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In the study, the curricula of three selected dance departments in the United States, whose stated missions embrace cultural diversity, are examined. The primary research question is: Do the curricula of selected dance departments in the United States reflect the values of cultural diversity or pluralism as explicitly expressed in their mission statement? Through random online sample of thirty-nine mission statements from non-conservatory-based dance departments that grant degrees in the field of dance was collected. Although the use of the term diversity expanded greatly throughout the late 20th century, a delimitation of this study was to focus on cultural diversity as it relates to race and ethnicity. Mission statements are part of most dance departments' rationale and communication of values. Since dance departments are a part of larger institutions, it can be assumed that their missions are consistent with the focus of those organizations. As a primary outcome of organizational and of strategic planning, these statements are designed to differentiate one college or university from others. They are an articulation of the specific vision and long-term goals of a college or university, or more specifically in the case of this study, a dance department. Because one cannot assume a college or university's interest or commitment to cultural diversity, this study identified departments with a stated interest in cultural diversity from which to assess how such interest and commitment translates to curriculum; no direct conclusions about the home institution's implicit approach to cultural diversity was made. Future dance educators, dance artists, community artists, and arts administrators, as well as dance historians and scholars, are educated in the dance departments of colleges and universities throughout the United States. Thus, these departments have a large impact on the way dance is experienced throughout our society. Through an analysis of primary data, I examined the ways in which selected dance departments fulfill, or do not fulfill, their stated missions of cultural diversity. The methodology included a document analysis of the following primary source documents: mission statements, audition requirements, sequential department curriculum, required course readings, and demographics of faculty and students. Additionally, all teaching faculty and senior undergraduates from the selected dance departments were given a questionnaire to complete. The educational and performance background of faculty members, along with their areas of expertise, was the focus of the faculty questionnaire. In an effort to understand if student goals are aligned with the mission of the department, the student questionnaire included questions that asked seniors what type of positions they were interested in pursuing after graduation, and whether or not they felt they were prepared to enter the workforce given their course of study. The questions of how student goals are connected to working in culturally diverse communities of the 21st century, and if so, how the curriculum was designed to met the goals of students, were also explored. Finally, a field observation was included to provide context for each of theses institutions. This examination of three selected dance departments in terms of culturally diverse curricular offerings provides dance educators in higher education with examples of how selected dance departments carry out their stated missions. In this study dance departments that have developed strategies and mechanisms to implement their stated missions of cultural diversity throughout their curriculum are highlighted. Additionally, I encourage departments that have not been able to transmit their commitment to cultural diversity to department curriculum to do so, offering them tangible strategies which they can implement. / Dance

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This qualitative study focused on the need for culturally responsive teaching within the southern Appalachian cultural setting. The specific components of this approach to teaching were based on research findings, theoretical claims from proponents of culturally responsive teaching (e.g. Gloria Ladson-Billings and Geneva Gay), and experiences and personal narratives of educators working with students in southern Appalachia. The purpose of this study was to identify aspects of culturally responsive teaching within the Southern Appalachian context by observing instruction and curriculum that sustained the cultural competence of southern Appalachian students and empowered them. As the researcher, I also studied my own efforts as a teacher educator with southern Appalachian roots who was preparing preservice teachers to acquire the knowledge, attitudes and skills to practice culturally responsive teaching. Through narrative inquiry, the study focused on the experiences of an elementary teacher, an elementary principal, and a preservice teacher. The study was conducted within three settings (Holbrook Elementary, Central Elementary and Appalachia College) over a total period of three years. Data collection methods included interviews, observations, participation in school events, fieldnotes, videotapes, photographs, a participant’s journal and other artifacts. The findings identified practices that promoted culturally responsive teaching for southern Appalachia such as including the Appalachian culture in the curriculum, demonstrating caring, building learning communities, and connecting school to home and community by using the cultural backgrounds of southern Appalachian students as conduits for teaching them more effectively. Four characteristics of culturally responsive educators were presented: culturally responsive teaching takes skill; culturally responsive teaching takes inquiry; culturally responsive teaching is a moral craft; and culturally responsive teaching is a way of life, not just a job. / Ph. D.

It is the purpose of this study to determine a sound treatment of intercultural differences. The study has as its fundamental thesis the belief that the race and cultural conflicts that are serious threats to the well-being of individuals, of communities, and of the American nation as a whole can be lessened and, in certain instances, eliminated by a carefully planned educational program.

This study was undertaken to discover which determinants led Massachusetts regional vocational technical high school students to choose nontraditional occupations by examining two populations: (a) all of the nontraditional students enrolled in the 26 Massachusetts regional vocational technical schools, of which 19 schools participated, and (b) one of each student's parents or guardians. Two survey instruments were used of which the first 15 items were questions directed to the nontraditional student or the parent/guardian. The last 10 items were reasons that may have led the student to a nontraditional choice, the importance of which were determined by the student and the parent/guardian. All the responses were subjected to a frequency distribution analysis, and the last 10 items were subjected to the chi-square test to determine relationships existing between variables of the student and of the parent/guardian to each of the reasons. The student variables were gender of student, vocational experience of a student's sibling/s, and participation in an exploratory program. The parent/guardian variables were educational level, employment status, and economic status. Findings revealed that the following determinants were important to the nontraditional choice: career opportunity of the program, interest in the subject, and exploratory programs and their teachers. There were significant positive relationships (p = $\leq$.01) between the student variable "Participation in an exploratory program" and the following: "The exploratory program made me interested in the career" and "Teachers in the exploratory program were great." There was only one significant relationship between the parent/guardian variables and their view of the importance of the reasons for the nontraditional choice, and it was a positive relationship (p = $\leq$.05). This variable was "Employment status" and the reason for the choice was "The program seemed easy." Regardless of the employment status of the parent or guardian, most respondents believed the reason was not important to the nontraditional choice. Based on these findings, it was concluded that exploratory programs for all the courses offered by the schools should be presented to every new student and that the teachers of these exploratory programs should be chosen with great care.

Research has shown that bilinguals have slower performance than monolinguals on tasks measuring word recognition, number naming, and picture naming speed (Magiste, 1979; Ransdell & Fischler, 1987). Specifically, English speaking bilinguals have been shown to be slower than native English speaking monolinguals on lexical decision tasks performed in English (Ransdell & Fischler, 1987). The present study examined whether differences in visual word processing speed between bilinguals and monolinguals could be accounted for by the presence of orthographic structure similarities across the two languages of bilinguals. This was tested by having native English speaking monolinguals and English-Spanish bilinguals name or make lexical decisions on English words that had language-specific orthographic structures or nonspecific orthographic structures. The study predicted that orthographic structure similarity would slow down the visual word processing of English-Spanish bilinguals relative to monolinguals. The findings from Experiments 1 and 2 did not provide evidence for differences between monolinguals and English-Spanish bilinguals in the time required to process English words. The results of Experiment 2 provided evidence consistent with the hypothesis that similarities in the spelling patterns of Spanish and English words affected the word naming times of English-Spanish bilinguals relative to monolinguals. The results were interpreted as consistent with models of interactive language functioning in bilinguals.

Multiracial children, who are the offspring of multiple racial unions, have unique needs which are possibly not being met in the schools because, among other things, they are racially categorized on the basis of "one race only" on school forms. This monoracial categorization has become a visible symbol that acts as a foundation for a much wider array of experiences and situations in our schools and communities which affect the racial self-image of multiracial children. This incomplete categorization affects awareness and funding for supportive measures which should be available to them. The basic question which this dissertation raises is the question of whether the needs of interracial children are being met in the schools. In order to study this question, the school's racial categorization procedures as predominant cultural forms were investigated by way of its instruments--school forms, curriculum, resources, cultural programming and school material culture. In order to answer these questions, this inquiry utilized predominantly two methods of data collection: (1) documentation analysis of government and school forms and (2) semi-structured interviews with teachers as key informants. To establish a focus for the direction of the research, a theory of radical pedagogy was used to critically analyze the role of the schools in fostering or obstructing a more positive racial identity in interracial children and a theory of classification to provide a framework to analyze both the nature and language of our racial categorization procedures and its' instruments in the schools. This dissertation found that the schools do unknowingly make the normal racial identity development process problematic for at least some of those students who might want to select more than one racial identity. Multiracial children's invisibility in the schools' racial categorization procedures mirrors a wider range of their invisibility in school curriculum, books, cultural programs, class discussions, and other artifacts of school culture. Therefore, before support for the multiracial child can come into being, there needs to be an alteration in the classification of multiracial children.

The largest refugee group entering the United States in recent years is from Burma. Refugee students face a daunting set of challenges, from language and cultural differences to living in poverty, in becoming successful in their new homes. To be successful in schools and gain cultural and social capital, refugee students must learn and internalize the specific norms of their classrooms. In middle school, students are particularly reliant upon their peers for support, making peer interactions especially important. In multicultural settings, students have ample opportunities for intercultural interactions, which can help refugee students navigate their new settings and become more successful. Unfortunately, there has been little research on the experiences of Burmese refugee students in classrooms in the United States. I used a qualitative, transcendental phenomenological approach to study how three female Burmese refugee students experienced multicultural middle school classrooms in the United States, especially their intercultural interactions, through interviews, observations, and stimulated recall. The participants reported wanting to understand what they were learning, stay on task, and be kind to other students. Those traits developed from their experiences in their countries of origin and combined to create a picture of what a good student should be. In observations, students acted out their ideas of what it meant to be a good student. Their intercultural interactions in class reaffirmed their identities as good students. Implications based on the findings include setting up intentional intercultural interactions with a diverse group of students in classrooms with multicultural approaches and that researchers examine the experiences of various groups of marginalized students while accounting for the context in which they learn and acknowledging a multifaceted view of adolescent identity development.