The Power of Culture

The Power of Culture: Teaching Across Language Difference examines the pedagogical and political supports necessary to give language minority students a high-quality education in mainstream classrooms. The volume focuses on three key issues of educational reform— high-stakes assessment, effective pedagogy, and teacher preparation—as they relate to teaching a diverse student body to high academic standards. Contributing authors assess the effects of high-stakes testing on language minority students, and debate whether educational reform has, in implementation, drifted away from the principle of equity. Vivid descriptions of classrooms exemplify the art and science of teaching language minority students using the power of culture: the power of the mainstream culture and of the students' home cultures. Classroom studies focus on students from a variety of backgrounds, including Cambodian, Cape Verdean, Chinese, and Puerto Rican, as well as literacy students from Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Somalia who arrived in the United States with no literacy skills in either their native language or English.