
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U.S. Student Demographics
- Number of public school students is rising
- Enrollment rose dramatically from 1985-2010
- Demographics changing
- Number of non native English speaking students rose dramatically during this period.
- Over 43% of public school students are part of a racial or minority group;
- Latino and Latina students are the fastest growing segment of the school population.
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Equal May Not Be Equitable
- Equity: Treating individuals & groups fairly & justly, free from bias or favoritism
- Equity does not mean treating groups equally- it means treating them in ways that maximize their potential for learning.
- Those ways may be different for different groups- but the outcomes are the same!
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Where’s the ethnic diversity?
- Immigration
- New York, New Jersey, California, Texas, Nevada: Highest % of immigrants
- ~ 1/5 of students are from immigrant families
- Rise in segregation in past few decades
- Whites move to suburbs, build new schools
- Latinos account for 65% of increased enrollment in older schools…..de facto segregation!
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Language Diversity
- “English-language learners” (ELLs) or “language minority” students: Speak a language other than English at home, need to learn English in school
- 1979-2009 # ELLs rose from 9% to 20%
- About ¾ speak Spanish
- Bilingual education has met with some success
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Bilingual Education Approaches
- Dual (“two-way bilingual”): ELLs & native English-speakers both become fluent in 2 languages (several program variations)
- English as a second language (ESL): Academic subjects in native tongue; students pulled out for English instruction
- English-only immersion
- Specially designed academic instruction in English (SDAIE): English-only, instruction modified to help ELLs understand
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Religious Diversity in the U.S.
- Christians account for 78.4 percent of the American population, with Protestants
accounting for 51.3 percent of that total.
- The total number of Americans who identified their religion as something other than Christian increased by more than 32 percent over the last two decades.
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Religion in Public Schools: Separation of Church and State
- One Cannot:
- Teach a religion (indoctrinate or inhibit)
- Encourage, participate in students’ religious activities
- One Can:
- Teach about religion
- Honor privacy of students’ rituals, as long as they don’t interfere with class/school function
- Teach values such as honesty, respect, citizenship
- Guidance from the First Amendment Center
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Sexual Orientation
- Enduring emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction for people of one or both sexes
- LGBT students fear rejection and harm:
- Over 60% surveyed felt unsafe at school
- LGBT students suffer greater risk of suicide, depression, bullying, assault
- Unlike most minority students, LGBT may experience prejudice & isolation at home
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Socioeconomic Diversity
- Socioeconomic status: Based on family income, occupation, education, and social status:
- Relates to social capital of family
- Students with higher socioeconomic status tend to outperform those w. low social capital
- >30% of all U.S. kids live in single-parent household
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Students at Risk
- Students in danger of dropping out before completing high school or not acquiring adequate skills for success
- “High-risk child” = one whose family has 4 or more of these risk factors:
- Household head is high school dropout
- Family income below poverty line
- Child living with underemployed parent(s)
- Family receives welfare
- Child lacks health insurance
-from Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2003
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Social Risk Factors
- Most significant are:
- Poverty
- Substance abuse
- Child abuse
- Homelessness
- Hunger
- Depression
- Teen pregnancy (major reason girls drop out)
- High-risk 16-19 yr. olds are 4x more likely to drop out of HS than those not in category
-from Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2003
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Sex, Drugs & Violence
Survey of public & private school students in grades 9-12
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance-United States, 2005,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 55 (no. SS-5), June 9, 2006.
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Multicultural Education
- Creates equal learning opportunities for students from diverse racial, ethnic, socioeconomic groups
- Curriculum as Window and Mirror- topics outside of the students’ world and topics that reflect the students’ world;
- Culturally relevant pedagogy: Places learner’s culture at center of instruction
- Incorporates culture into curriculum
- Respect students’ experiences
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Single-sex Schooling
- Girls often squelched in coed classrooms
- Teachers tend to call on boys more often
- Girls less likely to express themselves
- Fewer leadership roles
- Women underrepresented in curriculum
- Single-sex schooling predicted to become more common in public schools
- Gender-fair education: Helps females & males achieve full potential
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Variation in Intelligences
- Theory of multiple intelligences (Gardner): Intelligence is reflected in many types of abilities, not a single fixed attribute
- Explore topics in multiple ways to play to different intellectual strengths, learning styles
- Watch the Teach Source Video Case, “Multiple Intelligences: Elementary School Instruction”
- In what ways is this lesson an example of teaching to multiple learning styles?
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Conclusion
- Different is just different; it’s not lesser
- Treat your students’ differences as a gift, not a barrier to be overcome
- Learn from them
- And with them
- Help them be all they can be: Through your non-biased teaching practices and your pursuit of equity!
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