1. Propose idea about observing multiculturalism and its state in current education of schools.
2. Create a one-page survey (view appendix) addressing teacher/pedagogy, curriculum, resources, student perceptions, societal issues, and community/PTA. Scale the survey according to the Likert scale using “Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Agree, Strongly Agree” to force a side.
3. Related to the survey for teachers, construct an observation survey (view appendix) to serve as a comparison.
4. Contact individual schools to request their participation through mail, e-mail, and by phone.
5. Visit the school, visit individual classrooms, and observe evident multicultural aspects.
6. Collect data by conducting interviews with personnel in the school and collecting surveys.
7. After observations and interviews fill out surveys for individual schools.
8. Synthesize and analyze data to find themes and sub-themes.
9. Create conclusions based on findings.
10. Present project, including data and conclusion, by website and a hard copy.

Results:

Although I have a survey of 21 questions, I will focus on just five of them, because I could verify them by my observations (for complete results, view appendix III)

Statement #2 states, “Other cultural perspectives are addressed in my classroom (black history month, Islamic culture, Mexican economy, etc.). This was not very evident in most of the schools, but an example in one school, was including a community member of Japanese origin to teach students Japanese writing.

Statement #6 states, “my school and I display artifacts and histories of cultures other than my own.” This was more evident through pictures, but one classroom featured various time zones to gain a more international perspective. Most artifacts were part of popular culture like NCAA basketball brackets on the wall or Winnie-the-Pooh pictures.

Statement #11 states, “my school encourages the teaching of foreign languages.” Although there is a desire to offer foreign languages at all schools, they are predominantly taught as a course at the high school level. All schools had evidence of encouraging the teaching of foreign languages and cultures.

Statement #13 states, “Standardized state and national tests, summative course assessments, and other assessments are used in my schools.” No statement is truer than this statement about testing. There is much evidence throughout schools from banners to projected goals, etc., that promote a sense of need for accomplishment.

Statement #17 states, “Rewards (academic merit, athletic awards, etc.) are important in school.” This statement is also confirmed by my observations. There are numerous awards in a variety of forms from trophies to jerseys hung on the ceiling, and from Accelerated Reader points to “Student of the week”. A competitive atmosphere permeates throughout schools.