¶ … cultural models. There is one reference used for this paper.

There are a number of things that can be done to improve school achievement. It is important to analyze the effects of cultural models and settings and their connection to school improvements.

School Improvements

Cultural models in the educational setting can be related to the ethnical background of children or the mode of teaching employed by educators. When a study was conducted on Latino children as they entered kindergarten and their literacy background, it was discovered that the main focus of the parents was to teach good moral values. While this illustrated the cultural background of the parents, it was noted the parents were willing to attempt new methods in order to further their children's education. Unfortunately, most of the parents quickly reverted to their previous behavior in terms of reading fundamentals and literacy.

Many teachers have cubby holed themselves into a specific mode of teaching. This cultural method mainly deals with the teacher working independently of others, and attending only mandatory teaching workshops. There have been new cultural models which concentrate on four points: "goals, indicators, assistance and leadership (Gallimore)." These models allow the teachers to interact more with other educators in their school, and become more involved in meetings after class.

Teachers in studies concerning these new models feel that both they and the students benefit from this new mode of teaching.

Positive Models

The educational system is showing signs of improvement as changes are made in cultural models, both ethnically and in terms of teaching. There have been studies conducted over several years, which have provided meticulous and significant data on these cultural models.

Teachers throughout the country need to be encouraged to examine these studies and work to implement similar methods in their own school systems as a means to benefit their students and improve their work environment.

Conclusion

Cultural models which focus not only on the ethnic backgrounds of students and parental involvement, but also on the teaching methods of educators themselves, are improving educational output for students in Southern California. These models are being studied to determine whether they could be implemented throughout the United States as a means of improving academic achievement for students.

References

Gallimore, Ronald. 2001. Analyzing Cultural Models and Settings to Connect Minority

Achievement and School Improvement Research. Educational Psychologist. Pp. 45-56.