A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Implementing Schoolwide Projects - May 1994

Key Features of Successful Schoolwide Projects

Cultural Inclusiveness

Schools with Chapter 1 schoolwide projects enroll students from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural groups; they view cultural inclusiveness as a means of enhancing learning and participation for all students. These schools incorporate diversity and promote multiculturalism through planning, instruction, special activities, and school environment. Successful schoolwide projects embrace the diversity of their students as a resource that enriches learning. By celebrating cultural influences, prejudices gradually give way to understanding and respect for differences, making room for each student's individuality. Such schools become the cultural hubs of their communities.

At Hollinger Elementary School, teachers trained in ethnographic research interview students' families to gain a better understanding of their culture and then design a curriculum that connects cultural experience with academics. Clarke Street Elementary School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, purchased instructional materials by Kunjufu that emphasize aspects of African American culture and are designed to build self-esteem in third-grade boys; teachers, who are mostly white, meet weekly to discuss ways to promote African American themes. Balderas Elementary School in California provides literacy classes for students and parents in their primary languages.

Activities that celebrate or teach about cultures frequently are included in schoolwide projects, especially at schools where thematic instruction enables students to work on long-term projects. At several schools, students hold yearly multicultural fairs; periodic events, such as tortilla-making contests; and celebrations of holidays observed by Hmong, Cambodian, Laotian, African American, or Hispanic cultures. One school also arranges residencies by African American artists and holds annual "Martin Luther King Peace Awards" for students who avoid discipline problems. Other schools encourage visits to the school by minorities serving as career role models, classroom assistance by members of African American fraternities, and field trips to locations that illustrate aspects of Hispanic culture or history.

Schoolwide projects with strong multicultural components extend cultural inclusiveness beyond instruction or activities. At one school, murals illustrate prominent events or people from the cultures of Cambodian, Hmong, and Mexican students; at another, posters illustrating the concepts of the African American Kwanzaa holiday hang in hallways. Some schools stock Spanish-language books and biographies of Hispanic leaders in the school library. Project planners say these efforts reinforce connections between the cultural and traditional school subjects.

Bilingual education is also a major component of many schoolwide projects, from ESL classes for students and parents to magnet programs for gifted bilingual students. Some schools provide ESL training for all teachers; others have a bilingual teacher or aide in each primary-grade classroom. Many schoolwide projects offer cultural sensitivity training and study groups which, along with increased parent and community outreach, improve ties to the students' home culture.


Glassbrook Elementary School in Hayward, California enrolls Anglo, Hispanic, African American, Asian, Filipino, American Indian, and Alaska Native students. The school's project plan describes the culturally inclusive program as follows:

The Code of Conduct talks about respect for diversity and states that "the use of 'hate words' is not tolerated and may result in suspension." We also have a "No Room For Racism" campaign. A poster went home with every student and is posted in every classroom stating, "No Room For Racism."

The most comprehensive way we approach increased respect for diversity is through our site-developed, literature-based social studies curriculum...[that] focuses on the history, literature, geography, social contributions, and exceptional women leaders of many world cultures. Parents and community volunteers assist weekly in special classroom projects that include ethnic cooking, song and dance, art, poetry writing, and storytelling. Classes have participated in the celebration of Kwanzaa, an African [American] holiday of cultural affirmation....Other special programs with a multicultural emphasis include theatrical performances, ethnic dance instruction and performances, and art exhibits.

School facilities have been made available for panel discussions concerning African American and Latino issues affecting the children in our community. Teachers have organized and implemented African American and Latin American literature-based family activity nights. The school has become a gathering place for community celebrations such as Afghan New Year and Cinco de Mayo.

Respect for non-English speakers is taught through example. The staff speaks Spanish, Farsi, Tagalog, and English. All written communication to parents...is published in Farsi, Spanish, and English. All parent meetings are conducted in the same three languages. Parent volunteers within the classroom are encouraged to speak in Hindi, Pashto, and Vietnamese while working with students of those languages. Half the students in our school are in bilingual classrooms where they learn to read and write in their primary language. The ability to speak more than one language is highly valued at Glassbrook. All of these elements ensure respect of students' multilingual heritage.


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