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| Multicultural Reading and Thinking (MCRAT). A staff development process designed to help teachers infuse higher order thinking skills and multicultural concepts into existing curriculum for all students and to measure progress through students' writing. |
Audience Approved by PEP for students in grades 3-8.
Description Multicultural Reading and Thinking (McRAT) techniques are infused into the entire curriculum using available materials and resources. Instruction focuses on four kinds of reasoning--analysis, comparison, inference/interpretation, and evaluation--that students can use across the curriculum and that also transfer to practical situations. Teachers conduct a minimum of one McRAT lesson per week related to a multicultural concept, such as cultural diversity, cultural assimilation, or communication. During each lesson, students receive direct instruction on the use of thinking strategies through teacher modeling, explanation, guidance, and feedback. Each lesson guides students through an inquiry process involving nine components. All lessons feature sustained discussion and writing as vehicles for fostering critical thinking, and teachers use many tools to facilitate discussion and thinking including visual mapping and interactive strategies, e.g., cooperative learning and story retelling. McRAT lessons are often incorporated into thematic units of study involving parents and the community. Teachers use portfolios as systematic and organized collections of evidence to monitor and show student growth, to communicate student learning to parents, and to evaluate success in reaching instructional goals.
Evidence of Effectiveness Based on analytic scoring of writing samples, McRAT students make significantly greater progress in their abilities to reason effectively and communicate their ideas in writing than students who receive typical classroom instruction. Follow-up studies indicate that McRAT students retain their learning and are able to perform at a higher level than students who do not receive McRAT instruction regardless of prior achievement level. Examination of teacher logs shows cross-curricular application of McRAT strategies.
Requirements Teacher training requires release time for teachers to attend a minimum of nine days, of training scheduled at intervals during one year and the assignment of a local coordinator to provide monitoring, follow-up, and peer support. Principals' and other administrators' attendance at the initial three-day workshop is highly desirable. McRAT Resource manuals must be purchased for teachers. Participating districts must agree to collect and provide data on program effectiveness upon successful completion or training and classroom experience of 1 year, application may be made to participate in 6 additional days of training to qualify as a McRAT trainer.
Costs For a maximum of 25 teachers, Year 1 implementation costs for 9 days of training are projected at $100/teacher for materials/supplies, $500/day for honoraria, and travel expenses for 3-4 trips.
Services In addition to training and materials, follow-up consultation is available.
Developmental Funding: Chapter 2-ECIA, ADE (state), and Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation.
PEP No. 92-13 (4/92)
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