Multiculturalism/Diversity Curriculum Guidelines
The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) has created the following Curriculum Guidelines for Multicultural Education which are summarized below:
- Ethnic and cultural diversity should permeate the total school environment.
- School policies and procedures should foster positive multicultural interactions and understandings among students, teachers, and the support staff.
- A school?s staff should reflect the ethnic and cultural diversity within the United States.
- Schools should have systematic, comprehensive mandatory, and continuing staff development programs.
- The curriculum should reflect the cultural learning styles and characteristics of the students within the school community.
- The multicultural curriculum should provide students with continuous opportunities to develop a better sense of self.
- The curriculum should help students understand the totality of the experiences of ethnic and cultural groups in the United States.
- The multicultural curriculum should help students understand that a conflict between ideals and realities always exists in human societies.
- The multicultural curriculum should explore and clarify ethnic and cultural alternatives and options in the United States.
- The multicultural curriculum should promote values, attitudes, and behaviors that support ethnic pluralism and cultural diversity as well as build and support the nation-state and the nation's shared national culture. E pluribus unum should be the goal of the schools and the nation.
- The multicultural curriculum should help students develop their decision-making abilities, social participation skills, and sense of political efficacy as necessary bases for effective citizenship in a pluralistic democratic nation.
- The multicultural curriculum should help students develop the skills necessary for effective interpersonal, interethnic, and intercultural group interactions.
- The multicultural curriculum should be comprehensive in scope and sequence, should present holistic views of ethnic and cultural groups, and should be an integral part of the total school curriculum.
- The multicultural curriculum should include the continuous study of the cultures, historical experiences, social realities, and existential conditions of ethnic and cultural groups, including a variety of racial compositions.
- Interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches should be used in designing and implementing the multicultural curriculum.
- The multicultural curriculum should use comparative approaches in the study of ethnic and cultural groups.
- The multicultural curriculum should help students to view and interpret events, situations, and conflict from diverse ethnic and cultural perspectives and points of view.
- The multicultural curriculum should conceptualize and describe the development of the United States as a multidirectional society.
- Schools should provide opportunities for students to participate in the aesthetic experiences of various ethnic and cultural groups.
- The multicultural curriculum should provide opportunities for students to study ethnic group languages as legitimate communication systems and help them develop full literacy in at least two languages.
- The multicultural curriculum should make maximum use of experiential learning, especially local community resources.
- The assessment procedures used with students should reflect their ethnic and cultural experiences.
- Schools should conduct ongoing, systematic evaluations of the goals, methods, and instructional materials used in teaching about ethnic and cultural diversity.
Click Here to download the Multicultural Program Evaluation Checklist 