ERIC ED415008: Increasing the Use of Multicultural Education in a Preschool Located in a Homogeneous Midwest Community.

339 Pages·1997·10.7 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
PS 026 058
ED 415 008
Hartke, Cheryl L.
AUTHOR
Increasing the Use of Multicultural Education in a Preschool
TITLE
Located in a Homogeneous Midwest Community.
1997-00-00
PUB DATE
339p.; Master's Practicum Report, Nova Southeastern
NOTE
University. Many pages in appendices contain small print and
photos and may not reproduce well.
Reports
Dissertations/Theses - Practicum Papers (043)
PUB TYPE
Evaluative (142)
MF01/PC14 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
Class Activities; Classroom Environment; Course Content;
DESCRIPTORS
*Cultural Activities; *Cultural Awareness; Cultural
Pluralism; Curriculum Development; Curriculum Enrichment;
*Day Care; Day Care Centers; *Homogeneous Grouping;
Instructional Development; *Multicultural Education;
*Preschool Education; Program Effectiveness
Multicultural Materials
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
The inclusion of multicultural education in the curriculum
of child care centers is becoming a necessity, particularly in homogeneous
communities, as the ethnic make-up of society continues to change. This
practicum project implemented and evaluated a strategy intended to increase
the use of multicultural education in a middle-to-upper-class suburban child
care center with 92 percent Caucasian enrollment. The strategy involved a
four-part process: development of resource lists, exploration of teachers'
attitudes, improvement of multicultural materials available for use, and
increase in teachers' knowledge about diversity, with information provided
during weekly meetings. Post-intervention data indicated that, overall, the
use of multicultural education in the center increased. Teachers included
multicultural activities in all areas of the curriculum on a regular basis,
and more materials were available for classroom use as a result of parent
donations and the development of a resource room. (Seventeen appendices
include an anti-bias checklist, book checklist, a list of broad goals of
teaching from a multicultural perspective, and an array of multicultural
materials. Contains 24 references and an 86-item bibliography.)
(Author/EV)
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1-11
Increasing The Use Of Multicultural Education In A
Preschool Located In A Homogenous Midwest Community
by
Cheryl L. Hartke
75E
A Practicum Report Presented to the
Master's Programs in Life Span Care and Administration
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of the Master of Science
NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
1997
PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND
DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL
HAS BEEN GRANTED BY
C`\"\IA0 L-
,,;kke.
TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)
Authorship Statement
I hereby testify that this paper and the work it reports are entirely my own. Where it has been
necessary to
draw from the work of others, published or unpublished, I have acknowledged such work in accordance with
accepted scholarly and editorial practice.
I give testimony freely, out of respect for the scholarship of other
workers in the field and in the hope that my own work, presented here, will
earn similar respect.
a7
Date
Signature of Student
3
2
Abstract
Increasing the use of multicultural education in a preschool located in a
homogenous Midwest community. Hartke, Cheryl L., 1997. Practicum Report, Nova
Southeastern University, Master's Programs In Life Span Care And Administration.
Descriptors: Preschool Multicultural Education Curriculum / Preschool Anti-bias
Curriculum / Preschool Multicultural Materials / Preschool Teacher Training In
Multicultural Education / Preschool Multicultural Literature.
The inclusion of multicultural education into the curriculum of child care centers
is becoming a necessity as the ethnic make-up of society continues to change. Children
living in a homogenous community and also attending a daycare with a homogeneous
population must be exposed to multicultural education as part of the daily curriculum.
This is essential in order to provide experiences that are not available due to the ethnic
make-up of the community and child care center.
The author designed and implemented a strategy intended to increase the use of
multicultural education through a four part process. The process included: development
of resource lists, exploration of teachers' attitudes, improvement of multicultural
materials available for use, and increasing teachers' knowledge with information
provided during weekly meetings.
Overall, the use of multicultural education increased. Teachers included
multicultural activities in all areas of the curriculum on a regular basis, more materials are
now available for classroom use as a result of parent donations and the development of a
resource room. Teachers also have more ideas for planning multicultural activities due to
the material included in the appendices of this report. Continuation of the above efforts
4
3
and further training will keep improving the use of multicultural education at the author's
center.
4
Table of Contents
Page
Chapter
Introduction and Background
6
I.
The setting in which the problem occurred
6
The writer's role in the setting
9
The Problem
12
H.
Problem statement
12
Documentation of the problem
14
Analysis of the problem
19
Goals and Objectives
22
III.
Goal
23
Objectives
23
Solution Strategy
25
IV.
Review of existing programs, models, and approaches
25
Proposed solution strategy
30
Gathering data to measure and document outcome
32
Strategy Employed - Action Taken and Results
34
V.
Description of the implementation phase
34
Results of the strategy employed
35
Unanticipated outcomes and roadblocks or difficulties encountered
42
Results of the practicum as compared with literature
43
Implications and Recommendations
Conclusion
VI.
45
Conclusions
45
Implications and Recommendations
46
5
References
48
Bibliography
50
Appendices
Anti-Bias Materials Checklist
55
A
Teacher Questionnaire
59
B
Gender Bias Checklist
C
62
Book Checklist
D
64
Class Coding Observation Form
E
67
Broad Goals Of Teaching From A Multicultural Perspective
F
69
Attitude And Values Questionnaire
G
71
Ten Week Calendar Plan
H
74
Book List
80
I
Gender Bias
J
129
Multicultural Materials
K
150
Language And Multicultural Education
L
155
Music And Movement
M
191
Classroom Aesthetics
N
229
Science And Math
O
237
Dramatic Play
P
291
Holidays And Multicultural Education
305
Q
7
6
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
The setting in which the problem occurred
The child care center in which the practicum was based is located in a middle to
upper middle class suburb. It is approximately 15 miles north of a large metropolitan
area. It is a private, for profit corporation which began operation in 1965. The center
enrolls children from 6 weeks of age through kindergarten during the school year. A
school age program for children up to age 10 is added during the months of June, July
and August. The child care center operates Monday through Friday from 6:00 A.M. to
6:45 P.M. and is closed only for six major holidays each year. The licensed capacity for
the center is 300 children. At the time of this report the daily enrollment fluctuates from
250 to the upper 200's.
Tuition fees provide the monetary funding for the infant and preschool program.
Tuition along with state funded money allocated through the public school district's
auxiliary funds, provides the monetary resources for the chartered kindergarten program.
The center opened for business in 1965 with an enrollment of 12 children.
Through the years the facility had expanded as the community changed from an
agricultural base to an industrial base. Farmland became the sites of new homes and
buildings for new types of industry. Sue Bennett (personal communication, December
30, 1996) from the local Chamber of Commerce provided the figures for comparing the
residential population to the work-day population. By comparing these figures, the
growth of the industrial base was easily seen. At the time of this report, the residential
population was 13,000 while the work-day population increased to about 70,000 people.
7
Because of the large number of people coming into the community to work, child care
services were in high demand.
The Chamber of Commerce also provided information concerning the type and
amount of businesses operating within the city. The community had approximately 2,000
businesses, most of which were small, office related or professional work places that
provide health services. The community had a few companies which did light, industrial
work, but there were no large factories that did heavy, industrial work.
The different ethnic groups that were served by the center were very similar to the
population of the community in which the center was located. This was determined by
comparing the figures provided by the local Chamber of Commerce and the figures that
the center provides to the State Department of Education each year. S. Bennett (personal
communication, December 30, 1996) from the local Chamber of Commerce provided the
information obtained from the latest census, which was completed in 1990. Table 1
shows the comparison of the percentages of the different ethnic groups located at the
child care center and those within the community in which it was located.
Table 1
Percentage of Ethnic Groups Located in the Center and Community
Center Ethnic Groups
Community Ethnic Groups
Caucasian 92%
Caucasian 91.8%
African American 4%
African American 4.6%
Asian American 2%
Asian American 2.5%
Hispanic less than 1%
Hispanic .3%
Native American less than
Native American .05%
1
Other less than 1%
Other .75%
9
8
Several different programs were offered for preschool age children which
included: three, four, or five-full day programs, and three, four, or five preschool morning
classes. Of the preschool children attending the center, 91% attended the five-full day
program; 2% attended the morning preschool program; and 7% attended the three or four-
full day programs. Children under 3 years of age were only offered the five-full day
program. In all of the center's programs the ratios followed were determined by the
State's Department of Education, (1991).
The center had 10 classrooms and the children were grouped by chronological age
and / or developmental stages. There were four classrooms in the Infant Center which
included the following: Infants ( 6 weeks through 12 months); Tiny Tots (12 through 16
months); Large Tots (16 through 21 months); and Toddlers (21 through 26 months). The
preschool had five classrooms which were as follows: Chickadees (potty trained older 2
year-olds); Hummingbirds (3 to 3'/ years); Woodpeckers (3 1/2 to 4 years); Bluebirds (4
to 4 1/2 years); and Robins (4 1/2 to 5 years). The remaining classroom contained the
Redbirds (kindergarten - 5 years) during the school year, along with the Cardinals (school
age 6 to 10 years) during the summer months.
The center's staff had 47 regular employees; 19 part-time teachers and aides, 21
full-time teachers and aides, 2 cooks, 2 maintenance people, 1 assistant administrator/
teacher, and 2 directors. The practicum focused on the five preschool classrooms and the
teachers and aides in those rooms during the morning program. Out of the 10 staff
members working in the preschool rooms, seven of them were full time employees.
Because the teachers worked full time, they were also involved in the afternoon
program
in the classrooms. These 10 individuals had a varied background in education and child
care experience. One of the teachers had a four-year degree in Early Childhood
10