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L404 Goldenberg, C. N. & Gallimore, R. (1989). Teaching California's diverse student population: The common ground between educational and cultural research. California Public Schools Forum, 3 (Autumn), 41-56.
Educational research of the past three decades points in two seemingly contradictory directions for educators dealing with such a diverse clientele: (1) instructional programs must be adapted to the particular characteristics of different groups (the cultural compatibility hypothesis); The cultural compatibility hypothesis. Cross-cultural research suggests that differences among social, ethnic, or cultural groups influence learning and achievement (see, for example, Boykin, 1986; California State Department of Education, 1986; Heath, 1982, 1983; Jacob & Jordan, 1987; Tharp, 1989; Trueba, Guthrie, & Au, 1981; Weisner, Gallimore, & Jordan, 1988). According to this perspective, instruction must be adapted or accommodated so it is compatible with the home culture of students. Otherwise, incompatibilities between schools and students will result in achievement differences and inequities. The universalistic hypothesis. Another body of research leads to a very different conclusion: Human learning is actually very similar from group to group. Despite individual variability in learning abilities and styles, and obvious (and not so obvious) group differences in language, customs, and styles, people tend to learn in much the same way. According to this view, effective instructional practices can be substantially the same, regardless of the particular social or cultural group being taught.
It is difficult to contrast these two bodies of research. Each draws from different academic traditions, makes vastly different assumptions, and emphasizes different methods and standards for collecting, evaluating, and even deciding what constitutes data. A thorough review, synthesis, and weighing of the evidence for these two views would require more space than is available here. Size of research base. Certainly one major contrast is in the different size of their research bases. The universalist view can cite many studies to document powerful and consistent effects on student learning and achievement of generalizable instructional variables and practices (see citations above). The evidence is sparse, however, for the effectiveness of "culturally compatible" instruction--if effectiveness is defined as achievement gains. Much of the compatibility evidence rests on compelling demonstrations that cultural compatibility can affect student classroom participation (Tharp, 1989; see Au, 1980, for a widely cited example). But these demonstrations usually do not document linkages among compatibility, participation, and student achievement. Although participation is probably a key to learning (Bloom, 1984; Walberg, n.d.), its effects on achievement under common classroom conditions are inconsistent (Karweit, 1989). It is premature to discount the cultural compatibility hypothesis entirely. The lack of achievement effects might reflect many factors, such as the relatively short history of cultural compatibility research, its more limited research funding, the inherent complexities of cultural research, narrow measures of achievement and outcome, or too few variations in schooling to allow effects to be detected. Many early efforts to make teaching and schooling more culturally compatible focused on relatively superficial features of culture, as opposed to the more subtle processes which researchers now consider critical. The most serious challenge facing researchers in this area is to demonstrate the effects of culturally compatible instruction on actual student learning. But the call for more research cannot solve a pressing issue--the one that concerns us here: How should educators proceed in dealing with cultural diversity? Should educators devise programs and practices specifically tailored for particular groups, as suggested by advocates of culturally compatible instruction? Or should they seek to implement programs employing principles of teaching and learning that presumably work with all students, as the universalists argue? Unfortunately, educators cannot wait until researchers reach a definitive answer on the relative merits of "culturally compatible" or "universally valid" instruction. Action is required now.
We can argue forever whether effective school learning for various groups depends more on universal or on culture-specific principles and practices. As an academic question, this is a valid, interesting, and exciting area for continued inquiry. But while we debate, there are existing programs, many currently in operation, that have had a substantial effect on the academic achievement of traditionally disadvantaged groups (e.g., Comer, 1980, 1987, 1988; Krashen & Biber, 1988; Madden, Slavin, Karweit, & Livermon, 1989; Slavin, Karweit, & Madden, 1989; Slavin & Madden, 1989; Tharp & Gallimore, 1988; U.S. Department of Education, 1987a). Now, more than ever, Ronald Edmonds' words ring true: "There has never been a time in the life of the American public school when we have not known all we needed in order to teach all those whom we chose to teach" (1978, p. 3). For educators we propose the following strategy as they seek to educate the increasingly diverse student population. The watch-phrases are these:
Preconditions: 1. A commitment to shared, mutually-chosen educational goals. This is a political and ideological matter, not a technical or scientific one. What outcomes do we value, what do we want students to be able to do, think, know, or feel after having been enrolled in a particular program or school for a certain amount of time? Guiding principles: 1. After deciding on shared, mutually-chosen educational goals, begin with principles of universally effective instruction and the documented record of successful practices. This is not a straightforward task. While there is a considerable knowledge base from which to begin, the research and professional literature is not always consistent and unequivocal. Part of knowing the knowledge base involves understanding this fact and understanding how tenuous, in many cases, is our understanding. We will conclude on a somewhat different note. To this point, we weighed findings, theory, and speculations rooted in social, behavioral, and educational science. Ultimately, however, we must recognize that education is a profoundly political matter--who gets educated and who does not is decided by political factors rooted in the distribution of power and wealth in a society. Social science might provide information--perhaps even knowledge--but it can never determine how either will be used, what policies will evolve, and whose interests will be served. For these, we must turn to the political, rather than the academic, arena. Thus, we will not conclude simply with a call for more research, though indeed there are many interesting and important questions demanding investigation. Instead, we recall Ronald Edmonds, whose premature death in 1983 deprived us all of an eloquent and sensible advocate for equity and excellence in the education of youngsters the schools have not served well. Edmonds once remarked "that the poor are far more likely to be served by politics than by any equity interests to be found in the educational research establishment" (Edmonds, 1978, p. 34). If we have not been successful in educating members of all social groups and classes, it is because we really have not had to. Only enormous political pressure, Edmonds concluded, could be expected to serve the interests of the disadvantaged. The research and professional communities could pay him no greater tribute than to prove him at least partly wrong.
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