Multicultural Education / Diversity / Culturally-Responsive Instruction
Bilingual Education and Latino Civil Rights
Baker, S. and Hakuta, K. (1997). Bilingual education and Latino civil rights. Cambridge, MA: Civil Rights Project Harvard University.
The article examines the history of civil rights for language minority children and assumptions behind attacks on bilingual education. After an introduction to numbers of ELL and immigrant students in the U.S. and California, the authors describe a brief history of congressional and judiciary decisions to institute and eliminate bilingual education. They cite major research findings from bilingual and English immersion programs.
Hidden in Plain View: An Overview of the Needs of Asian American Students in the Public School System
The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (2004, May). Coalition for Asian Hidden in plain view: An overview of the needs of Asian American students in the public school system. New York, NY.
The article discusses a number of issues related to Asian-American communities, specifically in New York City. The diversity of the Asian American community leads to stereotyping and mythmaking that adversely affect students and schools. The authors conducted interviews with students, parents, and school staff about the experiences of Asian Americans in schools and the community. The authors make some broad recommendations about: academics, informal education, parent involvement, and community participation.
Musical Training Helps Language Processing, Studies Show
Trei, L. Musical Training Helps Language Processing, Studies Show. Stanford Report, 15 November 2005.
In what will be music to the ears of arts advocates, researchers for the first time have shown that mastering a musical instrument improves the way the human brain processes parts of spoken language. The findings could bolster efforts to make music as much a part of elementary school education as reading and mathematics.
National Literacy Panel's Executive Summary
August, D. and Shanahan, T. (2006). Developing Literacy in Second-Language Learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth. Center for Applied Linguistics, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Mahwah, NJ.
In 2002, the U.S. Department of Education charged a panel of experts, chaired by Timothy Shanahan, with reviewing and compiling research on literacy attainment for language-minority students.
The panel's report, Developing Literacy in Second-Language Learners, identifies factors that support literacy development of language minority students in the classroom. It also discusses various findings on parent involvement and home literacy experiences and offers suggestions for reducing the over-representation of English language learners in special education.
Last year, the Department of Education said the report didn't stand up to peer review and decided not to release the report. The Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) has released the report's executive summary, written by principal investigator Diane August.
- Download Executive Summary (96KB PDF)*
- Order copy of full report
Report on the Status of Hispanics in Education: Overcoming a History of Neglect
Verdugo, Richard R. (2006. "Report on the Status of Hispanics in Education: Overcoming a History of Neglect." National Education Association.
Hispanic students often face unique challenges in student achievement. Because of high levels of poverty, limited English language skills, and immigration factors, Hispanic students must overcome socioeconomic, language, cultural and barriers to succeed in school.