Minority Student Achievement and the Desired Characteristics

of Equity Programs in Diverse Schools with

Predominantly White Faculty

TCNJ Educational Leadership Immersion Program

Kathleen DeCristofaro

Significance & ApplicationSignificance & Application

No Child Left Behind mandates schools that are

dependent on federal funding to address gaps

between student subgroups.

“100%proficient by 2014”

Significance & ApplicationSignificance & Application

All programs supported by NCLB dollars must be research based and research supported…

…yet little research exists to support equity-based organizations and services.

Purpose of the StudyPurpose of the Study

• Determine the characteristics of an exemplary equity program.

• Provide an analysis of the extent to which selected diversity and equity organizations’ public domain literature reflect the desired characteristics of exemplary programs.

Step One

Develop a criterion tool to analyze equity program documents for the prevalence of desired characteristics of equity organizations.

MethodologyMethodology

MethodologyMethodology

Step Two

Conduct a content analysis of the equity organizations’ web pages using the developed criterion.

The Selected ProgramsThe Selected Programs

• Anti-Defamation League’s A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® INSTITUTES

• Beyond Diversity Resource Center• Respecting Ethnic and Cultural

Heritage (REACH) Center• Seeking Educational Equity and

Diversity (SEED)• The People’s Institute for Survival

and Beyond

The criterion tool…The criterion tool…

Fourteen criterion in five areas…1. Guiding Principles (3)2. Purposes (2)3. Processes (4)4. Personal/Professional

Development (2)5. Evaluation (3)

FindingsFindingsPrograms contained a highhigh prevalence of these criteria:

• Guiding principle of a system-wide collaborative effort.

• Guiding principle of critical multiculturalism.

• Purpose of developing a non-racist, anti-discriminatory identity.

high prevalence continued…

• Processes include a curriculum that addresses stereotyping, and assimilation.

• Processes include a curriculum that addresses differentiated and multicultural instruction.

• Professional development training components that includes the district phases of non-racist identity development.

Programs contained a lowlow prevalence of these criteria:

• Guiding principle that it is an expectation among teachers that all students are capable of high academic achievement.

• A purpose of attaining academic achievement at high levels that is equitable between student subgroups.

low prevalence continued…

• Processes that engage parents of minority students and the local minority community to promote collaboration.

• Processes that provide structural

academic support for minority students.

• Professional/personal development that includes cultural immersion experiences.

low prevalence continued…

Evaluation (internal or external) of the programs’ services that measure….

• academic achievement

• student attitudes

• school personnel attitudes and practices

DiscussionDiscussion

What do schools need to do?

Within the context of NCLB guidelines, do the conditions exist for these programs to be more widely implemented in schools?

The key is evaluation and analysis…and attention.

It is our moral obligation to address educational inequity and to evaluate our own role in its legacy.

Thank you

Questions