Curriculum Guidelines for Multicultural Education
Prepared by the NCSS Task Force on Ethnic Studies Curriculum
Guidelines
Adopted by NCSS Board of Directors, 1976, revised 1991
Publishing a revision of Curriculum Guidelines for
Multicultural Education is especially appropriate and timely
because of the significant increase in the nation’s
population of people of color that has occurred since they
were published sixteen years ago. The percentage of people
of color in the nation will continue to rise throughout the
early decades of the next century. Indeed, the 1990 census
revealed that one out of every four people who live in the
United States is a person of color and that one out of every
three people will be a person of color by the turn of the
century. Likewise, the ethnic and racial makeup of the
nation’s classrooms is changing significantly. Students of
color constitute a majority in twenty-five of the nation’s
largest school districts and in California, our most
populous state with a population of thirty million people.
Students of color will make up nearly half (46 percent) of
the nation’s school-age youth by 2020, and about 27 percent
of those students will be victims of poverty.
Elements of Multicultural Curriculum Design by Christine E.
Sleeter
What is curriculum? On surface, the answer to this question
might seem fairly straightforward — curriculum is subject
matter, and it is found in textbooks, curriculum standards,
and curriculum guides. Walker (2003) defined curriculum as
“a particular way of ordering content and purposes for
teaching and learning in schools” (p. 5); this definition
includes what is in textbooks, curriculum standards and
guides, but also draws attention to how material is
organized, and around what purposes it is organized.
Criteria for Evaluating State
Curriculum Standards
National Association for Multicultural Education
The population of the United States of America
has been multicultural since its inception. Moreover, the
longstanding status of the U.S. as
an economic world power draws persons from across the globe
who contribute further to its multicultural character. This
historical and contemporary diversity has considerable
implications for the work of educators in the nation’s
schools. Specifically, state curriculum standards designed
to guide public education need to include the particular
contributions, distinct heritages and values, as well as the
multiple ways of knowing that represent our diverse
population. Curricula should be designed to facilitate the
development of individuals who appreciate the complexity of
the human condition and who can effectively negotiate the
diverse cultural contexts of U.S.
society. Such individuals must acquire critical
understanding and appreciation of their own cultural
heritage as well as the cultural heritages of the diverse
groups that are represented in our collective national
identity. Similarly, through curricula and school-based
experiences individuals should become critically engaged
with the principles of social justice for all people.
Ultimately, curriculum standards must do far more than
simply stress the multicultural composition of the
United States. Rather they must also
outline classroom practices that help educators impart the
knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for
individuals to participate fully and meaningfully in our
multiethnic and multiracial society. To this end, the
National Association for Multicultural Education has
established curriculum guidelines that respond to five key
concerns ....more
Evaluating Children’s Books for Bias
1. Omission: In spite of the fact that many excellent
multicultural books are finally being published, omission
continues to be one of the biggest problems in literature
for young readers today. Exclusion is one of the most
insidious and painful forms of bias; a group may be excluded
from an entire collection, or from the books selected for
use in a particular library, school district, school, or
classroom. The implicit message is that the group does not
exist, is insignificant, or has made no contributions to
society. Erasure is destructive not only to the group(s)
involved but to the larger society. ….more
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