 Dr.
Yvonne Bui
Department of Special Education
University
of San Francisco
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to LASER Programs
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Culturally
Balanced Educational Practices: Increasing the Achievement
of Culturally Diverse Students without and without Disabilities
In the past
two decades, the population in the United States has
increased and changed dramatically. Moreover, these changes
have occurred as a result of a dramatic growth in culturally
and linguistically diverse groups such as Asian and Latino
Americans. The recent demographic changes have serious
implications for the nation’s public education
system. In addition to adjusting to differences in cultural
values and behaviors, classroom educators are faced with
the additional challenge of teaching students who are
English-language learners (ELL). This study is an instructional
approach that will be aimed at increasing the teaching
efficacy of general and special education teachers who
have culturally and linguistically diverse students in
their classrooms. The study goes beyond addressing superficial
cultural differences and the need to be culturally sensitive
toward minority groups. Instead, the premise of the study
is based on the cultural compatibility hypothesis which
states that when classroom instruction is designed to
be compatible with the students’ natal culture,
improvements in students’ academic learning can
be expected (Vogt, Jordan & Tharp, 1987; Jordan,
1985; Deyhle, 1983; Jordan & Tharp, 1979). The focus
will be on how teachers can increase the level of cultural
compatibility and create a culturally balanced learning
environment (and thus affect academic learning) in their
classrooms. Three major areas of teacher practices and
implications for student learning will be investigated.
These are the effects of providing compatible cognitive-styles
instruction, strategies used to increase English language
development, and social organization of the classroom.
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