CHAPTER 5
Who Are Today’s Students?
Collin College
EDUC 1301
Dr. Nita Thomason
 Racial, ethnic, and
cultural backgrounds
 Language
 Gender
 Sexual
orientation
 Socioeconomic status
 Abilities, achievements, and learning styles
 Diverse needs
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights
reserved.
32
Race
 Common ancestry
& physical
characteristics
Ethnicity
 Common culture
• Language
• Customs
• Religion
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights
reserved.
33
 Number
rising
of public school students is
• 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.
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights
reserved.
35
 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!
 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!
 “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
success
education has met with some
 Spanish
- 77%
 Vietnamese - 2.4 %
 Hmong - 1.8 %
 Korean - 1.2 %
 Arabic - 1.2 %
 French (Haitian) Creole - 1.1 %
 Cantonese - 1.0 %
 All others together - less than 1%
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights
reserved.
39
What do
opponents of
Bilingual
Education have
to say?
Immersion
English
Acquisition
Transitional
Maintenance or
Developmental
Teaching is in English
Short-term or pull-out English
lessons; may be used with
immersion
Intensive English instruction
combined with subject instruction
in native language
Preserves native language skills
while adding English as a 2nd
language
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
3 - 10
 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.

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







Watch your own behavior toward girls and boys;
have high expectations for all.
Organize classroom, technology schedules so
students don’t segregate or monopolize by sex.
Avoid biased instructional materials.
Eliminate sex-stereotyped assignments & tasks.
De-emphasize competition and speed; include
cooperative activities.
Structure learning to give girls equal opportunity to
participate.
Model equitable behavior; establish a culture that
does not permit gender or ethnic bias.
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights
reserved.
313
 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
 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
 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


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

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
 Creates
equal learning opportunities for
students from diverse racial, ethnic,
socioeconomic groups
 Curriculum as Window and Mirrortopics 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
 Establish
classroom guidelines against namecalling, and address all name-calling
immediately.
 Respect different points of view.
 Make no assumptions about students’ families
or their sexual orientations.
 Be a role model; treat all students with respect
and dignity.
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights
reserved.
320
 Free
appropriate public education
 Appropriate evaluation
 Individualized Education Program (IEP)
 Least restrictive environment
 Parent and student participation in decision
making
 Procedural safeguards
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights
reserved.
321
Mainstreaming
 Students with
disabilities in regular
classrooms for at
least part of the day.
 Additional classes,
services as needed
Inclusion
 Students in regular
classroom as much as
possible
 Brings services into
the classroom
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights
reserved.
322
Be open to including students with disabilities in
your classroom
 Learn each child’s limitations and potential
 Learn instructional methods & technology that
can help each child
 Insist that needed services be provided
 Pair students with disabilities with children who
can help them
 Use a variety of teaching strategies
 Co-teach with a special education teacher

Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights
reserved.
323
Acceleration
Enrichment
 Learn
 Go
regular
curriculum at a faster
pace
 Progress to advanced
materials sooner
beyond regular
curriculum
 Greater depth and
breadth
 Individual or
collaborative inquiry
activities
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights
reserved.
324
 Encourage
curiosity
 Allow exploration beyond standard
curriculum
 Differentiate instruction
 Group students of varying ability levels by
interest for cooperative projects
 Teach complex thinking processes
 Look for alternative curriculum materials
 Implement curriculum compacting
 Match students with mentors
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights
reserved.
325
 Verbal/Linguistic
 Logical-mathematical
 Spatial
 Bodily-kinesthetic
 Musical
 Interpersonal
 Intrapersonal
 Naturalist
 Existential/Spiritual
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights
reserved.
326
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights
reserved.
327
Know thyself, too!
Seek out experiences to broaden your cultural
understanding.
 Spend time with people who differ from your
ethnicity, culture, or language.
 Learn about the values and backgrounds of your
students.
 Teach to your students’ strengths.
 Provide a variety of educational experiences.
 Involve students’ families. Respect values of both
school and families.

Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights
reserved.
328
 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!