Volume 13, Issue 2 -

Zero tolerance policies have contributed to suspension and expulsion becoming common methods of addressing problem behaviors in schools. If suspension and expulsion are being used as forms of punishment, they should theoretically result in a reduction of problem behavior after their administration. In reality, exclusionary disciplinary practices have not been associated with reductions in problem behaviors among students. It has also been consistently established that disproportionate discipline practices and outcomes take place in schools. African-American students, in particular, are overrepresented in their respective rates of suspension and expulsion. School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) provide strategies that facilitate behavioral support for all students, including those with and without disabilities. Discourse on SWPBIS has suggested that implementation strategies are culturally neutral, and subsequently should be appropriate in all schools. However, African-American students continue to be over-disciplined when compared to their White peers, even when SWPBIS is implemented with sufficient fidelity. This information suggests that a culturally responsive adaptation of SWPBIS is needed. This article provides a framework for implementing culturally responsive School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and questioning students are commonly thought of as vulnerable to bullying and harassment in US schools, although there is hope that school climates are improving for LGBTQQ youth with the implementation of anti-bullying legislation and policies in almost every state. Although these policies address most overt and physical forms of bullying, other insults, assaults and invalidations may continue undetected. These sexual orientation and gender identity microaggressions, identified in counseling literature, can help teacher educators, teachers and school administrators better understand the psychological, academic and health effects of negative stereotypes and perceptions of LGBTQQ youth that are unaddressed in schools. This paper analyzes prevalent discourses about LGBTQQ youth in schools for evidence of the microaggressions identified in the literature. Microaggressions are discussed and the effects of harassment and stereotyping on school belongingness are examined.

Situated in social capital theory, the purpose of this mixed-methods study was to investigate the relationship between African-born immigrant parents’ educational level, income status, family structures, and academic performance of their children in the United States (U.S.). To that end, 205 African-born immigrant parents from a metropolitan city in the U.S. were surveyed using the modified Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation Questionnaire. The participants’ ( N = 205) responses to the questionnaires were analyzed using Chi-square tests and the participants’ ( n = 45) interview responses were analyzed using ATLAS.ti qualitative analysis software. Findings from the quantitative data showed relationships between parents’ income, educational level, family structures and academic performance of their children. Interview findings revealed that hard work and resilience to succeed, parental expectations and academic goals, parental support and investment in education, parental involvement, parent-teacher interactions, and parental educational experiences influenced parents to support their children’s education. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for teachers who are tasked to render better educational settings for African immigrant students to succeed in United States schools.

This study examines the ways in which a pair of identical-looking fraternal twins – first-generation Indian-American adolescent male students at a private all-boys school – construct personal meaning, or textual relevance, as readers. Semi-structured interviews with the two young men were conducted to determine the degrees to which their connections to literature were influenced by a) their racial/ethnic/cultural identities, b) their gender identities, and/or c) other aspects of their identities. The brothers’ responses, which differ significantly from one another’s and demonstrate the complexities of constructing meaning from texts, provide new perspective on how to best reach individual students – particularly students from nondominant groups. The data indicates that educators would benefit significantly from including young people’s perspectives in attempts to represent them and their identities within literacy education contexts. Ultimately, this study calls for a broadened theory of reader response – one that accounts for student diversity, within and across groups, and encourages young people to share how their worlds impact their readings of the word.

This paper discusses pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) resistance to some of the core concepts of multicultural education in a large Midwestern university. The data collected from document reviews, observations, and interviews with a selected group of PSTs point to cultural-ecological factors as major sources of the resistance. The paper examines these cultural-ecological factors correlating to PSTs’ fear of introducing multicultural concepts in their future suburban schools as well as their fear of cultural incongruity in the the urban schools. The study calls for an intensive and extensive multidimensional field experiences to familiarize PSTs with the unfamiliar cultures while providing them dialogic tools to informally engage their own communities on sensitive topics covered in multicultural education.

The United States of America is currently experiencing some socio-political problems. These problems stem from myriad mythologies and assumptions that have created labels, categories, stereotypes, and generalizations. While they are not uncommon in many communities and societies all over the world, in the United States, they have exposed intense divisions, xenophobia, racism, White supremacy, and close-mindedness. To a large measure, we now live in fears and anger; and we are literally losing our soul as the greatest democracy in the world. Not surprisingly, our adversary, Russia took advantage of these mythologies to meddle in our 2016 democratic Presidential election. As a result, many are asking, Is there a there there? In this article, I respond to this question by looking into these mythologies. In addition, I suggest ways for educators and leaders to foster multicultural and global education and buttress human valuing and interactions at classroom, school, college/university, community, state, national, and world-wide levels.