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Multicultural Education

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Multicultural education is an idea, an educational reform movement, and a process (Banks, 1997). As an idea, multicultural education seeks to create equal educational opportunities for all students, including those from different racial, ethnic, and social-class groups. Multicultural education tries to create equal educational opportunities for all students by changing the total school environment so that it will reflect the diverse cultures and groups within a society and within the nation's classrooms. Multicultural education is a process because its goals are ideals that teachers and administrators should constantly strive to achieve.
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Global Project

Diversity and Citizenship Education, Global Perspectives:"Ethnic Diversity and Citizenship Education in Multicultural Nation-States," held at the Rockefeller Foundation's Study and Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy, in June, 2002. This book presents international perspectives on how multicultural nation-states can balance unity and diversity and respond to globalization. Participants and contributing authors represent 12 different nations: Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Israel, Palestine, Japan, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.
To learn more about the book, click on: Diversity and Citizenship Education, Global Perspectives.

Global Education Consensus Panel: The Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Washington established-with support from the Spencer Foundation-a Diversity, Citizenship, and Global Education Consensus Panel. The Panel's goal is to develop a set of research and theory based principles and guidelines that school practitioners can use to structure citizenship education program that reflect diversity and unity and prepare students to become effective citizens in a global context.

An Invitational Conference: The Center for Multicultural Education is developing research and theory based guidelines for implementing citizenship education programs that focus on democracy, diversity, and globalization. The report, which is being developed by an International Consensus Panel (described above) and an International Review Committee, is entitled Democracy and Diversity: Principles and Concepts for Educating Citizens in a Global Woprld. At the conference the Center will release and disseminate copies of the report.

Handbook on Multicultural Education

The Handbook (2nd edition) brings together in one volume the major research and scholarship related to multicultural education that has developed since the field emerged in the 1960s and 1970s. Research is broadly defined in this Handbook. It includes discussions and summaries of research using experimental and quasi-experimental designs, historical and philosophical inquiry, ethnographic studies, survey research, scholarship broadly defined, and insights gained from practice. Each chapter, which is written by a leading authority, critically discusses and summarizes the research on a specific topic, as well as describe the implications of the discussion for further research, policy, and practice.
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Historical Foundations of Multicultural Education

A major goal of this project is to document the ways in which the current multicultural education movement is both connected to and a continuation of earlier scholarly and activist movements designed to promote empowerment, knowledge transformation, liberation, and freedom in U.S. society. Another important goal is to mentor graduate students. This Series was initiated with five papers presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in 1993. The Center also presented symposia on this project at the 1994 and 1995 annual meetings of AERA.
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Symposium Lecture Series

Through the Symposium Lecture Series speakers are invited to the University to engage in discussion on issues related to racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity and education. These lectures are opened to the general public.
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Visiting Scholars

Each summer the Center invites distinguished scholars to teach short courses on their topics of specialization. This program provides opportunities for teacher education and graduate students to interact with eminent scholars from other universities. It also greatly enhances the teaching and research opportunities for students at the University. If you would like information about summer scholars please contact the Center.
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