BRAVO Principals...
Celebrate Diversity
A few months ago, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released The Condition of Education 2005,
which details a changing dynamic in U.S. classrooms. In 1972, only 20 percent of public school students were considered
to be part of a racial or ethnic minority group; by 2003, that number had grown to 42 percent. Today, Hispanic students
represent 19 percent and black students make up 16 percent of public school enrollment; other minority group populations
have increased from 1 to 7 percent.
That same report noted that between 1979 and 2003, the number of school-age children who spoke a language other
than English at home grew from 3.8 million to 9.9 million.
There is no doubt about it: We live in an increasingly diverse world. In spite of the diversity that surrounds so
many of us, the faculties in our schools have remained largely white and mostly female. Administrators are even more
predominantly white -- and most often male, especially at the secondary level.
Those facts alone point to an especially important challenge that confronts today's school leaders: celebrating
the many faces of diversity.
BRAVO PRINCIPALS CAPITALIZE ON DIVERSITY
"BRAVO principals -- principals who Build Relationships with Actions that Value Others -- incorporate actions every
day that
--- encourage diversity involvement on campus;
--- integrate diversity throughout the curriculum; and
--- advocate for all students.
BRAVO Principals Encourage Diversity Involvement on Campus
One of my aspiring principal students recently asked his high-school students to write about their school. As he
read through their responses, he immediately became aware of the disassociation of his Hispanic students. Most of
the Anglo students in the class began their papers by saying, "In my school, we..." but many of his Hispanic students
began their papers by saying, "In this school, they..."
BRAVO Principals
BRAVO is an acronym for Building Relationships with Actions that Value Others.
"Principals can act in many ways that value others," said Sandra Harris, author of BRAVO
Principal!, and each month I will share in this column some of those ways. The ideas shared will not
be directionless, busy-work activities; instead they will be ‘tactical actions’ -- actions with the purposeful
intent of building valued relationships with others.
Harris, an associate professor in the educational
leadership program at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, is author of other titles including Best
Practices of Award-Winning Elementary School Principals (Corwin Press, 2005) and seven titles for Rowman
& Littlefield Publishers. Her newest book, BRAVO
Teacher, was just released. |
|
He considered the racial identity of the school and realized that on his campus only five or six of the more than 100
teachers were Hispanic. Immediately, he went to his principal with an idea to form a group of teachers, administrators,
counselors, parents, business leaders, and students called "The Hispanic Forum." The group created a mission, vision,
and goals statement with an emphasis on building community within the school. The students in The Hispanic Forum even
organized a series of classes for teachers -- taught by the students.
Another principal involved his school in a new program called LINC (Learning for Immigrant New Comers). The program
was designed for students who are recent arrivals to the United States, do not speak English, and are not familiar
with the U.S. educational system. Too often, those immigrant children are confused, even frightened, in our schools.
The LINC program shelters those students until they become familiar enough with the language and the school culture
to be successful on their own.
BRAVO Principals Integrate Diversity Throughout the Curriculum
Principals model respect for diversity when they engage their faculties in addressing issues of identity so that
children have successful role models that represent all ethnic groups. Diversity can be integrated across the curriculum
by encouraging faculty to seek out guest speakers who represent different ethnicities and to incorporate literature
by authors of Hispanic, African American, American Indian, Middle Eastern, and other origins. Another way to ensure
a curriculum that reflects the student body is to involve faculty in evaluating texts; do they include a broad range
of historic events, not just those that are Eurocentric? Still other principals lead faculty book studies that include
books, such as The
Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams, Why
Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, We
Can't Teach What We Don't Know, Other
People's Children, and The
Kite Runner.
BRAVO Principals Courageously Advocate for All Students
It is the responsibility of principals to commit to seeing that all children on the campus have an equal opportunity
to experience success. That means providing tutorials for students who are falling behind before they fail.
Another way that principals advocate for all students is to simply acknowledge their successes. That doesn't mean
just noticing the student who is a gifted athlete or scholar. It also means noticing improvement and acknowledging
it publicly and privately through notes to parents, or a simple handshake and comment: "I saw that you brought your
math grade up this six weeks. Good job!" Do you display the artwork of a child who can draw even though she is wheelchair-bound?
Do you invite the child who plays a musical instrument to play a song over the public address system even though he
speaks English haltingly? In those small ways, principals help children who might be considered "different" assimilate
more smoothly into the school population.
VAULING ALL KINDS OF DIVERSITY
HELPS STEM BULLYING BEHAVIORS
A lack of appreciation for diversity is often the root cause of bullying or peer harassment. Research confirms that
the kids who are most likely to be bullied often represent different ethnicities, have special needs, come from different
economic backgrounds, or are considered "just different" by other students.
Have you heard the song Rachel Delavoryas
by Randy Stonehill? Its recurring theme, "She'll never be one of us," illustrates just that point.
Principals who take a stand and advocate for all students build relationships with our "different" students and
make them feel part of the school community. At the same time they take a giant step toward establishing a school
atmosphere that reduces bullying and values diversity.
Principals who build positive relationships with faculty and students do not limit their concern for diversity to
ethnicity. They are aware of other aspects of diversity, including young people who are questioning their sexuality,
overweight, or of different religious or economic backgrounds.
In our schools today, many faculty and students come to school more aware of how they are different than how they
are alike. BRAVO principals who are concerned about Building Relationships with Actions that Value Others celebrate
diversity when they notice the level of engagement of all students and faculty on their campuses, when they ensure
that the curriculum celebrates our diverse heritages, and when they advocate for all students.
In short, they see beyond differences. They see people.
Woodrow Wilson, the 28th U.S. president said, "You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to
enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here
to enrich the world..."
I think President Wilson must have been talking about BRAVO principals who celebrate diversity.
Article by Sandra Harris
Education World®
Copyright © 2006 Education World
03/06/2006 |
