It Even Happens in Good Schools: Responding to Cultural Diversity in Today's Classrooms

Foreword by Bob Algozzine
Afterword by Robert Rueda

"A distinct contribution to the field. It opens the eyes and minds of educators everywhere. Dr. Obiakor provides many opportunities for self-reflection, discussion, and learning from one another through actual cases, educating and re-educating teachers to be aware and accepting of students, no matter what their cultural, racial, linguistic, or socioeconomic differences."
Jill F. Bamber, Middle School Teacher, Special Educator
Clayton Academy
Clayton, MO

"An eye-opener for all educators, parents, and those concerned with the education of children, addressing issues of cultural diversity in today′s classrooms. It provides a road map for success."
Eugenia O. Caulcrick-George, Interrelated Special Education Teacher
Dekalb County School System
Decatur, GA

"A well-written book that discusses an issue that has become more and more relevant to today′s schools. It challenges readers to examine themselves and reflect on their personal practices and beliefs. As an administrator in a culturally diverse school district, I highly recommend this book for use with students in schools of education and in courses with teachers currently teaching."
C. Frederick-Stanley, Assistant Principal
Maryland Avenue School
Milwaukee, WI

"I find a lot of strengths in Dr. Obiakor′s books . . . strengths that will help teachers and administrators revise and implement school curriculum for maximizing the academic potential of students in multicultural schools."
Michael Eskay, Teacher
Joyce Kilmer Elementary School
Chicago, IL

A road map for responding to cultural diversity in today′s classrooms

A "good" school is a learning community that maximizes the potential of all its students, whether they are white, black, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American . . . and a school can′t be a "good" school when some of its students are misidentified, misassessed, miscategorized, misplaced, and misinstructed because of cultural differences.

This insightful work offers case studies, observations, and solutions to the challenges presented by cultural diversity―a new approach that can bring excellence to all learners, all teachers, all parents, and all communities, including:

• Redefinition of "good" schools
• Assessment and accountability
• Labels and categories
• Placements and inclusions
• Instructions and interventions
• The "dream school" and the good school

"We cannot and should not define ′good′ schools only from the perspective of student performance on standardized tests. A ′good′ school should take a holistic approach to education, considering each student′s need academically, socially, emotionally, culturally, and globally."

. . . and this is the practical, hard-hitting book that can make it happen.

Festus E. Obiakor, Ph.D., is the Chief Executive Manager, Sunny Educational Consulting, Shorewood, Wisconsin. He has served as Department Head and Professor, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, Georgia and The City College of New York, New York. A teacher, scholar, leader, and consultant, he has served as Distinguished Visiting Professor at a variety of universities. He is the author of more than 150 publications, including books, articles, and commentaries; and he has presented papers at many national and international conferences. He serves on the editorial boards of reputable nationally and internationally refereed journals, including Multicultural Learning and Teaching (MLT) in which he serves as Executive Editor. Dr. Obiakor is a leader who has been involved in many landmark scholarly works in the fields of general and special education, with particular focus on African American and other culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) learners and he continues to prescribe multidimensional methods of assessment, teaching, and intervention for these individuals. Based on this premise, Dr. Obiakor created the Comprehensive Support Model (CSM), an intervention model that values the collaborative, consultative, and cooperative energies of students, families, teachers/service providers, communities, and government agencies.