(2011). Guest-Host Encounters in Diaspora-Heritage Tourism: The Taglit-Birthright Israel Mifgash (Encounter). Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v5 n3 p178-197. More than 300,000 diaspora Jewish young adults and tens of thousands of their Israeli peers have participated in structured, cross-cultural encounters–"mifgashim"–in the context of an experiential education program known as Taglit-Birthright Israel. Drawing on field observations, interviews, and surveys, the formal and informal components of the encounters are described, and the meanings participants attach to the experience are analyzed. For North Americans, the encounters enable a personal and seemingly authentic experience of "the real" Israel, and make them feel welcome in the Jewish homeland. For Israelis, the encounters foster national pride, as well as identification with the transnational Jewish collective. Although program sponsors hoped the encounters would also create a forum for learning by Israeli participants about life in the Jewish diaspora, this latter goal was not typically achieved. This article explores the mechanisms by which the encounters… [Direct]
(2011). Support for Secondary Education of U.S.-Mexico Border Residents: The Construction and Validation of the Global Higher Education Support Scale (GHESS). Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v5 n3 p198-216. Support for students before planning, planning to enter, and while enrolled in higher education is needed to ensure academic achievement, especially among U.S. Hispanics. Measures for determining the nature of student support or obstruction are necessary if we are to understand academic achievement and its development among U.S. Hispanic learners. Nevertheless, few social support measures are specific to higher education, and most are restricted in time frames or sources of support. This article describes the construction and validation of the Global Higher Education Support Scale (GHESS) and its application in a U.S.-Mexico border community. Item generation was guided by past research, focus groups, expert opinions, and a combination of the Ecological Systems Theory (1977) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (1991). Items addressed 3 conceptual time periods in students' lives–before preparing for college, while preparing, and since beginning their studies–and 3 sources of support:… [Direct]
(2011). Addressing Social Injustices, Displacement, and Minority Rights through Cases of Culturally Responsive Evaluation. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v5 n3 p167-177. Evaluation of programs that address the lingering effects of human rights abuses during times of conflict is necessary to improve program sustainability and create a knowledge bank about the effectiveness of strategies. Outcomes, however, are hard to measure. Evaluators have to gain understanding of the roots of a conflict, surrounding events, histories, and cultures. Discussed is the concept of culturally responsive evaluation (CRE). A pipeline program, which supports graduate students from traditionally underrepresented population groups in acquiring CRE skills through apprenticeship learning, seminars, and mentorship, is described. The work of 2 program participants, who evaluated programs–1 serving survivors of torture and the other children of refugees–are given as examples. (Contains 3 footnotes.)… [Direct]
(2011). Immigrant-Responsive Multicultural Education in the United States. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v5 n1 p17-32. In this article, it is proposed that systematic attention to certain characteristics of newcomer immigrant students' identity construction could enhance the premises of the field of multicultural education in the United States, with immigrant-responsive insights. Elements from the scholarship in the sociology of migration, which attend to critical elements of immigrant identity development, are borrowed for this purpose. These are the constitutive role of relocation, the multifaceted character of identities that transcends the home-host cultural divide, and the future-orientation of immigrants' identity. The ways in which these areas inform 3 key dimensions of multicultural education are discussed. It is proposed that systematic, continual, and dynamic attention to the needs of newcomer students is essential for their academic and social integration and success. (Contains 3 footnotes.)… [Direct]
(2011). Migrant Hispanic Students Speak Up: Linguistic and Cultural Perspectives on Low Academic Attainment. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v5 n1 p33-47. The Hispanic population and their high school dropout rates in the United States have greatly increased over the last several decades. This study investigates linguistic and cultural issues that may have an association with high school abandonment among migrant Hispanic students. Open-ended interview questions were posed to a bilingual education administrator and four migrant Hispanic students in a small Midwestern high school in the United States. Participants reported that migrant Hispanic students are not prepared to live linguistically in the academic setting but merely to survive in it. From a cultural perspective, the data suggested that migrant Hispanic students can either allow social and cultural pressures within the school and community to negatively affect their educational engagement or they can acculturate with the dominant culture to minimize their \differentness.\ (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)… [Direct]
(2011). The Ethiopian Adolescent and the Effect of Cultural Difference on Immigrant Students' Learning. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v5 n1 p1-16. This article investigates the effect of cultural difference on the secondary school induction and learning of Ethiopian-Australian immigrant students living in Melbourne, Australia. A qualitative methodology was employed using interviews as data-collection instruments. Secondary school students, their teachers, and parents acted as participants in the study. The immigrant students' school life was examined through the interaction and influence of the cultural experiences and expectations the students brought with them and the expectations attached to the preexisting culture within the schools attended. The research identified some specific discriminatory forces related to cultural differences that contributed to, and inhibited, the students' learning when they relocated between countries and school systems. (Contains 1 table.)… [Direct]
(2011). The Role of Culture in Rural Ugandan Mathematics Teaching and Learning. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v5 n1 p48-62. Education systems are culturally embedded and, therefore, difficult to improve without understanding actions, beliefs, and attitudes related to education existing within the culture. This article discusses the role culture plays in the teaching and learning of mathematics. It specifically dwells on the ways culture could benefit learners from disadvantaged parts of the world, with special reference to Uganda. It singles out culture at a societal level, arguing that culture can act as a medium of communication of mathematics, can be a glue, a transition bridge, and a liberator to mention but a few. (Contains 4 figures.)… [Direct]
(2011). Living Linguistic Diversity in the Classroom: A Teacher Inductee Explores Dual Language Books. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v5 n4 p235-244. This article addresses strategies for promoting culturally responsive pedagogy through the implementation of a language awareness curriculum that includes a structured reading intervention program using dual language books. The research builds on the premise that resources such as dual language books can give teachers the opportunity to effectively implement strategies in multilingual/multicultural classrooms that build on children's cultural capital and create a stronger learning community. Through a longitudinal study, the researcher followed the trajectory of one teacher inductee to examine how her involvement with this project prepared her to work with and teach in a multilingual/multicultural setting of diverse learners. The article examines the following 2 questions: (a) How are teachers being prepared to work within culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms, and (b) What role can dual language books play in the diverse classroom of a pre-service/first-year teacher?… [Direct]
(2011). Deconstructing Diversity: Professional Development for Elementary Teachers. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v5 n4 p266-276. Organizing and facilitating professional development (PD) for teachers around issues of ethnicity, race, language, culture, and religion is an important area of research within Canadian education. The diversity in schools across Canada is growing, and meeting the needs of these students becomes essential as we reflect on the aims of teacher responsiveness to cultural diversity. This article examines the PD of a Calgary, Alberta school whose population consists of a majority of "visible minority" students and a predominantly White staff. Through a recounting and analysis of the feedback and reflection of teachers who partook in an initiative geared toward "getting out" into the actual community of the students, this article presents significant themes in the necessity around the PD of educators. The implications revealed in this action-based research include (a) a view of short-term and long-term planning, (b) the risk of essentializing others by applying… [Direct]
(2011). Destruction of a Language and Culture: A Personal Story. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v5 n4 p260-265. The extinction of language and culture in Canadian Aboriginal communities is closely linked to the historical experiences of families under past assimilation policies. Families must recover the language and culture to ward off the possibility of extinction. The revival of culture and languages, in effort not to lose our identity as First Nation people, will take great effort by community members. In this article, I share the example of my own family's history within the Canadian historical context. I also discuss the Blackfoot Nation, where I currently teach, as an example of one of many communities that are making every effort to revitalize and sustain their culture, traditions, and language now and into the future…. [Direct]
(2011). Experiences of School Principals with Newcomers from War-Affected Countries in Africa. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v5 n4 p222-234. This article is based on the results of an exploratory study of experiences of 2 urban school principals about leading schools with immigrants from war-affected countries in Africa. It examines how they perceived their preparation for multicultural leadership, and explores lessons that leadership development institutions can learn from their experiences. Data from in-depth interviews revealed that the principals felt inadequately prepared to work with this minority group. With the influx of immigrants in schools, it is vital that leadership development institutions develop pragmatic approaches for preparing principals to work with second language learners, particularly those who face psychosocial challenges arising from experiences with war, poverty, or living in communities where they are prone to crime…. [Direct]
(2011). The Impact of Immigration on Southern Manitoba Schools: A Case Study of a Rural School Division. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v5 n4 p277-284. Newcomers have traditionally settled in larger cities where their respective cultural groups have established small communities of support and where jobs are more varied and plentiful. Yet, in recent years, Manitoba has experienced a growing phenomenon: Newcomers are increasingly choosing to settle outside of the capital city of Winnipeg; moving to smaller cities, towns, and rural acreages in southern Manitoba in the hope of giving their children an improved life. This recent rural influx has dramatically impacted communities, schools, and teachers, generating an urgent need for teachers to expand their professional skills to support non-English-speaking students in their classrooms. The challenges of meeting the needs of newcomer students in a region that had traditionally been fairly homogeneous placed strong pressure on the school division to provide professional development for administrators and teachers as they welcomed diverse cultures and languages into their schools and… [Direct]
(2011). Picture Books for Engaging Peace and Social Justice with Children. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v5 n4 p245-259. In this article, the authors discuss and share a collection of books, for teachers and children to read together, that focus on themes of peace and social justice. This article is written as a kind of textual professional development session in which teachers and pre-service teachers might participate from their own place and context. The first section of the article shares some thoughts on reading such books with children. The second section shares references for books organized into possible themes, with some suggestions for ways the books might be engaged in learning spaces (they recognize that children and adults, especially in peace and justice work, gather in other formal and informal spaces other than school contexts). The books in this collection are suggestions only. They are gathered from library and bookstore searches, from the recommendations of others, from our personal libraries, and from our experiences as teachers and teacher educators. They are appropriate for… [Direct]
(2011). San Language Development for Education in Namibia: Progress and Challenges. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v5 n2 p126-134. After Namibian independence, the government introduced an education system aimed at providing equal education to all and fostering the establishment of a nonracial society. The formulation of the language policy was one of major initiatives of the democratically elected government of Namibia after independence. The goal of this policy is to foster the language identity of the children through the use of the mother tongue as the medium of instruction during the formative years of schooling, so that they can develop the skills of reading, writing, and concept formation using their mother tongue. However, most San students have no opportunity for mother-tongue education. Although 3 languages have developed orthographies, only 1 (Ju | 'hoansi) is regarded as sufficiently developed to be adequately utilized as a medium of instruction in the formal education system; the others, !Xung and Khwedam, are still in the process of being developed for educational use. This article provides a… [Direct]
(2011). Secondary Education for San Students in Botswana: A New Xade Case Study. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v5 n2 p76-87. Much research in Botswana has shown that, although other ethnic groups have benefited from the state-funded education systems since independence in 1966, San children have been "left behind." This case study is based on an investigation of the root causes of secondary school dropout among Rural Area Development Program students in New Xade, a new settlement established by the government after relocating the San (Basarwa) out of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. This study also looks at individual cases of some dropouts and examines their reasons for leaving school. (Contains 1 footnote.)… [Direct]