Herrnstein and Murray's "The Bell Curve" claims that IQ is hereditary and that African Americans consistently score 15 points lower than other racial groups. Coolly received by academics, the book is being warmly embraced by Republican politicians endorsing fiscal austerity and social mean-spiritedness. The book rationalizes a conservative…

The Bradley Foundation paid coauthor Charles Murray $1 million to write "The Bell Curve." This support typifies the highly ideological research favored by conservative foundations seeking to mold public policy. The book's key educational policy recommendation dovetails with Bradley's top educational priority: support for school choice and vouchers…

Multicultural education tries to create equal educational opportunities by ensuring that the total school environment reflects the diversity of groups in classrooms, schools, and society. Five dimensions can help educators implement and assess programs addressing student diversity: content integration, knowledge construction, prejudice reduction,…

Many educators have not recognized the dual philosophies of assimilation and pluralism underlying multiculturalism. Confusion arises as schools ask social science teachers to infuse multiculturalism into their courses while expecting them to produce graduates who are culturally literate in the traditional sense. Simple awareness and ongoing…

A white elementary teacher at a suburban school with multicultural programs discovered that his class of African American and Hispanic sixth graders thought they (and other dark people) were inherently bad and destined for poverty. Aided by a black guidance counselor, the teacher helped these kids shed their "badness" and understand racist…

Cultures have distinctive learning style patterns, but the great variation among individuals within groups requires educators to use diverse teaching strategies. Researchers identify three kinds of information about culture and learning styles: observation-based descriptions of cultural groups of learners, data-based descriptions of specific…

Many multicultural education research findings can be applied in the everyday world of teachers and administrators. Five areas matter a great deal in educating a multicultural population: teachers' beliefs about students, curriculum content and materials, instructional approaches, educational settings, and teacher education. Whether teachers' race…

The goal of multicultural education is to help kids function in their ethnic communities and the mainstream world. The broader aspects of multicultural education (pedagogical equity and prejudice reduction) apply to all subjects. Schools as public institutions should promote the common good and the overarching values of the nation-state. Diversity…

Making classroom materials relevant to students is paramount for one Missouri high school English teacher. Since a relevant curriculum needs more than short stories and essays, she has incorporated books like Ngugi Wa Thiong'o's "Weep Not, Child," Kamala Markandaya's "Nectar in a Sieve," and Charles Dickens's "Tale of Two Cities" into a…

Describes the SPARCS (Solving Problems and Revitalizing Curriculum in Science) program, an interdisciplinary partnership between University of Nebraska-Lincoln students and faculty and Omaha Public Schools science teachers and administrators. Success depended on establishing long-term, diverse partnerships; providing a learning community for…

Describes a New York City art teacher's successful efforts to encourage interracial harmony by having students transform the mayor's "human mosaic" campaign rhetoric into physical reality. Participation in the project begins with classroom discussions on ethnic groups and ends with a unity-through-diversity mosaic of 250 student-painted portraits…

Two exploratory studies suggest ways to address Hispanic Americans' education needs. School staff should place value on the students' language and cultures, set high expectations for language-minority students, design staff development to help teachers and counselors serve language-minority students more effectively, and encourage parents to…

Although educators working with limited English-speaking students applaud reformers' efforts to establish readiness and high achievement standards for all students, they are troubled by a lack of attention to opportunity-to-learn standards. Most students need greater access to high-quality instruction, services, and assessment. Steps to alleviate…

Too often, parents' social, economic, linguistic, and cultural practices are represented as serious problems, rather than valued knowledge. Some parents do not feel comfortable in the teachers' domain. Schools can help by clarifying how parents can help, encouraging them to be assertive, developing trust, building on home experience, and using…

Public education is under attack. There is a general assault on the public sphere as a central aspect of our common existence. The problems of city schools stem from our failure to place educational reform within a broader vision of social and economic justice and our unwillingness to take political action to realize that vision. (MLH)