Cover Story
Beyond Taco Tuesdays

There's a picture of Martin Luther King, Jr. in your hallway, a pâpier maché Chinese dragon in the library, and your first-grade assembly includes a Mexican Hat Dance. But if you think you have diversity all covered, you don't!

In a nation where, by the year 2020, some 40 percent of children sitting behind school desks will be students of color, serving tacos on Tuesdays just isn't enough any more--if it ever was--to adequately recognize the diversity of our school communities.

Schools today need to go beyond the "sizzle" and get down to the "steak" of creating successful learning environments that work for all students.

And NEA members are up to that challenge, as the stories below--from an elementary school in Virginia, a middle school in Wisconsin, and a high school in California--make abundantly clear.

It's Elementary: Reach Out!
Maria Mendoza mashes the endredo de yuka, Edwin measures the masa, and Amy Sack, with the help of a translator, takes careful notes. Who's the teacher, who's the pupil?

Edwin, a third-grader at K. W. Barrett Elementary in Arlington, Virginia, may sit in teacher Amy Sack's class five hours a day, but it's Amy who's learning valable lessons about Central American culture--in Edwin's home kitchen.

"The kitchen," says Rosa Brice?o, Barrett Elementary's full-time family program coordinator, "is a safe place for interacting and learning together."

In Barrett Elementary's "Kitchen Math" program, teachers visit the homes of second-language learners to cook and eat while demonstrating hands-on math. Faculty cooked up the program to help involve new immigrant families in their children's learning.

"We're all on the same page when it comes to creating strategies to help second-language students," says library media specialist Roslyn Beitler, who came to Barrett Elementary at about the same time the county stepped up efforts to meet the challenges posed by rapidly changing ethnic demographics.

Barrett Elementary--with a student population that's nearly 70 percent Hispanic and 12 percent Asian--responded to that challenge by:

• Working to build a bilingual staff. Two-thirds of staff members now speak more than one language. All the school's teachers are enrolled in George Mason University's Institute on Second Language Acquisition.

• Reaching out aggressively to the community. At Barrett, twice a week computer nights facilitate student access while parents take literacy classes or attend Comite Latino/PTA meetings.

Barrrett Elementary believes in diversity by design. Children give bilingual "Friday Folders" to their parents, who return comments in their native language. Parents attend Friday Family Breakfast meetings for conversations over coffee and construction paper.

And the school's "Project Interaction" ties it all together, with high-tech, student-animated, bilingual broadcasts that air on hallway monitors during parent pick-up and drop-off times.

"We're interested in pushing our kids to become independent learners and seekers of information," says Beitler, who shares her collection of multicultural books during monthly Library Nights.

"We really want to make a difference with these kids," she adds. "We have a creative staff and a shared vision of where we want them to be when they leave us."

Middle School Tolerance
Even the name Maple Dale has a "Mayberry"-like quality to it. But this majority white middle school of 333 students, nestled in the affluent suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, sees itself ahead of the curve when it comes to helping students appreciate diversity.

Maple Dale--75 percent white today--first convened a multicultural committee nearly 25 years ago, when the school's minority population barely topped 3 percent.

"This school is always in the forefront," says social studies teacher Michael Koren, a 20-year veteran.

Koren's class plays "Diversity Toss," a card game about identity, reads articles about Nazi Germany and Japanese internment camps, and examines accounts about contemporary racism. Koren has also developed lessons that help students experience what discrimination actually feels like.

"Define discrimination," he begins a typical lesson. "How do you treat people who are not like you?"

Koren has replicated his diversity lessons as a presenter at state and national social studies conferences.

"I try to get people to see things from a different perspective," he explains.

Koren feels Maple Dale is doing a good job responding to a growing minority population, but he's still concerned about the lack of staff diversity--for many years, he was the only Jewish teacher many local kids would ever get to see.

Maple Dale will take another step forward this year as it welcomes its first African American principal.

"We've come a long way," says Koren. "But there's still a lot of room to grow."

A Multilingual High School
Near Hollywood backlots and sets for TV's Beverly Hills 90210, Beverly Hills High creates "real world" approaches to engage students who hail from 57 countries and speak 46 languages.

More than half the students speak English as a second language, notes Raquel Ramsey, the school's full-time English language coordinator.

Ramsey's school nurtures its student diversity. Multiculturalism permeates the curriculum and school culture.

One example: Voices Around the World, an annual literary magazine edited by an international staff of students, publishes in as many languages as students submit.

During Global Village Week, originated by Dr. Neo Gutierrez, students interact with Peace Corps volunteers and consulate officials, enjoy performances from the school's many culture clubs, and participate in an annual International Dinner.

Is it working? In one recent survey, 84 percent of those students from 57 countries speaking 46 languages gave two thumbs up!

--Michelle Y. Green

For more, information contact:

• Roslyn Beitler at 703/228-6288; bilingual Web site at http://www.arlington.k12.va.us/schools/barrett/.
• Mike Koren, 414/351-7380 x 1030, Mkoren@execpc.com, www.mapledale.k12.wi.us.
• Raquel Ramsey, 310/551-5100 x 8238, http://bhhs.beverlyhills.k12.ca. us.

Walk the Talk

Okay. Okay. So how exactly do I make the move from tacos, teepees, and Harriett Tubman to walking the talk about multicultural education?

"Multicultural education has three major goals: to know, to care, and to act," says Dr. James Banks, professor of education and director of the Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Washington, Seattle.

In An Introduction to Multicultural Education (New York: Boston, Allyn, and Bacon, 2nd ed., 1999), Banks notes attempts to diversify education typically take place at one of four levels.

Check the list of levels below. Which one reflects practice at your school? How could your school move up to the next level?

Level 1--Contributions. A school focuses on heroes, holidays, food, and other discrete cultural elements. During special commemorative days (Cinco de Mayo, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday, Chinese New Year) students are involved in lessons and experiences related to the ethnic group being studied.

Level 2--Additive. A school adds a unit or course on a particular ethnic group without any change to the basic curriculum, adding, for example, a unit on Native Americans or Haitians to the traditional social studies course.

Level 3--Transformation. A school infuses various perspectives, frames of reference, and content material from various groups to extend student understanding of the nature, development, and complexity of American society.

The basic curriculum changes. The conquest of American territory, for instance, is viewed from multiple perspectives, including those of Native Americans, African Americans, wealthy European settlers, and indentured servants from Europe.

Level 4--Decision Making and Social Action. A school includes all of the elements from level 3 but also encourages students to make decisions and take action related to the concepts, issues, or problems they have studied.

The goal: to help students develop a vision of a better society and acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to bring about constructive social change.

"You can't get to level four tomorrow," says Banks. "It takes a gradual approach."

Taking action could mean making a friend from another group, going to see a movie like Hurricane, reading a book like Snow Falling on Cedars, or learning a second language.

"I challenge the notion that multicultural education divides us," says Banks. "It's about uniting a deeply divided nation, not about dividing a united nation."

For more, Banks is the editor of an eight-book Multicultural Education Series published by Teacher College Press. Call 800/575-6566. Or visit the Center for Multicultural Education at http://depts.washington.edu/centerme/home.htm.

Q & A
Affirming Diversity

Sonia Nieto is professor of language, literacy, and culture at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The author of Affirming Diversity and The Light in Their Eyes: Creating Multicultural Learning Communities, she spoke recently with NEA Today.

What is "multicultural education" to you?
It involves looking at issues of access and social justice--how some students benefit from their education and others don't.

For example, if a student speaks a language other than English, it would be folly to think that student will benefit from the same educational experience as a student who's fluent in English.

It's not that the hordes are coming and the barbarians are at the gate. We've always been here, we've always been a diverse society. We just haven't taken diversity very seriously.

Why does multiculturalism arouse such volatile debate?
Multiculturalism challenges the conventional "melting pot" wisdom that the purpose of school is to melt students into this society, that the best thing we can do for students is to help them become more alike.

Children from cultures different from the majority feel they have to abandon who they are in order to be successful. That's a terrible price to pay.

How do cultural factors affect a student's ability to succeed in school?
There often has been an assumption that all young people from the same background will approach learning in the same way. We end up with what I call a "list" approach to multicultural education. We provide teachers with lists of behaviors and attitudes of children from particular backgrounds. Those lists are often harmful because they solidify stereotypes.

We need to challenge our own biases. Teachers need to become students of their students, embrace what their students bring to the classroom, and be respectful of where they are coming from.

Does multicultural education benefit nonminorities?
Who would not benefit from reading the poetry of Lang-ston Hughes or learning another language? Multicul-tural education is not a compensatory program or a patronizing approach to help inner city kids. It's about helping all kids become better learners and better prepared to live in the 21st century.

For more, visit www.awlonline.com/nieto.

Times Change

Minority percentages include Black, Asian or Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native.

Represents more than 5 percent increase.