7/1/2003 -- Principals of highly diverse high schools believe students who attend class with students from other countries and ethnic groups develop a global perspective of issues and a better understanding of different cultures -- and, as a result, are better prepared for the "real world."
At Annandale High School in Fairfax County, Va., for example, when a class discussion turns to the war in Iraq, there well might be a student who can speak about his own family's life under Saddam Hussein, or students who can share their own experiences with wars in half a dozen other countries.
Don Clausen, who has just retired as principal of Annandale, and Michael Hanna, principal of Storm Lake High School in northwestern Iowa, spoke about how their schools are dealing with changing demographics at a panel discussion in Washington, D.C., June 6 sponsored by the American Youth Policy Forum.
Challenging curriculum
Annandale and Storm Lake offer a variety of programs to help immigrant students learn English, basic skills, and adapt to American culture. Both schools also offer a challenging curriculum to benefit all students.
When Annandale High School opened in 1954 in suburban Washington, D.C., it was 100 percent white. As large numbers of refugees from all over the world began coming to the region in the 1980s, many settled in the apartments around Annandale.
Today, the school enrolls students from 88 countries speaking 48 languages.
About 24 percent are Asian, mostly from Korea and Vietnam. An equal number are Hispanic, with large numbers from Bolivia, Guatemala, and El Salvador, but just about every Latin American country is represented. Another 14 percent are African-American or immigrants from Africa.
In 1992, a gang-related fight between Hispanic and African-American youths on the weekend spread to the school on Monday morning. The incident, which garnered front-page newspaper coverage for days, was a wake-up call to the community, says Eileen Kugler, whose two daughters attended the school.
Kugler, who moderated the panel, told how she carried out a campaign to improve the school's image. She spoke to community groups, real estate brokers, and the school administration. Her original message that "diverse schools can be just as good" soon changed to "diverse schools are better."
Kugler, the author of Debunking the Middle-Class Myth: Why Diverse Schools are Good for All Kids, is now a nationwide advocate for the building of strong, multicultural school communities.
Positive climate
When Clausen was named principal of Annandale in 1994, his main goals were to develop a positive climate and raise the academic rigor of the school.
In the past, few minorities participated in sports teams, student government association (SGA), and other activities. Clausen worked to turn that around by getting teachers and coaches to urge non-white students to get involved. SGA representatives spoke to classes to explain the basics of high school to students who didn't know about such things as homecoming.
Today, the SGA reflects the demographics of the school. For example, in 2001, the student body president was a black female, the vice president was Hispanic, the treasurer was from Pakistan, and the secretary was a wheelchair-bound white male.
The 2,300-student school has a peer mediation program, in which students are trained to advise their peers to resolve conflicts, reduce prejudice, and promote understanding.
Clausen eliminated the school's gifted and talented classes, which he felt had become a bastion for all-white students who saw such programs as their birthright. Students had been channeled into GT classes in elementary school based on test scores and grades -- not on ability or potential, he says, and no one was added in middle school.
So now, instead of GT, Annandale offers honors classes open to anyone, and these classes now mirror the demographics of the school.
Clausen also replaced the Advanced Placement program with the equally rigorous, but more extensive International Baccalaureate (IB) program.
Forty percent of the school's students are taking one or more advanced courses. Among the school's foreign-born students, 39 percent are taking one or more IB courses.
Annandale also has a variety of programs aimed at boosting the achievement of lower-performing students -- including initiatives focusing on literacy, basic skills, remediation, and cognitive tutoring in math. Students have the option of spreading algebra and geometry over two years.
A partnership program with nearby George Mason University allows Hispanic students with college potential to take summer classes at the university and be automatically accepted on a full scholarship.
Community outreach
To build community support, the school holds parent outreach meetings in the neighborhoods in native languages. School officials regularly meet with community associations, real estate brokers, service organizations, and the press.
The school has five part-time parent liaisons, including two who speak Spanish, one who speaks Urdu and Pushto, and one each who speak Korean and Vietnamese.
One area that remains challenging, Clausen says, is attaining a diverse teaching staff. The faculty is 15 percent minority. In hiring teachers, Clausen looks for applicants with experience in diverse schools, who have worked abroad, who are from another culture, or who speak another language.
According to Principal Hanna, the keys to success at a diverse school are "creating a sense of worth, creating a sense of belonging, and celebrating the diversity."
Most people don't think of Iowa as diverse, but the community of Storm Lake has a growing population of minorities.
Many of the town's newest residents, primarily Hispanics, have been drawn by two of the town's major employers, Tyson Fresh Meats, a pork processing plant, and the Bil-Mar turkey processing plant.
Of the 600 students enrolled in Storm Lake High School, 29 percent are Hispanic and 11 percent are Asian, many from Laos, reports Hanna.
Special programs have been implemented at Storm Lake to help students improve their reading and vocabulary skills. Fully one-third of students -- including many white students -- are reading below grade level, Hanna says.
Language assistance
The school offers courses in Spanish grammar and Spanish literature, as well as bilingual classes in math and science. "Many Spanish-speaking and Lao kids only know enough of their native language to get by at home," Hanna says. "We want them to be truly bilingual."
A flexible curriculum gives students more time to learn the material. Students can take algebra and geometry over one, two, or three semesters.
To build a sense of belonging, the school works on developing personal relationships and encouraging minority students to participate in athletics and clubs. That has been challenging, Hanna notes, because so many minority students need or prefer to work after school.
Hanna also would like to see the school do a better job of involving parents, and he wants to provide more incentives to help minority parents learn English.
Approximately 57 percent of Hispanic parents and 60 percent of Asian-American parents have little or no English fluency.
Another challenge mentioned by both principals is a high mobility rate. In both schools, students sometimes leave for two months to visit their home country, making it difficult if not impossible to catch up when they return. Annandale's mobility rate is 20 percent, while Storm Lake's is 33 percent.
Based on the experiences at Annandale and Storm Lake, and her work with other diverse schools, Kugler says principals at the most successful multicultural schools focus on reading skills, build community support, create a positive school climate, tap into community resources, and continually look for ways to raise achievement.
"We need to change our vision of what we call a good school," Kugler says. "It's important to look at test scores, but we also have to go beyond that. A school can be strong in academics, but without a positive school climate, it can't be called successful."