Student Diversity as a Factor in American Education

The motto of the United States, e pluribus unum, is a Latin phrase meaning “from many, one.” It reminds us that Americans are people from diverse backgrounds and beliefs. Schlesinger (1998) asserted that U.S. citizens are “tied together, in Martin Luther King’s phrase, into ‘a single garment of destiny.’” However, much like the country as a whole, educators continue to face the challenge of achieving unity while respecting diversity.

The United States evolved as a diverse nation over hundreds of years, but prejudice and inequity remain problematic, despite a foundation of “liberty and justice for all.” In the quest for quality academic opportunities, educators must examine how schools facethe challenge of educating diverse populations to incorporate workable solutions that will benefit all children.

This resource provides instruction for users to:

• Determine strategies used by effective principals to eliminate predictable differences in student achievement which persist in schools across the country
• Explain how some students continue to be privileged while others struggle to succeed in American schools
• Compare the impact of using aggregate and disaggregate student performance data to inform decision making
• Describe how achievement gaps reflect differentials of societal power