Multicultural Programming in New Mexico

• In Event: Martínez v. State of New Mexico: Revitalizing the Dream of Our Forefathers

Abstract

The New Mexico Public Education Department Strategic Plan for 2012 ambitiously states: “New Mexico’s majority-minority status presents our state with a unique opportunity to lead the way in increasing academic success for every student and closing the achievement gap.” New Mexico’s statutory and regulatory requirements support that goal, including its Constitution, Indian Education Act, and Bilingual and Multicultural Education Act. This study examined the extent to which seven school districts in the state advance the stated goal.
Banks’s (2013) five dimensions of multicultural education served as the conceptual framework. Empirical research was reviewed in the following areas of Banks’ framework: curriculum content integration and knowledge construction, equity pedagogy (culturally responsive pedagogy), prejudice reduction, and empowering school culture. Essentially, studies find that, while well-designed culturally responsive curriculum (which can also be standards-aligned) and culturally responsive pedagogy each has a positive impact on achievement and engagement of students of color, the impact is most powerful when both curriculum and pedagogy are culturally responsive. The research offers direction for what New Mexico’s schools should be doing to close the achievement gap and lead the way as a majority-minority status state.
Research into the seven school districts examined: 1) representation of diverse groups in the curriculum, 2) teachers’ use of culturally responsive pedagogy and curriculum, 3) teacher professional development for culturally responsive pedagogy, and 4) recruitment and preparation of teachers of color (especially Native American and Mexican American teachers). Data sources included: 1) analysis of 28 textbooks the districts reported using; 2) an online survey of teachers, mainly in two of the largest school districts; 1275 teachers responded; 3) interviews (in person or by email) with district personnel; and 4) analysis of documents on district websites.
The study found that New Mexico’s concentration on Common Core State Standards and PARCC testing largely ignores the potential of curriculum to reach New Mexico’s students. The combination of standards and textbooks, with some exceptions, give American Indian and Hispanic students, particularly those who identify as Mexican American, very little to identify with. While the term “culturally responsive pedagogy” appears in many documents and about 95% of the teachers reported understanding what it means, the term appeared to lack definition in most documents, and teachers’ skill in using it to guide teaching (based on survey data) appears underdeveloped. The study found very little teacher professional development in culturally responsive pedagogy, but considerable in Common Core State Standards and testing. Finally, while there was a large gap between the proportion of teachers of color and students of color, with the exception of one school district, nothing was being done to address this gap.
The study concludes that while New Mexico has an opportunity, supported by its laws and regulations, for education a majority student of color population well, the state is not yet living up that opportunity.

Reference

Banks, J. A. (2013). The nature of multicultural education. In J. A. Banks and C. A. M. Banks (Eds.), Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives, 8th ed. (pp. 3-24). New York: Wiley.

Author

• Christine E. Sleeter, California State University - Monterey Bay