Understanding the Culture and Needs of Diverse Students

Maria de la luz Reyes, professor of education at California State University-Monterey. Paul Winfield, actor and narrator of NCREL's video, Many Voices, Many Dreams (1995), describes research into the importance of understanding students' culture and needs by Professor Reyes (Audio comment, 130k). A text transcript is available.

Howe (1994, pp. 43-44) notes that school staff can develop high-achieving learning environments for non-English-speaking students by:

• Placing value on students' languages and cultures.

• Setting high expectations for language-minority students.

• Designing staff development to help teachers and staff serve language-minority students effectively.

• Designing counseling programs that give special attention to language-minority students.

• Encouraging parents of language-minority students to become involved in their children's education and in the school.

• Building a strong commitment among school staff members to empower language-minority students through education.

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