Module 4| The Power of Culture Language and Economics

1. Module 4| The Power of Culture Language and Economics “Of all the civil rights for which the world has struggled and fought for five thousand years, the right to learn is undoubtedly the most fundamental.” W.E.B. DuBois,

2. “Despite the best efforts of America’s educators to bring greater equality to our schools, too many children—especially low-income and minority children—are still denied the educational opportunities they need to succeed ...” Acknowledge Our Realities , Press Release on New Data. June 30, 2011. Russlynn Ali, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights .

3. Annie E. Casey Foundation “Not all children have the same opportunity to succeed. Some children, particularly children of color, face greater barriers to achieving success as they move through childhood and adolescence.” “We believe that good data are always needed to develop the most effective policies and practices for children and their families, but they are even more critical at this time in our nation’s history, when families are facing uncertainties about their future well-being.” The Annie E. Casey Foundation. 2010 Kids Count Data Book

4. Annie E. Casey Foundation (2) • The Annie E. Casey Foundation is a private charitable organization, dedicated to helping build better futures for disadvantaged children in the United States.  The primary mission of the Foundation is to foster public policies, human-service reforms, and community supports that more effectively meet the needs of today’s vulnerable children and families.  The Annie Casey Foundation has earned a reputation as one of the most data-driven philanthropies in America.  They gather and promote the use of data as a critical tool for change.

5. 10 Key Indicators Of Child Well-Being • Percent low-birthweight babies • Infant mortality rate • Child death rate (ages 1–14) • Teen death rate (ages 15–19) • Teen birth rate (ages 15–19) • Percent of teens not in school and not high school graduates (ages 16–19) • Percent of teens not attending school and not working (ages 16–19) • Percent of children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment • Percent of children in poverty (income below $21,834 for a family of two adults and two children in 2008) • Percent of children in single-parent families

6. Unequal Distribution of Child Poverty • Lowest poverty rates are in suburbs, 31.3 percent Black children, 24.9 percent Hispanic, 11.0 percent White children. • Single-mother families (including divorced, separated, or widowed) in rural America face the highest poverty rates ( 49.4%), five times higher than married couples with children in the same areas. • Nearly one in ten married couples with children in rural and urban America is poor. Marybelle J. Mattingly and Jessie A. Bean. Fall 2010. Unequal Distribution of Child Poverty. Carey Institute, University of New Hampshire.

7. Unequal Distribution of Child Poverty (2) • Poverty rates are consistently highest among Black children, followed by Hispanic and White children. • Regardless of race, children under 6 who live in rural areas are more likely to be poor. • Rural poverty rates are 55.8 percent young Black children, 40.4 percent Hispanic, 22.2 percent White children. • In central cities, poverty rates are significantly lower than in rural places: 45.3 percent young Black children, 37.3 Hispanic, 14.1 percent White.

8. Research on the Role of Fathers • Infants as young as six weeks old differentiate between a mother’s and father’s voice. • Toddlers will seek out their father, ask for him when he’s not present, and be fascinated when he talks to them on the phone. • Teenagers express “Fatherneed,”competing with their father and confronting their values, beliefs, and of course, limits. It is only at the death of the father that they discover the intensity and longevity of their “Fatherneed”. Adapted from Kyle D. Pruett, Fatherneed: Why Father Care is Essential as Mother Care for your Child.

9. Grandparents as Parents • Many grandparents have taken on the role of surrogate parents to their grandchildren. Reasons behind this trend involve a variety of family circumstances: • Death of one or both parents, parental abandonment; • High incidence of divorce, increase in number never-married mothers (especially teen mothers), parental imprisonment; • Drug addiction, mental illness; • 40 percent increase in grandchildren living in their grandparents home between 1980 and 1990, 3.735 million children under the age of 18 (5.4 %); • Black children are more likely (13%), Hispanic children (5.7%), White children (3.9%) • 1 in 20 children under 18 lives in a home headed by grandparent without parents present; • Most live in urban areas and have less than a high school education; • Most live in South, 57 percent. ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education. Grandparents as Parents: A Primer for Schools. Urbana,IL: Author.

10. A New Vision of the English Language Learner • Deficit View: • Culturally andlinguisticallydeprived • Failing or lowachieving • At-risk • Unmotivated • Assets View: • Culturally andlinguisticallyenriched • Unrecognized or underdeveloped abilities • Resilient • Engaged/Self-Motivated

11. Teacher Data • Nine out of 10 teachers in the United States are white. • Four out of every 10 students are not White. • Some 40 percent of public schools have no teacher of color. • The fact that 90 percent of teachers are White matters. • Race is an uncomfortable issue to deal with. (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2010)

12. Five Impossibles and Beyond • It is impossible to lead where you don’t go. • It is impossible to teach what you don’t know. • It is impossible to give what you don’t live. • It is impossible to share experiences you have not had. • It is impossible to return from where you have not been.

13. Cultural Competence • Cultural competence is the ability to successfully teach students who come from cultures other than our own. It entails developing certain personal and interpersonal awareness and sensitivities, developing certain bodies of cultural knowledge, and mastering a set of skills that, taken together, underlie effective cross-cultural teaching. J.V. Diller and J. Moule. 2005.Cultural Competence: A Primer for Educators.

14. Reaching Out to Families from Diverse Cultures • Meet with families in their communities. • Plan informal opportunities for contact and building trust. • Identify a liaison person. • Ask parents about their needs, interests, and priorities. • Base programs on parent and educator priorities and needs.

15. Reaching Out to Families from Diverse Cultures (2) • Develop clear guidelines about how parents can support their child‘s learning. • Offer options for parent education and support. • Develop theme-based curriculum units that draw upon cultures about which you are learning more. • Collaborate with colleagues. • Explore your own cultural values and assumptions.