Social Justice in Education

Multicultural EducationThe Evolution of multicultural Education in the United States: A journey for Human Rights and Social Justice

Carl A. Grant, University Wisconsin-Madison

Intercultural Education Movement 1930 - 1940Immigrants

Intergroup Education Movement 1940Race Riots

Ethnic Studies Movement 1960 - 1970

Multicultural scholars contend that pedagogical paradigms that encourage the inclusion of bits and piece of knowledge are not satisfactory. Instead, they argue for a pedagogical paradigm such as the one Mehan et al (1995) articulate:

“a new narrative of U.S. history, one that focuses on the historical moments in which different groups interacted over, even fought over, issues of justice, equality, and civil and political rights” (p 141).

Multicultural EducationThe Evolution of multicultural Education in the United States: A journey for Human Rights and Social Justice

Carl A. Grant, University Wisconsin-Madison

James Banks

Professor James A. Banks has been a researcher and leader in efforts to increase educational equality for all students in the United States and the world for more than three decades. As a fifth grade teacher in Chicago, then as a graduate student at Michigan State University, as a professor at the University of Washington beginning in 1969, Banks has pursued questions related to education, racial inequality, and social justice in more than 100 journal articles and 20 books. His most recent book, Diversity and Citizenship Education: Global Perspectives, examines the unity-diversity tension in 12 nations.

Professor Banks is the Russell F. Stark University Professor and Director of the Center for Multicultural Education in the College of Education. He has received many awards and honors for his research and professional service. He was elected president of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) in 1982 and later received that organization’s Distinguished Career Research Award. In 1997, he was elected President of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the chief educational research association in the United States and the world. From AERA, Professor Banks has received the Research Review Award (1993), a Distinguished Career Contribution Award (1996), and the inaugural Social Justice Award (2004) for his work "demonstrating the critical role of education research in supporting social justice."

James Banks

Teaching for Social Justice, Diversity, and Citizenship in a Global World

James A. Banks (2004)

Geneva GayThe importance of Multicultural Education (2004)

As the challenge to better educate underachieving students intensifies and diversity among student populations expands, the need for multicultural education grows exponentially. Multicultural education may be the solution to problems that currently appear insolvable: closing the achievement gap; genuinely not leaving any children behind academically; revitalizing faith and trust in the promises of democracy, equality, and justice; building education systems that reflect the diverse cultural ethnic, racial, and social contributions that forge society; and providing better opportunities for all students.

Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy Gloria Ladson-Billings University of Wisconsin-Madison American Educational Research Journal Fall 1995, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 465-491

Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy I suggested that culturally relevant teaching must meet three criteria: an ability to develop students academically, a willingness to nurture and support cultural competence, and the development of a sociopolitical or critical consciousness.

The three broad propositions that have emerged from this research center around the following:

*the conceptions of self and others held by culturally relevant teachers, *the manner in which social relations are structured by culturally relevant teachers, *the conceptions of knowledge held by culturally relevant teachers.

Conceptions of Self•believed that all the students were capable of academic success•saw their pedagogy as art-unpredictable, always in the process of becoming•saw themselves as members of the community•saw teaching as a way to give back to the community

Social Relationships* maintain fluid student-teacher relationships,* demonstrate a connectedness with all of the students,* develop a community of learners, encourage students to learn collaboratively and be responsible for

Conceptions of Knowledge•Knowledge is not static; it is shared, recycled, and constructed.•* Knowledge must be viewed critically.•*T eachers must be passionate about knowledge and learning.•*T eachers must scaffold, or build bridges, to facilitate learning.•*A sessment must be multifaceted, incorporating multiple forms of excellence.

Gloria Ladson-Billings Pushing past the Achievement Gap: An Essay on the Language of Deficit

“ . . . I argue that we need to change the discourse from achievement gap to what I have termed an ‘education debt.’

When we speak of an education debt we move to a discourse that holds u all accountable. It reminds us that we have accumulated this problem as a resut of centuries of Neglect and denial of education to entire groups of students. It reminds us that we have consistently under-funded schools in poor communities where education is needed most. It reminds us that we have , for large periods of our history, excluded groups of people from the political process where they might have a say in democratically determining what education should look like in there communities. And, it reminds us that what we are engaged as we reflect on our unethical and immoral treatment of our underserved populations

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