Bridging Multiple Worlds: Case Studies of Diverse Educational Communities, 2/E by Lorraine S. Taylor and Catharine R. Whittaker	List Price: $51.00
This text offers “real world” case studies involving educational staff, students, and families from diverse backgrounds in a variety of dynamic school settings.   Bridging Multiple Worlds emphasizes long-term, comprehensive solutions that promote school, home, and community partnership to meet challenges in educational settings. The text provides foundational information about diversity in the US, multicultural education, and family-school-community partnership in Part I; moves on to explore the use of cases in teacher education and how to analyze cases using a “decision making scaffold” in Part II; and delves deeply into specific cases and the issues surrounding them on a wide range of diversity topics in the seven chapters in Part III.  The authors’ backgrounds in Special Education enable them to incorporate issues involving children with exceptional needs and their families into nearly half of the cases, making this text a good companion to special education courses in addition to a comprehensive resource for all courses about diverse learners.  Instructors and students will find the authentic situations stimulating and well-contextualized with pertinent research and background information preceding each case. Specific discussion questions following each case foster reflective analysis from a social justice perspective.  These questions, used in conjunction with the Decision Making Scaffold, allow for broad and open class discussions of difficult issues and challenge participants to find common ground from which a meaningful and comprehensive plan of action can be developed.  The framework of the book allows future teachers, counselors, related service providers, and administrators to appreciate and understand the complexity of diversity issues in the cases and in the schools/communities where they will work. Diversity coverage includes issues of race, culture, language, socioeconomic status, exceptionality, gender, sexual orientation and religion in K-12 schools. Authentic, comprehensive case studies and a reflective problem solving approach guide students' analysis and discussion. A “Decision Making Scaffold” (outlined in Chs 4 & 5) guides the analysis of cases and discussions using a specific case study as a model and facilitates more comprehensive, long-term action plans. Covers working with diverse families (Chapter 3). Contains numerous boxed features, as well as discussion questions, references, and an extensive research base which make this text informative, authoritative, and accessible. An appropriate text for courses preparing teachers, psychologists, counselors, social workers, and school administrators About half of the cases address issues involving students with disabilities and their families. Preface Acknowledgements Foreword The Meaning of Diversity Author’s Statement of Philosophy Use of Terminology Related to Diversity References I. Diversity in the United States  1. The Changing Pattern of Immigration Historical Overview Legislation Assimilation and Acculturation Demographic Changes Demographic Changes in the Schools References    2. The Current State of Education for Diverse Students in the United States The Educational Progress of Diverse Learners Multicultural Education Preparation of Teachers for Diverse Learners References    3. Building Partnerships with Diverse Family and Communities Family Involvement in the Schools Characteristics of Families The Family System Culturally Diverse Families The School-Family-Community Partnership References II. A Case for Cases  4. The Development and Use of Cases in Teacher Education What is a Teaching Case? Why Are Case Discussions Valuable? How Do Participants Analyze a Case? How Do Participants Discuss a Case? References    5. Putting it All Together: Analyzing and Discussing a Case Issues Regarding Migrant Farm Workers and Their Families The Case of Jesus Gonzalez Using the Case Decision-Making Scaffold Follow-Up on Jesus Gonzalez References III. Case Studies in Diversity  6. Race and Ethnicity Currents Concepts of Race Race and Ethnic Identity Racism The Case of Jim Peterson The Case of Lisa Golden References    7. Culture and Language Definition of Culture Definition of Language Cultural and Linguistic Difference Implications for Education Native American Mascots The Case of the Onteora Indian The Case of Fome Qureshi References    8. Poverty and Socioeconomic Status Expectations and Realities Current Facts Impact of Poverty on School-Aged Children State and Federal Provisions What Can Schools Do? The Case of Maria Ramirez The Case of Sue Wilson References   9. Exceptionality Issues of Definition, Identification, and Appropriate Programs The Inclusion Controversy Creating Inclusive Schools for Students with Disabilities Issues in the Education of Students Who Are Gifted and Talented Issues in the Education of Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder The Case of Selina James The Case of Matthew Simpson References    10. Gender Issues in Gender Females and Mathematics African American Females and Mathematics The Case of Cassie Brown The Case of Justin Healy References    11. Sexuality Issues in Sexuality Staff Training The Case of Sam Meyers Resources   12. Religion Religious Diversity in the United States Why Religion is an Issue in Public Schools Current Religious Issues in Public Schools The Case of Higher Ground Academy References   INDEX
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