Today’s schools mirror today’s diverse society. The number of students with ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic diversity attending schools has increased dramatically in recent decades in many countries (see other chapters in this book). Many of these students are at-risk for education failure. Poverty, health, social problems, and cultural and historical practices have made it difficult for some students to improve their educational status. Policymakers, school leaders, teachers, and parents who feel the urgency of the issue and want to create classrooms where every child succeeds often wonder about strategies that will work. Thus informing the concerned parties about effective, research-based strategies and practices is vital to addressing the educational crisis facing at-risk students.
Diversity encompasses many characteristics: ethnicity, socioeconomic background, home language, gender, special needs, disability, and giftedness. Effective teaching needs to be responsive to diversity and recognize individuality among students. For the purpose of this synthesis and this book, characteristics of diversity include racial or ethnic minority, limited English proficiency, and low socioeconomic status associated with low student achievement and high school-dropout rates. The issue of raising educational standards and attainment level across the board is very complex, but it must be tackled. This discussion aims to stimulate conversations on this topic.
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Wan, G. (2008). Research Evidence: Narrowing the Achievement Gaps. In: Wan, G. (eds) The Education of Diverse Student Populations. Explorations of Educational Purpose, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8204-7_1
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