4. Race
classification system used to categorize
humans into large and distinct population or
groups by anatomical, cultural, ethnic, genetic,
geographical, historical, linguistic, religious,
and/or social affiliation.
5. Ethnicity
a socially-defined category of people who
identify with each other based on common ancestral,
social, cultural, or national experience. Membership
of an ethnic group tends to be defined by a shared
cultural heritage, ancestry, myth of origins, history,
homeland, language (dialect), or even ideology, and
manifests itself through symbolic systems such as
religion, mythology and ritual, cuisine, dressing style,
physical appearance, etc.
6. ‘Race’ and ethnicity continue to be major
factors influencing children’s and adults’
experiences of education at all levels and in a
variety of respects. These include academic
achievement, professional employment, social
interactions, parental involvement, curriculum
development, assessment issues and so on.
7. Social Class
a class society, is a set of concepts in the
social sciences and political theory centered on
models of social stratification in which people
are grouped into a set of hierarchical social
categories, the most common being the upper,
middle, and lower classes.
8. The ‘Race’, Ethnicity and Education
Special Interest Group is concerned with these
and other related issues. The terms ‘race’ and
‘ethnicity’ are acknowledged as problematic
but are also commonly used and have
recognition as relating to issues of color and
cultural racism with which the group will be
concerned.
9. Cultural Diversity:
The Changing Face of a Nation
Although the population of culturally and
linguistically diverse students continues to grow,
the diversity of the teaching workforce has failed
to keep pace. It is projected that the teaching
profession will become increasingly homogeneous
over the next few years.
10. In the latter part of the twentieth century,
interest in cultural pluralism and multicultural
education was sparked. It is now characterized
metaphorically as a floral bouquet or patchwork
quilt; cultural and ethnic differences are valued
and respected.
11. Multicultural Education, Bilingual Education,
and Student Diversity
Multicultural education addresses issues of race,
language, social class, and culture as well as disability
and gender.
Bilingual special education services embrace the
use of the pupil’s primary language and culture
coupled with an individually tailored program of
special instruction.
12. Issues in Assessing Students From Culturally and
Linguistically Diverse Groups
Some of the barriers to achieving meaningful
and valid assessments of students from culturally
and linguistically diverse back-grounds are the lack
of appropriate measurement tools and bias in the
assessment process.
13. Another attempt at meaningful
assessment of students from culturally and
linguistically diverse backgrounds is a movement
toward authentic, performance-based
assessment techniques such as portfolio
assessment.
