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Affirming Diversity and Promoting Democracy Dr. Francisco Rios Professor & Chair Educational Studies Department University of Wyoming Most of these successful collaborations (with advocacy groups of parents)…try to create a climate of mutual responsibility…they try to avoid deficit models and placing blame, especially on the parents for the failure that their kid may be experiencing. Instead, they try to tap into those positive values and the existing cultural capital of that community for academics.

Dr. Rios’ presentation focused on collaborations between schools and communities. He discussed four essential trends that are guiding the U.S. in terms of diversity and the need for school and community collaborations.
• The vitality of our nation is dependent on citizens who are educated and engaged in the community.

• Our demographics are changing, which raises the question of how we respond to these changes.

• A tremendous gap exists between low-income and minority students and their more affluent counterparts.

• Collaboration between government, schools, communities, and parents can play a significant role.

Dr. Rios then highlighted two exemplary school-community collaboration programs. In one program community leaders, rather than the school, organize parents’ involvement in activities. They have culturally appropriate classes for parents in both English and Spanish about topics that are very useful to the parents, such as how to talk with and listen to your child. Within these classes they look for potential leaders and help them become leaders. The other program provides a variety of community-specific programs on the Internet. Some common elements of these collaborations include:

• Creating a climate of mutual responsibility

• Avoiding deficit models and the placing of blame, especially on parents for the failure that their children may be experiencing

• Tapping into the positive values and existing cultural capital of the community

• Defining clearly what they mean by engaging parents

• Establishing common goals that are clear in purpose

• Recruiting and training community members to be leaders

• Making the schools and communities as family-friendly as possible

• Providing different ways that people can be involved to fit different needs

• Promoting effective and sustained communication

One issue that can cause difficulties in school-community collaborations is that it can be hard to involve parents when the curriculum continues to be racist and the school wants parents to help their children choose the school culture over their home culture. Another issue is getting parents to support what is best for all children rather than just their own child. This issue brings up the link between diversity and democracy. Dr. Rios discussed the work of Walter Parker on democracy and stated that multicultural democracy can foster diversity from which unity can arise, thus making diversity a democratic virtue.

In response to a question about how to balance the home and school cultures, Dr. Rios said that it is important to help students see that academics and being successful academically is something that is happening in their communities too. Also, schools need to get out into the community and learn about its assets and what is happening in homes, and bring these things into the curriculum.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Rios is a professor at the University of Wyoming where he also serves as chair of the Educational Studies department. He has over 30 publications that focus on various aspects of multicultural education. His recent interests focus on Latinos in education, second language acquisition, and multicultural education. He currently serves as the senior associate editor of Multicultural Perspectives, the journal of the National Association for Multicultural Education. He has worked with schools and teachers on diversity related issues in Milwaukee, San Diego, Los Angeles County, Santa Barbara, and now in Wyoming.