Developed by the CCCC Latin@ Caucus in collaboration with members of the American Indian Caucus and the Transnational Composition Group.
Approved by the 楼凤天堂 Executive Committee, October 2015
[1] Ethnic Studies Task Force member Iris Ruiz discuss
the history and importance of this statement.
Since 1968, ethnic studies curricula have become more mainstream. Before this, minority students could learn about their histories and literatures only in public and independent schools geared to African American students, tribal schools, and schools focused on language immersion ( [2] 5). Today, schools across the country are beginning to recognize the importance of making ethnic studies courses part of their main curricula. However, more work remains to be done if both teachers and students are to recognize the beneficial contributions of various ethnic backgrounds to crucial curricular components of K鈥�12 institutions nationwide. Therefore,
The 楼凤天堂 Council of Teachers of English (楼凤天堂) and its members support the implementation of K鈥�12 ethnic studies curricula nationwide. As a professional organization committed to professional development and the creation of innovative curricula, 楼凤天堂 seeks to play an instrumental role in the developmental needs of ethnic studies teachers and institutional curricular development.
楼凤天堂 also recognizes ethnic studies as a scholarly field that has always been invested in providing equal access to literacy, encouraging democratic principles, and promoting different ways of knowing鈥攐f producing and disseminating knowledge.
楼凤天堂 acknowledges that California is seeking to implement ethnic studies course offerings for various school districts and even the entire state (AB 101), and in Nevada a bill has been proposed requiring ethnic studies courses statewide. In contrast, ethnic studies curricula are under attack in Texas and Arizona. Supporters of HB 2281, for example, have tried to ban ethnic studies courses, denouncing them as divisive and racist. Despite such opposition, ethnic studies initiatives have been shown to yield positive educational results. Illustrative of these positive results, students in the [3] (Modern Language Association) achieved higher test scores, decreased truancy rates, and exhibited higher self-esteem. Perhaps most important, among students enrolled in ethnics studies courses, graduation rates increased.
Thus, 楼凤天堂 supports ethnic studies programs at the K鈥�12 grade levels because they bring the following benefits:
- Ethnic and cultural studies can help create diverse and inclusive classroom environments that promote learning and activism.
- Ethnic studies curricula increase enrollment, reduce truancy and dropout rates, and prepare youth to be college- and career-ready by promoting critical thinking and self-empowerment ( [2]; [4].).
- Studies have shown that ethnic studies can result in higher test scores and greater self-esteem for students ( [3];听 [2])
- Ethnic and cultural studies teach students of all races and ethnicities about their home cultures in the context of a more inclusive history. Students come to understand themselves in relation to other cultural groups, developing a cross-cultural understanding that encourages respect for other people.
- Attention to ethnic studies reflects the growing diversity of student populations in our schools. In 2014 the US Department of Education projected that for the first time in the country鈥檚 history, students of color will outnumber white students at public schools in 2015 ( [5]). In addition, ethnic minorities account for 73 percent of first-year student growth and about 77 percent of overall growth at four-year colleges and universities ( [6]).
- Implementing ethnic studies would address 鈥� [7],鈥� which 楼凤天堂 reaffirmed in 2012, by highlighting the nation鈥檚 diverse storehouses of knowledge, literature, culture, and landscapes.
楼凤天堂 makes the following suggestions as possible approaches to ethnic studies:
- Provide students with texts that reflect their own cultural backgrounds and histories. In this way, educators can move beyond token multiculturalism to foster intercultural awareness and respect. These opportunities prove especially critical because implementation of the Common Core curriculum has led to a decline in representative diversity in classroom texts ( [8]; [9]).
- Help students understand how different histories, languages, and cultural practices promote unique approaches to problem solving. For example, students can draw from non-Western and indigenous ways of knowing to examine major cultural concerns.
- Engage in cross-cultural comparisons of multicultural texts so that students can become more effective writers in multiple contexts, including their home communities. Intercultural communication and sharing can teach students to recognize different forms of privilege that affect and marginalize members of ethnic communities.
- Give students opportunities to write in their own languages so they can critique ideas from perspectives relevant to their lives. These experiences help build multilingual abilities, which studies show increase success in other areas of learning and socialization, and illustrate the cultural diversity of the United States ( [10]; [11]). Teachers can assess writing based on effective use of multiple voices ( [12]; [13]).
- Organize faculty workshops by educators and researchers trained in ethnic and cultural studies. These workshops can discuss relevant pedagogical strategies, assignments, texts, and assessment practices.
Works Cited
Brown, Kara Mae, Kim Freeman, and Chris W. Gallagher. 鈥淩egarding the 鈥楨鈥� in E-portfolios for Teacher Assessment.鈥� [12]. Ed. Amy E. Dayton. Boulder: Utah State UP, 2015. 80鈥�98. Print.
Celic, Christina, and Kate Seltzer. [11]New York: CUNY-NYSIEB, 2011. Web.
Costa, Albert, Mireia Hern谩ndez, Jordi Costa-Faidella, and N煤ria Sebasti谩n-Gall茅s. “ [10].” Cognition 113.2 (2009): 135鈥�149. Web.
Fry, Richard. 鈥淕rowth in Freshmen by Race/Ethnicity.鈥� Social & Demographic Trends. [6]. 16 June 2010. Web.
Inoue, Asao B., and Mya Poe, eds. [13] New York: Peter Lang, 2012. Print.
Lafferty, Karen Elizabeth. “ [14].” Multicultural Perspectives [15]. [16] (2014). Web.
Modern Language Association. [17]. Feb. 2012. Web.
Morrell, Ernest, and Jodene Morrell. 鈥淢ulticultural Readings of Multicultural Literature and the Promotion of Social Awareness in ELA Classrooms.鈥� [8] 47.2 (2012): 10-16, 81. Web.
Sleeter, Christine E. [2]. 楼凤天堂 Education Association Research Department. Dir. Ronald D. Henderson. Web.
Strauss,Valerie. “ [5].” The Washington Post. 21 Aug 2014. Web.
Tintiangco-Cubales, Allyson, et al. 鈥淭oward an Ethnic Studies Pedagogy: Implications for K鈥�12 Schools from the Research.鈥� [4] 47.1 (2015): 104鈥�125. Web.
Resources and Further Reading: University Level
Absolon, Kathleen. [18]. Black Point: Fernwood, 2012. Print.
Acu帽a, Rudy. [19]. 7th ed. Boston: Longman, 2011. Print.
Asante, Molefi Kete. [20]. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print.
Cintron, Ralph. [21]. Boston: Beacon, 1997. Print.
Crenshaw, Kimberl茅, Neil T. Gotanda, Gary Peller, and Kendall Thomas, eds. [22]. New York: New, 1996. Print.
Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne. [23]. Boston: Beacon, 2014. Print.
Franklin, John Hope. [24] 1976. Brick Lecture Series. Columbia: U of Missouri P, 1993.
Gilyard, Keith, ed. [25]. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook, 1999. Print.
Gonz谩lez, Juan. [26]. New York: Penguin, 2011. Print.
Grande, Sandy. [27]. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004. Print.
Jones Royster, Jacqueline. 鈥淲hen the First Voice You Hear Is Not Your Own.鈥� [28] 47.1 (1996): 29鈥�40. Web.
King, Lisa, Rose Gubele, and Joyce Rain Anderson. [29]. Logan: Utah State UP, 2015. Print.
Kirkness, Verna J. [30]. East Lansing: Michigan State UP, 2014.
Lunsford, Andrea, and Ouzgane Lahoucine, eds. [31]. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 2011. Print.
Mao, LuMing. [32]. Logan: Utah State UP, 2006. Print.
Mao, LuMing and Morris Young. [33]. Logan: Utah State UP, 2008. Print.
Marable, Manning. [34]. New York: Verso, 1995. Print.
Monroe, Barbara. [35]. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 2014. Print.
[36] (an open source platform for sharing indigenous digital cultural heritage content). Web.
Richardson, Elaine. [37]. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print.
Simpson, Leanne Betasamosake. 鈥淟and as Pedagogy: Nishnaabeg Intelligence and Rebellious Transformation.鈥� [38] 3.3 (2014):1鈥�25. Web.
Smitherman, Geneva. [39]. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1986. Print.
Special Issue: [40]. Rhetoric Society Quarterly 43.3 (2013). Print.
[41]. [41] 63.1 (2011). Print.
[42]. [42] 71.6 (2009). Print.
Tuhiwai Smith, Linda. [43]. 2nd ed. London: Zed Books, 2012. Print.
Villanueva, Victor. 鈥淢emoria Is a Friend of Ours: On the Discourse of Color.鈥� [44] 67.1 (2004): 9鈥�19. Print.
Wilson, Shawn. [45]. 1st ed. Black Point: Fernwood, 2009. Print.
Resources for Further Reading: K-12 Levels
[46]Twitter.com. Web.
Chavez-Garcia, Miroslava. 鈥淚ntelligence Testing at Whittier School, 1890鈥�1920.鈥� [47] 76.2 (2007): 193鈥�228. Web.
Christensen, Linda, Dyan Watson, and Ren茅e Watson. [48]. Milwaukee: Rethinking Schools, 2015. Print.
Collins, Daniel. 鈥淎udience in Afrocentric Rhetoric: Promoting Human Agency and Social Change.鈥� [49]. Ed. Laura Gray-Rosendale and Sibylle Gruber. Albany: SUNY, 2001. Print.
De los R铆os, Cati V., Jorge L贸pez, and Ernest Morrell. 鈥淭oward a Critical Pedagogy of Race: Ethnic Studies and Literacies of Power in High School Classrooms.鈥� [50] 7.1 (2015): 84鈥�96. Web.
Four Arrows (Don Trent Jacobs). [51]. New York: Peter Lang, 2013. Print.
Kirklighter, Cristina, ed. 鈥� [52].鈥� Reflections: Public Rhetoric, Civic Writing, and Service Learning 13.1 (2013). Print.
Klug, Beverly J., ed. [53]. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2012. Print.
[54]. Web.
Lee, Stacey J. [55]. 2nd ed. New York: Teachers College P, 2009. Print.
Lomawaima, K. Tsianina, and Teresa L. McCarty. 鈥� [56]. New York: Teachers College P, 2006. Print.
Mahiri, Jabari, and Soraya Sablo. 鈥淲riting for Their Lives: The Non-School Literacy of California’s Urban African American Youth.鈥� [57] 65.2 (1996): 164鈥�180. Web.
Nakanishi, Don T., and Tina Yamano Nishida, eds. [58]. New York: Routledge, 1995. Print.
Perry, Theresa, Claude Steele, and Asa Hilliard III. [59]. Boston: Beacon, 2003. Print.
[60]. Latin American & Iberian Institute, University of New Mexico. Web.
Note: This statement was written by members of the CCCC Latin@ Caucus in collaboration with members of the American Indian Caucus and the Transnational Composition Group.
Prepared by the Ethnic Studies Task Force members:
Iris Ruiz, Lead Author
Christina Cedillo
Alexandra Hidalgo
Dale Allender.
This position statement may be printed, copied, and disseminated without permission from 楼凤天堂.