Reading
Essays

Literacy-based curriculum for students who speak English as a first language is a proven method for developing high levels of linguistic fluency—children are seen to acquire language skills quite readily with these techniques. Moreover, as strong language skills develop, they transfer into writing and reading. For students who are native English language speakers, working on literacy skills and practicing English in verbal, auditory, and written modes helps them to become fluent speakers, readers, and writers of English. However, this same approach to teaching students has not been demonstrated to work well with all English Language Learners. In fact, some programs using this approach devolve into the strategy that teachers just need to continue instruction according to this format until the students who are English Language Learners reach their performance targets. Nevertheless, the research literature on literacy development indicates that this uniform approach to instruction does not achieve desired level of language acquisition and academic performance in diverse societies, such as that of the United States. What the research does indicate, however, is that the cultural background of students is relevant to their learning styles. The differences among children and families carry over into the classroom, creating a unique mosaic of learning styles and cultural experience. Approaches to academic learning environments that are invitational and inclusive provide a promising foundation for achieving high levels of success for all students. Educational programs that articulate meaningful ways to include parents and families in their children's schooling are also able to consider and address the diversity that is based on economic and, perhaps, even health-related issues. A number of ethnic-based educational programs have found that student performance is enhanced when the cultural considerations are integral to the curriculum and the instruction. Culturally sensitive curricula and instruction have been shown to improve student engagement—a condition that is robustly related to academic performance. While ethnic-based educational programs are increasingly recognized to have academic and social benefits. Policy makers are taking the position that inclusive educational programs that work deliberately to reduce marginalizing students of different racial and ethnic backgrounds also do a better job of engaging students in academic learning—and the students' levels of success in these programs indicates a strong positive relationship between academic performance and inclusive, culturally-sensitive educational system.

¶ … drew you to the post to which you are responding -- a particular insight, way of writing, or question being asked.

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