ILE . - AIIM Association tor Information and image Management 1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100 ta, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 , 301/587-8202 4°` 0 A 4r40 ecp -6 10 11 12 13 14 15 mm 5 2.0 till 111111-" 1111144= c;f) ci '\ MANUFACTURED TO AIIM STANDARDS 61J 4,AS'ts BY APPLIED IMAGE. INC. 1,-& AA's. DOCUMENT RESUME RC 017 908 AUTHOR Spears, Jacqueline D.; And Others TITLE Accommodating Change and Diversity: Multicultural Practices in Rural Schools. A Report of theFord Western Taskforce. INSTITUTION Kansas State Univ., Manhattan. Rural Clearinghouse for Education and Development. SPONS AGENCY Ford Foundation, New York, N.Y. PUB DATE Jul 90 NUE 97p. PUB TYPE Reports - Descriptive (141) -- Collected Works General (020) EDRS PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available froteEDRS. DESCRIPTORS Case Studies; Change Strategies; Community Characteristics; Cultural Differences; Curriculum Development; *Educational Change; Elementary Secondary Education; Ethnic Groups; Leadership; *Multicultural Education; Program Evaluation;Rural Areas; Rural Development; *Rural Education;*Rural Schools; *School Community Relationship;*Social Integration IDENTIFIERS Alaska; Arizona; Nebraska; New Mexico;Washington ABSTRACT Rural Amrica has been experiencing dramaticchanges in the transition toward a socially andculturally diverse society. This study is a first effort to exploremulticultural reform in rural schools. Multicultural education is the processby which the school environment is modified to accommodate culturaldifferences as well as to teach the role culture playsin shaping people's view of society. The Rural Clearinghouse for Educationand Development commissiorred five separate case studies ofselected rural schools in Alaska, Arizona, New Mexico, Nebraska, andWashington. At each site, school administrator.. teachers, students,parents, and community members were interviewed and documentation onmulticultural e.4ucation was collected. The centerpiece ofthis document consists of the five case study reports, each by a separatewriter, with the analyses focused on some or all of the followingelements: (1) school mission; (2) staffing; (3) curriculum; (4) instructionalstrategies; (5) policies and norms; (6) home linkages;(7) community linkages; (8) staff development; (9) extracurricularactivities; (10) assessment and testing; (11) multicultural leadership;and (12) student characteristics. A summary of various multiculturaleducational practices and a listing of resources onmulticultural education are included. An appendix presents the protocolfor the case studies. (ALL) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that canbe made from the original document. = coAccommodating Change and Diversity: =Multicultural Practices in Rural Schools cs, c=1 piT4 Ford Western Taskforce Rural Clearinghouse for Lifelong Eaucation and Development , , , , ---., N MENTRT OF EDUCATIGru Office el Educthonal Research ant -remnant "PERMISSION TO.REPRODUCE THIS 1 EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIOI4 MATERIAL 'IN MICNOFICHE .ONLY CENTER /ERIC) HAS BEEN GRANTED BY trhis document has been reproduced as eceived horn the person or organization r originating it. 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Pan Is Of view a opintOne sted in thisdocu. ment do not necessarily represent official ITO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES , OERI position or policy, INFORMATION CENTER (ERICV! 2 Accommodating Change and Diversity: Multicultural Practices in Rural Schools A Report of the Ford Western Taskforce Jacqueline D. Spears Jenney Penney Oliver Sue C. Maes Rural Clearinghouse for Lifelong Education and Development July 1990 This publication was made possible by a grant from the Ford Foundation. The ideas presented are the responsi- bility of the Rural Clearinghouse for Lifelong Education and Development and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation. Table of Contents Foreword Introduction 1 Framework for the Study 3 Case Studies: Lessons from Schools 9 St. Mary's, Alaska Peach Springs, Arizona Pine Hill, New Mexico Wapato, Washington Waterloo, Nebraska A Spectrum of Multicultural Practices 43 Barriers and Bridges 59 Resources 67 Appendix 84 5 III Ford Westm TaskiJrce Ray Barnhardt PanINachtigal College of Human and Rural Mid-Continent Regional Educa- Development tional Laboratory University of Alaska 12500 East Iliff Avenue, Suite 201 Fairbanks, AK 99701 Aurora, CO 80014 Weldon Beckner Lenora Plothow National Center for Smaller Schools 1254 N. 1220 West Texas Tech University Provo, UT 84604 Lubbock, TX 79409 Peg Portscheller Kathryn S. Begaye Minot Public Schools Arizona State Department of 215 2nd Street SE Education Minot, ND 58701 1535 West Jefferson Phoenix, AZ 8500 Armondo Valdez 10 Jordan Avenue Ignacio R. Cordova Los Altos, CA 94022 Schoies Hall University of New Mexico Bobby Wright Albuquerque, NM 87131 Center for The Study of Higher Education Juliet Garda Pennsylvania State University Texas Southmost College University Park, PA 16802 880 Fort Brown Brownsville, TX 78520 Helen Zongolowicz P.O. Box 314 Daryl Hobba Tohatchi, NM 87325 University of Missouri at Columbia 812 Clark Hall Columbia, MO 65211 Dick Jonsen Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education P.O. Drawer P Boulder, CO 80302 Foreword EMNIES Work on this publication has been a journey through the many diverse cultures found west of the Mississippi River. Alaskan Eskimos, Pacific Islanders, Hispan- ics, dozens of American Indian tribes, Mexican Americans, African Americans and Anglos all share the land and its resources. Some live in communities that are among the most homogeneous in the Nationfarmingcommunities in Nebraska and Iowa, fishing villages along the Alaskan coast, or reservation communities in the Southwest. Others live in ethnically diverse communities. Six of the thirty most diverse counties in the country lie in the rugged mountains of northernNew Mexico. American Indian tribes scatt .ed throughout the upper Midwest and Northwest enrich the cultural fabric of those states, leading to counties that are among our more diverse. Through the eyes of educators, we have caught a glimpse of the role schools can play in celebrating this diversity. Whether it be American Indian schools working to restore the validity and dignity of their culture, Anglo schools trying to over- come the cultural isolation imposed by the lack ofdiversity, or ethnically mixed schools striving to overcome racism, rural schools have developed a number of strategies for responding to the increased diversity in which all Americans will need to function. In reaching out to touch the communities they serve, these schools have, in turn, been touched. Reforms have tightened the link between school and community, enabling the school-to reexamine its responsibilities to the local culture as well as to the broader society. For a number of reasons, rural schools have struggled. Limited resources,models of schooling that are often more urban than rural in their design, an uneven polit- ical playing fieldall have combined to limit both the resources and flexibility ef rural schools. As we began this project, we were dismayed by the defensiveness of rural educators and seemingly impenetrable conflicts that surfaced in nearly any conversation about rural schools. Finally, we set the past aside! In setting the past aside, webegan seeing a different worlda world of possibili- ties, a _world of immense creativity, and a wed that understands local differ- ences. Thisreport is one of two designed to share what ruralschools can do. Rural schools offer an educational environment in which change can occur more easily, adult-child linkages are mom visible, and school-community linkages are more natural. Rural schools need to take advantage of these strengths, working to- wards restructuring that may well be more easily accomplished than in a larger district. A number of people contributed to this publication and deserve a hearty round of thanks. Peter Stanley, Dire% .or of the Educationand Culture Program at the Ford Foundation, supported the creation of the Western Taskforce and offered encouragement as we struggled to define a focus for its work. Barbara Hatton, Deputy Director of the Education and Culture Program at the Ford Foundetion, joined us early in the project and offered valuable leadership to our multicultural focus. Both Peter and Barbara continually challenged yet empowered us. The Ford Western Taskforce offered a valuable forum within which to explore issues related to rural schools and was responsible for selecting the focus of both research groups. They also reviewed early drafts of the reports, offering tis' the benefit of their considerable experience in education. We,thanl: them for their leadership. The Rural Minorities Focus Group, a working committee appointed by the Ford Western Taskforce, provided most of the guidafica for both the research and this publication. In many respects, these are the true leaders in the field. Each hasa deep cominitment to multicultural education and experience in working with ru-' ral schools in a variety of states. Our sincere thanks go to them for their help! Finally, the schools themselves were generous in both the time and information shared. Research efforts of this type ultimately dependon the willingness of indi- vidual schools and their staff to teach us about their community and school. We hope that this report offers them a chance to acknowledge their successas well as a resource with which to discover