DIVERSITY, GENDER AND ASSESSMENTS Classroom Assessment: Chapter Four

Classroom Diversity 25% of US School Children: have ethnic minority status. Millions of school children have English as a second language. (ESL status) Goal: Meet needs of all students within US classrooms. Mixed Success: Some success with this issue; unaddressed issues remain. Head Start: Shows early academic gains as a result of participation. Academic gains fade by end of third grade, showing little long-term effect.

Classroom Diversity College Entrance: Number of minorities attending college has increased substantially since 1960s. Average score on college entrance exams are lower. Formal Agenda: Court Cases: Brown vs. Board of Education (1954), Civil Rights Act (1965), Head Start, Affirmative Action, and Title I Programs. Hidden Agenda: US Meritocracy, Classrooms as ‘socialization’ mechanism, ‘fit the mold’, informal or hidden curriculum (McCaslin & Good, 1996). Discrepancy between what is preached (equal educational opportunity) and what is practiced (socialization to cultural standards).

Ethnic Issues and Assessment Culture and Identity: Who do you see yourself as? What are the effects of culture on your personal identity? How does your view differ from those of your colleagues? Your students? How does your personal view of culture and identity shape what you do in your classroom? Assimilation: Sociocultural process where a group adopts or adapts to a particular culture. (Gollnick & Chinn, 2002).

Ethnic Issues and Assessment: Cultural Pluralism: The process where two or more distinct cultural groups coexist separately without any requirement to assimilate (Gollnick & Chinn, 2002). Question: How does an individual honor their ethic culture, language and diverse background in a public school setting? Is this possible? How can classroom teachers assist students with this process? Oppositional Identity: Negative response to control by dominant culture. May affect behavior, academic achievement, social interaction.

Ethnic Issues and Assessment: Involuntary Minorities: ethnic groups whose historical circumstances forced them into minority status against their will. Proposed ‘School Alienation’ Solutions: diversity education, self-esteem building, ethnic studies, heterogeneous groupings for small group instruction, magnet schools such as: Young Women’s Leadership Academy in Harlem. Complex Issue: Other Suggested Solutions?

Learning Style Differences Learning Style: a person’s preferred method of processing and recalling information. Learning Style Differences: can affect student performance on certain types of assessments. Learning Style Differences: vary from student to student; may also vary by ethnicity and culture. (Vasquez, 90): Latino American children achieved better in cooperative rather than competitive learning environments. African American children, more ‘person’ than ‘object’ centered.

Accommodating Diverse Assessment Needs: Cultural Preferences: cooperative learning, holistic learning, persona-centered examples, humor. Discriminatory Assessments: abstracting detailed information from a general knowledge base, analysis without reference to interpersonal contexts, assessments dependent on specific language, cultural, or specialized vocabulary knowledge, etc. How can we address diversity issues without creating divisions within our classrooms?

Ethnicity and Student Achievement SAT: Income appears to be the prime predictor of scores on this test. Focuses on vocabulary and general knowledge items. These types of test items affected by culture. Cureton et al. vs. NCAA: Federal ruling that present policy of using SAT and ACT test scores in determining athletic scholarships constituted a discriminatory practice. This ruling is being appealed (1999). SAT: African Americans: 97 points lower on Verbal, 106 points lower on Math. (2002)

Ethnicity and Student Achievement: Teacher Expectations: (Lipman, 1997) Teachers had different expectations related to the ethnicity of the students. Stereotypical bias affected instructional practices. Teachers tended to be less innovative and more traditional when classroom composition was ethnically diverse. Self-fulfilling Prophecy: Internalization of the expectations of others. Give all students the ‘tools’ they need to be successful. No Child Left Behind.

Ethnicity, Language and Appropriate Assessment Creating Appropriate Assessments: relevant examples and questions tie to student culture, variety of assessments, graded and ungraded, formal and informal. Issues: Student alienation, learning skills, attitudes, ESL background, diverse learning preferences, socioeconomic disadvantages. Transitional Bilingual Education: NCLB proposes limiting ‘transitional’ language programs to no more than three years. High School Graduation Exams: Discriminatory. Lead to increased drop out rates.

Strategies: Diverse Learning Styles Scaffolding: Construct a framework so students tie new learning to previous learning. Examples. Practice. Frequent, informal assessments. Zone of Proximal Development: (Vygotsky) The ‘gray area’ where students are unable to solve the problem themselves; but are successful with adult or peer help. Step-by-step. Dynamic Assessment Procedures: Interactive, dynamic assessments, reduce student anxiety, increase collaboration between teacher and students.

Gender Differences and Assessment Gender Differences: girls tend to have better grades in elementary and secondary classes, boys have higher scores on SAT. Gender performance differences narrowing as instructional patterns shift. Math / Science: Cultural bias? Gender Difference? Self Esteem: Student’s self-esteem positively related to academic achievement. Types of self- esteem: academic, physical, social. Students may do well academically, but be low in other types of SE.

Gender Differences and Achievement: Self-efficacy: Prediction of how successful one will be in a particular area. Academic, social, physical, etc. ties in here. General downtrend in students’ overall self- esteem from late elementary school to sophomore year in H.S. Girls more affected than boys. In general, boys rate themselves higher on self- ratings than girls. Girls more affected by physical changes, puberty. Inborn Traits? Language? Math? Cultural Bias?

Gender Differences and Assessment SAT: multiple choice, timed. Boys tend to score better in this format. Girls: Higher on standardized assessments from primary grades through middle school. This tends to change by college entrance or before. Teacher Behaviors: research shows differences in teacher interaction patterns with students based on gender. Boys called on more frequently in class. Girls more responsive to teacher direction. Implications for classroom?

References: Banks, S. R., (2005). Classroom assessment: issues and practices. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc. 71 – 92.