How assessment is being or not being designed around the idea of multicultural diversity

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Background of the Study1

Demographics2

American Multiculturalism3

United States educational policies4

American educational assessment6

Assessment in k-12 classrooms7

Design of assessment measures in k-12 classrooms8

Achievement gap (culture, race, ethnicity, and gender)10

History of assessment from 1945 to 201214

Rationale of the study15

Purpose of the Study16

Definitions17

Research Questions18

Aims and objectives of the study19

Significance of the Study20

Dissertation Structure20

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW22

Scholars and ideas promoted for American education programs22

Conceptualization of multicultural education22

Differences between ideologies of multiculturalism23

Disciplinary foundations in education25

Challenges for multiculturalism in American education26

Emergent perspectives and school knowledge and students28

Feminist theory28

Critical Race Theory29

Critical Pedagogy29

Post Colonialism Critical Lens30

Postmodernism Lens31

Queer theory31

Scholars for and against educational change32

John Dewey32

George Counts32

Paolo Frere33

Bell hooks33

Franklin Bobbitt33

Stuart Hall34

William Pinar34

Jacques Derrida35

Michel Foucault35

Nel Noddings35

E.D. Hirsch36

Importance of culturally relevant and responsive curricula36

Teachers need for cultural contexts of schooling38

Culture for teaching and learning39

School policies and perspectives40

Multiculturalism in education41

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY43

Foucault's Archaeology of Knowledge43

Discursive regularities44

The Statement and the Archive45

Archaeological Description48

Genealogy53

Foucault's conceptual framework of discursive practice57

Scholars who used Foucauldian methodology59

Bernadette Baker59

Pieter Verstraete59

Thomas S. Popkewitz and Marie BrennanIn60

Patti Lather61

Katherine Nicoll and Andreas Fejes61

Roland Sintos Coloma63

Huckaby, M. Francyne63

David A. Gruenewald65

Hubert L. Dreyfus and Paul RabinowIn,66

Gary Anderson67

REFERENCES69

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Assessment provides the basis for decision making and is considered as a plan to instruct and learn. For multicultural diverse population assessment must provide the most appropriate methods to provide opportunities for all children through the school system to learn to live in a global society. According to Guskey (2008), "multiculturalism is a process whose major aims are to help students from diverse cultural, ethnic, gender, and social class groups attain equal educational opportunities, and to help all students develop positive cross-cultural attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors" (p. 26). This study examines how assessment is being or not being designed around the idea of multicultural diversity. The primary goal of the study is to provide the in study of assessment in a diverse culture. The basic concepts of multiculturalism extend over the major domains of human activity from sports to science and are not confined to a single culture or social class. This chapter will provide the background of the study based on American multiculturalism and how assessment is being used. Furthermore, the study will also provide the design of assessment for K-12 classrooms and achievement gap in studies. In addition, the rationale, significance, purpose of the study will also be provided and research aims and objectives will be provided.

Background of the Study

Assessment is considered as a systematic process which provides the information about how a student about what he knows and what is he able and intends to do. Therefore, assessment is considered as an essential part of instruction which empowers and enhances student learning. Assessment for multiculturalism help students develop the ability to make reflective decisions that can help them view events, concepts, issues, and problems without prejudice based on diverse cultural and ethnic perspectives (Dweck, 2009). The only reliable way to control for social determinism is to provide children with a background that appreciates all ethnic and cultural groups (DiPerna, Glover, ...