Multicultural Education for Learners with Special Needs in the Twenty-First Century

A volume in Contemporary Perspectives in Special EducationSeries Editors: Anthony F. Rotatori, Saint Xavier Universityand Festus E. Obiakor, Valdosta State UnivversityMulticultural Education for Learners with Special Needs in the Twenty-First Century provides general and specialeducators innovative information that address the road blocks to effective practice such that diverse learners will beappropriately; identified, assessed, categorized, placed and instructed. The book provides those who instruct diverselearners comprehensive, creative and best practice chapters by scholars in the area of multicultural education. ChapterOne presents a system to reduce traditional education road blocks that confront diverse learners called Culturally andLinguistically Responsive Teaching (CLRT). The CLTR system is designed to accomplish three objectives, namely, toincrease student achievement, to help students develop skills to achieve economic sufficiency and to allow students toacquire citizenship skills based on a realistic and thorough understanding of the political system. Chapter Two discussesthe pervasive problem of disproportionate representation of students from diverse backgrounds in special education by examining what it is, who is impacted by it, whyit is occurring, and how it can be addressed using promising strategies. Chapter Three examines the use of authentic assessment to provide feedback for teachers andstudents, and guide the instructional process by differentiating teaching to meet the educational needs of diverse learners. Chapters Four, Five, Six and Seven addressissues related to educating Latina/o Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans and Native Americans learners with special needs. Chapter Eight is a uniquechapter that addresses the growing need to educate foreign-born immigrants who are now being referred to as Today's Special Learners in Schools. This chapterdelineates the use of the Comprehensive Support Model (CSM) to educate foreign-born learners who are identified by the authors as foreign-born English LanguageLearners. The CSM is recommended as a culturally sensitive intervention that integrates efforts of the self, (i.e., learner), families, school, community, and government inresponding to the needs of diverse learners. Chapter Nine provides a comprehensive discussion of how Culturally Relevant Leadership (CRL) can impact educationaltheory and practice. The authors delineate how CRL leads to reflective practices which position teachers and administrators to become leaders in school change that canincrease student success for diverse learners. Chapter Ten provides the reader with illustrative content regarding the use of technology to educate multicultural learnerswith special needs. Chapter Eleven delineates the culturally responsive infusion of effective behavior modification strategies that are designed to strengthen and facilitatepositive behaviors for culturally and linguistically diverse learners with special needs.The book is an important addition to the education of multicultural learners with special needs as it provides muchneeded direction for the effective instructional practices for today's diverse students. The book can be used ascurrent best practices for special and general educators as well as school administrators