[EDEQUITY] Need information

From: Rochelle Riling (seamouse@televar.com)
Date: Tue Dec 05 2000 - 10:37:18 EST


Thilda, I'd be very interested in hearing more about what you know/think
about overrepresentation of African American boys in special education.
I've
looked, at the ERASE study (I think that is what it was called.) What I
didn't say
in my post was that where I work/live, the male overrepresentation is also
disproportionately Native American male. Can you point to any information
on things like sustaining adult male mentoring programs in a school,
cultural
bias concerns in sped assessment, tutoring or teaching methods that address
this problem, linking schools to preventative social services, or parent
and community awareness outreach? (Or anything else.)

On the off chance that I was not clear, I am very interested in hearing
about strategies that encourage boys to engage in reading and language
arts.
One example I remember from a ways back was a father/son monthly reading
night
that was hosted by some elementary school's male principal or librariarn
and a similar father/son reading breakfast. Another example involved a
student
recreational reading survey, although I don't know how/if the information
was infused into any academic programs. (That's the missing piece.)

I am also interested in hearing about the difficult work of creating
climate change. For example, working with kids to understand that while
"home" or
"street" rules may call for violence or intimidation as a response to
conflict, "school" rules are different. This is the approach we try to
take in any educational component of a discipline situation involving
harassment
where the accused student says things like "my dad says I should just beat
the crap out of him" or "a guy can look at a girl in any way that he wants
to."

Thanks. Oh yeah, the following quote from Thilda's post makes a great
equity motto.

"Children should have access to the educational programs they need, wish to
study and are entitled to, with
equitable resources in a school climate that is welcoming, encouraging,
productive and safe."

Rochelle Riling <seamouse@televar.com>



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