Patterns
of Instructional Activity in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Classrooms:
Excellence, Inclusion, Fairness, and Harmony
A Synopsis of Years 1 and 2
Peggy Estrada, Principal Investigator
Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence
In too many culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms across America, the story is uncomfortably familiar. Academically, students from minority, poor, non-English speaking, and/or immigrant origins tend to perform, on average, below their more affluent counterparts. Socially, these students tend to have lower status and friendship groupings tend to be segregated. By high school it is not uncommon for such students to be enrolled in completely different courses and to literally occupy different physical spaces on campuses. Often, then, school society simply mirrors the community’s social order. Many practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and community members realize that we can no longer afford the status quo. As we move towards a more and more culturally and linguistically diverse society, our survival depends on making school success within the reach of all students.
How can teachers of culturally and linguistically diverse children create academic and social inclusion? How can they ensure opportunities for assistance by the teacher so that all students can succeed? How can they ensure that students have opportunities to exhibit, use, and add to their present competencies? How can they ensure that all students are valued and socially accepted? In short, how can they ensure that a common classroom culture of excellence, inclusion, fairness, and harmony, develops?
To explore these issues, CREDE Project 5.8 researchers are examining patterns of instructional activity in first and fourth grade culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms. In Year 1 we focused on the school-level patterns of organization in nine culturally and linguistically diverse schools with the purpose of selecting a sample of classrooms that varied in their patterns of instructional activity. We found that school-level patterns of organization provide opportunities and constraints on classroom-level patterns of instructional activity. These school-level patterns of organization had different consequences for contact among different ethnic/language groups, with one pattern resulting in complete integration throughout the day, another resulting in almost complete segregation, and another resulting in a moderate amount of contact among different groups.
In Year 2 we focused on 27 first and fourth grade classrooms from eight of these schools. We examined how different patterns of language arts instructional activity were related to student performance. We found that first and fourth grade teachers created different patterns of language arts activities. First grade teachers tended to spend more time on language arts, create greater numbers of activities, and to more often create simultaneous, varied activities. They also more often used effective pedagogy features and they provided greater opportunities for students to work with diverse others. As a group, however, rarely did first and fourth grade teachers provide students with choice in selection of activities, engage students in producing together with peers, or contextualize instruction in students’ community experiences or values. Additionally, in both first and fourth grades, students very rarely assisted each other with their work. With respect to overall student performance and language arts performance, across both grades, teachers who created patterns of language arts activity involving more use of effective pedagogy features and those who created patterns involving simultaneous, varied activities rated their students’ performance higher.
In Years 3 and 4 we will examine these patterns of instructional activity more closely in six-case study classrooms to understand the association between patterns of instructional activity and student performance. In addition, we will examine whether different patterns result in more social inclusion and harmony among peers and whether they result in more harmonious teacher-student relationships.
For further information on this project, contact Dr. Peggy Estrada at (831) 459-3649 or peggye@cats.ucsc.edu.
