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Diversity Data Dianne Marie Ernst Walden University EDUC-6650 Enhancing Learning for Diverse Populations Fannie Haughton, Ed.D January 14, 2018

2 Diversity Data When I compared predictions of my school's demographic data to the actual data in my research, I was not surprised by my estimates. Before I began working in the Cecil County School District, I spent some time looking at the statistics for the school and school district as I was unfamiliar with Maryland's education system. What I did find interesting was how my school district compared to the state as a whole. The Cecil County School District and my elementary school have a higher number of Caucasian students compared to the state as a whole (2017 Maryland Report Card, n.d.). The demographics of my school compared to the state and the nation (Institute of Education Statistics, n.d.) are as follows: Ethnic Distribution US 2014 Maryland Public Schools 2017 Bainbridge Elementary School 2017 My Estimates for Bainbridge Elementary Caucasian 49.5% 38.2% 85.6% 80.0% African American 15.5% 34.0% 3.2% 5.0% Hispanic/Latino 25.4% 16.5% 3.5% 5.0% Asian/Pacific Islander 5.3% 6.5% 0% 0% Two or more races 3.3% 4.5% 7.7% 10.0% American Indian/AK Native 1.0% 0.3% 0% 0% As I looked at this data, I realized how critical it is for me to provide my students with exposure to cultural, educational, learning and other differences that exist in society even if all of those differences are not reflected in my classroom or school. A concern that I have for my students is with the literature that is a part of our curriculum. The curriculum our district adopted uses trade books for ELA. While I think this is a great way to teach reading, the main characters of the books we use are predominately Caucasian boys. This underserves all of my students as it

3 does not expose them to characters of other genders or ethnicities. I recognize how important my vast classroom library is for my students. I try to provide a more equitable exposure to literature by maintaining a vast classroom library filled with both fiction and nonfiction that incorporates various student interests, genders, and ethnicities. Classroom libraries should not just focus on genres and subgenres but should also focus on cultural diversity such as race, class, and disability, and where applicable sexual orientation (McNair, 2016). Providing students with diverse reading materials that present all cultures, ethnicities, and beliefs in a positive way helps promote a deeper understanding and appreciation of our differences. Additionally, I use trade books during the Differentiation Reading block that are more diverse than the books used during the Shared Reading and Interactive Reading blocks. While I may not be able to change or substitute the books used in the Shared and Interactive blocks, I can purposefully choose books that are of high interest to students and offer more diversified characters. As Dr. Tom Stritikus states, we need to provide a learning space where we can take advantage of the resources and values that different cultures bring to our classrooms to create a more democratic and tolerant society (Laureate Education (Producer), 2015). Bainbridge Elementary School continues to be a Title I school due to its large Free And Reduced Meals (FARM), and I was able to predict that approximately 50% of our student body come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. I was able to discern this information due to data meetings that were held in December 2017 that help determine how we will use Title I funds to serve our students. According to my school’s website, 58% of the students receive free or reduced lunch (Cecil County Public Schools, 2017) as part of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). In addition to the NSLP program, students at my school receive free breakfast daily, and student accounts are used for lunch payments so that students are not singled out. The

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4 percentage of students that are part of NSLP is slightly higher than that of the state. What I found interesting is that according to National Center for Education Statistics (n.d.) most high poverty schools have a higher percentage of African-American or Hispanic students which is drastically different than the demographics of my school where the student population is primarily Caucasian. It is through research and professional developments provided by the Cecil County School District that I became more aware of the effects that poverty has on student behavior and performance. I am fortunate to work at a school that provides many services for our students and continues to strive to build relationships with these students and their families. Dr. Sonia Neito reminds us that classroom celebrations and focuses on monthly tributes is not multicultural education; multicultural education is determining the success or lack of success of our students based on their diversity (Laureate Education (Producer), 2015). As I continue my career with Cecil County Public Schools, I need to maintain an awareness of the effects of poverty not only on the learning abilities of my students, but also how poverty effects family interactions and family involvement. Another interesting aspect of the data I found on the Maryland Department of Education’s website was viewing the testing data from last year’s PARCC tests. I needed to narrow my scope while looking at the data so I didn’t get overloaded with information. Since I teach 4 th grade ELA, I chose to evaluate the test data for that population. What I found was that for the state only 33% of the fourth-grade students did not into fall into the Exceed, Met, or Approaching Expectation level. A similar percentage was attained in the Cecil County School District. My school had 42% of students not falling into the Exceed, Met, or Approaching Expectation level. When looking deeper at the data relative to student ethnicity, I found that the students of American Indian, Hispanic and African American were not meeting the

5 aforementioned levels in the state and district. It was difficult to compare data here for my school since the population is predominately Caucasian and the data for other ethnicities is suppressed because it is less than 5%. I further looked into the FARMS population and found that students at the state, district, and school level were not performing as well as students who were not a part of that population. I was unable to further breakdown the FARM population into ethnicities from the source I was using. While the FARM population is not the only population being underserved, it is the dominant population for my school. Continuing to provide family outreach programs and after school programs can provide some of the support that these students need. The implementation of a new curriculum last year for both math and ELA was a change that the district made in hopes of helping to close the achievement gap for our students. When looking at the data before me, I also noticed that there was little to no representation for the LGBTQ population. While this dataset can be viewed as controversial, it is a part of the world in which our students and we live. Research has documented that LGBTQ topics receive less attention than other areas of diversity in teacher professional development (Payne & Smith, 2014). While there are support groups available for adults and adolescents and a service in Baltimore City, there is little representation in Cecil County. I currently teach a student who identifies herself as a boy. Her gender identification is not a passing tomboy phase as her mother and I have openly discussed the student’s gender identification. Since I am more aware of the effects of gender bias I am more careful about how I address the students and how I chose to separate students for group work. Likewise, as educators, we need to appreciate and understand the more diverse nature of the family. We no longer just have traditional family units. Many families include caretakers other than parents, unmarried parents, single parents, parents with shared custody, and same-sex parents. As educators, we need to be careful of the hidden

6 curriculum and not send messages that indicate that students and families are inferior in any way or that the families are unequal (Logan, Watson, Hood, & Lasswell, 2016). I reviewed various sources to compile my data. One of the most useful sites was startclass.com which provides not only school data, but district data as well. I found this site to have somewhat current information about my school and district. I additionally used the Cecil County Public Schools and the Maryland Department of Education websites to compile the most current data. I found that the U.S. Department of Education and the United States Census Bureau data was not as up to date although they still provided valuable data for comparisons. Providing all students with a safe and unbiased learning place is a critical component to a child’s education. Dr. Sonia Nieto describes multicultural education as being comprised of seven characteristics (Laureate Education (Producer), 2015) that are intermingled in properly addressing students’ education. By looking carefully at each of these characteristics and aligning them to the RWRCOEL Diversity Proficiencies, I can better serve my students and not neglect the advantages we have to be a diverse group of citizens. Cultures, beliefs, and differences should be shared and celebrated to create a more accepting and democratic society.

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7 References 2017 Maryland Report Card. (n.d.). Retrieved January 08, 2018, from http://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/ Cecil County Public Schools. (2017). Schools. Retrieved from https://www.ccps.org/Domain/103 Institute of Education Statistics. (n.d.). International education statistics websites . Retrieved February 17, 2016, from https://nces.ed.gov/partners/internat.asp Laureate Education (Producer). (2015). Introduction to multicultural education [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author. Logan, S. R., Watson, D. C., Hood, Y., & Lasswell, T. A. (2016). Multicultural inclusion of lesbian and gay literature themes in elementary classrooms. Equity & Excellence In Education , 49 (3), 380-393. doi:10.1080/10665684.2016.1194239 McNair, J. C. (2016). #We need mirrors and windows: Diverse classroom libraries for K-6 students. The Reading Teacher , (3), 375-381. doi:10.1002/trtr.1516 National Center for Education Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved January 09, 2018, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_clb.asp Payne, E., & Smith, M. (2014). The big freak out: Educator fear in response to the presence of transgender elementary school students. Journal Of Homosexuality , 61 (3), 399-418. Public Schools Start Class. Bainbridge Elementary School. (n.d.). Retrieved January 09, 2018, from http://public-schools.startclass.com/l/40509/Bainbridge-Elementary-in-Port- Deposit-Maryland#Key%20Facts&s=4qN59B

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