RESEARCHING DIVERSITY

Researching Diversity

Within the education system, diversity is an integral part (Bryant, Triplett, Watson, & Lewis, 2017). Each student is a unique individual and he or she will have their preferred learning style, which means there is no one size fits all when it comes to learning or instruction. It is time for educators to realize students have different learning styles and they need to accommodate those varied styles in the classroom. The assessment of those students should also be considered, as the educators are considering their learning styles. The accuracy of the standardized tests has been called to question as the tests will not reflect the knowledge and learning of diverse learners in a classroom. Consideration should be made for alternative assessments that will meet the unique needs of the students in the classroom.

Selected Student Group

There is an achievement gap separating black students from white students, which has been documented for a long time (Baker, 2017). While this social divide is vexing to most policymakers and educators it remains to this day. Shockingly, the picture is even bleaker when it comes to the reading proficiency of black students when compared to those of white students. The national tests for last year indicate only 18% of black 4th-grade students scored proficient or above in reading (Ehsan, Vida, & Mehdi, 2019). The figure for white 4th-grade students was 45%. The figures for 8th-grade students indicate the same discrepancy where black students were at 15% and white students 42%. While the figures for white students are still lower than half, those for black students are concerning. These statistics will translate to greater struggles in high school resulting to lower college attendance and graduation rates, which could lead to higher incarceration rates and a general bleak future for black children. Shockingly, the abysmal figures for last year for black students are lower than those for two years ago, which indicates a general decline in student performance over the past two years. Therefore, there is a need to determine the reason behind the decline and focus on solutions geared towards improving the reading rates of black students and those of white students as well. Surprisingly, there is an abundance of scientific research explaining why the standard approach used for reading instructions is not working for black students (Baker, 2017). Many educators and policymakers seem unaware of the existing research or some even outrightly reject it. Schools then continue to focus on the same non-working things they have focused on for decades with an expectation of different results. It is unfortunate the reading scores for black, Hispanic, and low-income groups have been low for so long and strategies for raising them have not worked, that many people have come to accept them as normal (Edwards...

Poverty and racism are used as the underlying reason for the low scores and if society has not managed to overcome them how can they be overcome by education? The idea that poverty is a key factor needs to be eliminated. Poor white students have managed to outperform their fellow black students who don't live in poverty. There must be systemic issues that are not being addressed at eh classroom level that are negatively impacting the black students.

The yearly summative assessments and interval progress monitoring are rooted in the notion of student achievement. However, time and time again the achievement gaps for black students have failed to rise to match those of their white counterparts. The tests are universally designed, which fails to address the diverse population of the test takers. The test makers will create...

…and they will prefer to maintain their silence, which limits their development and interaction. Using Kagan Structures will allow the educator to involve all the students in the class and there will be equal participation in the teams.

The best learning style to improve the reading scores of the students is cooperative learning structures (Ehsan et al., 2019).

African American students score below 75% of the American white students in the standardized tests.

The tests are universally designed, which fails to address the diverse population of the test takers. The test makers will create questions that will assume background knowledge of the test takers.

Tests should be developed with the test takers in mind. The test makers should understand the different learning styles and preferences of the students when they are designing the tests and take into account these differences.

Addresses all learning styles and multiple intelligences (Meyer & Paxson, 2019).

African American students seem to be disadvantaged because they come from low-income backgrounds. However, the standardized test scores are similar even for students who come from middle-class backgrounds. The underlying issue has to do with the learning styles and not just the student's background. Without making changes in the learning styles for the black students we cannot expect to see any tangible results. Embracing a cooperative learning structure will allow the black students to actively participate in the classroom instead of them merely skimming through the class. With active participation, the student will improve on his or her reading ability, which will in turn improve their test scores. Speaking of tests, there is a need to modify the current standardized tests to suit the different learning styles of the different students. Having a standard test being used to gauge the performance of different students disadvantages some of the students as they have a different learning preference…