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Benefits of Diversity and Inclusion in Classroom/School

Introduction

The project is about the importance of having inclusivity and diversity in the classroom

or school. Creating an inclusive school with students from diverse backgrounds is a resource

aimed at motivating school communities to create, promote and sustain inclusive schools

throughout the United States. It is meant to aid nurture the establishment of inclusive and rich

educational framework that respects and values diversity, ensure every student gets a quality

education and promote belonging for all students in a shared learning environment. Schools

should rethink on their how they approach education with the understanding that every student

has equal value, belong in all curricular activities and proper teaching ways respects every

student (Hodge et al 45). For quality inclusive and diversity in education, every student should

be treated with respect and dignity, taking account of the learning style of every student, having a

high realistic expectation for every student and developing suitable learning goals that are related

to the useful expectations of the student.

For students to be entirely integrated into becoming successful in life and school, they

want opportunities to use appropriate behaviors in achieving personal needs, develop positive

social-emotional skills and acquire and use skills and knowledge. The rationale for these

‘functional outcome’ regions is that students need to acquire the rudimentary skills, behaviors

and knowledge that is required to think critically, develop social competence and solve problems
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as well as have independence in their daily lives (Hodge et al 56). For most of the people, it

might appear that normally developing students to have these functional skills effortlessly.

Research shows that children who have numerous interactions with adults and peers throughout

their early childhood life, they tend to have a marked improvement s in various areas of

development. Therefore, it is significant to place students in an environment that enables them to

interact with adults and peers from different backgrounds. The goals and objectives of this

project are to understand and promote the benefits realized in diversity and inclusion in the

classroom by:

• Raising achievement of every learner.

• Establishing best practices in the process of self-evaluation and improvement to make

these practices sustainable in the long run.

• Respecting and celebrating diversity.

• Promoting leaner voice.

Many factors play into diversity in a class setting. Economic background, gender, religion

and even learning approaches are outstanding aspects and it is important to remember everyone

when promoting diversity in schools. While there exist clear important benefits that are

associated with diversity and inclusion, the outcome of the learner is dependent on the ways

diversity has been acknowledged in a school/classroom environment.

Literature review

This project attempts to study the benefits obtained as a result of having diversity and

inclusion in the classroom/school. Numerous benefits such improved problem-solving skills,

greater interactions among the students and better education have been seen in a classroom.
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Diversity among the students in class directly affects their performance. Studies have shown that

students perform better in a diverse atmosphere, making them concentrate and push even further

when other people from different background are working alongside them. It, therefore, results in

creativity and also better education since those students with different perspectives are work

together to create solutions.

A study conducted in the educational system of the United States shows that students are

increasingly diverse and it is reflected in the fields of mathematics, engineering, technology and

science. Diversity in class comprises of students from various socioeconomic backgrounds,

races, genders, cultures and speaks different languages. For example, there was a 5% increase in

diversity across secondary and primary schools (Clark & Horsford 89). Diversity exists in the

socioeconomic composition of the learners with nearly half of the fourth graders in public

schools becoming eligible for free lunch programs. Diversity in higher education is also

increasing with a greater number of women than men seeking admissions in and graduating from

universities. In the last three decades, there has been an increase in ethnic and racial minority

student in the education system (Tharp 85). The ethnic and racial minorities who are studying at

institutions of higher learning in the US will continue to increase because the demographic

composition of the population keeps on changing. Even though the education system is

becoming more diverse, students originating from stigmatized groups still experience barriers to

education. Integration is a required but insufficient condition for realizing equality and fairness

for every student. Although schools may have students from diverse backgrounds, if some

students experience barriers and are not included in the school, an actual situation of diversity

might not exist (Siegel et al, 101). Thus, there will be no any benefit obtained from inclusion and

diversity in the classroom.

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According to Intxausti et al, (16), there are research-tested strategies put in place to

achieve the goal of greater diversity. These strategies include retaining and recruiting diverse

educators, creating a safe environment for every learner, integrating inclusive learning activities

that are active into a curriculum, integrating information that represents various cultural and

social viewpoints into a curriculum and promoting outreach programs to minority families and

their students. Developing a more inclusive and diverse classroom/school has numerous benefits

that range from enhancing learning among the students to improving social interactions between

the various cultures.

In another study conducted by Mertens (11), he argues that supports of students are

recognized and provided to improve academic and social involvement in universal education

classroom and in other broad situations. Contextually well-fit and culturally responsive supports

enable the students to have a sense of interdependence and equity. The supports enable to benefit

from general education curriculum activities. The responsibilities and roles of every school staff

reflect the service and support that enable every learner to partake in and benefit from the general

education curriculum. Research shows that when the students from diverse backgrounds engage

in discussion, they come up with a high-quality solution to a particular problem. According to

Hodge et al, (51), the population is constantly changing and more diversity is expected.

Therefore, it is crucial to research, identify and know approaches to optimally and successfully

control the changes in students from numerous variety of backgrounds.

Enrolling a child in a school with a diverse student background can aid in preparing the

child the kid for citizenship in a multiethnic democracy. Public schools in the US are becoming

more ethnically and culturally diverse country with time. As a result, there is an increase in

demand to look for the most effective approaches in helping every student succeed academically
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and learn to cooperate well with others. Schools should come up with a proactive approach to

promote diversity. In order to create a positive atmosphere in a classroom where teachers and

students respect the various backgrounds, schools need to be proactive (Intxausti et al 23). The

planned classroom activities can highlight diversity. Educators need to structure their teaching so

as to recognize the various viewpoints. Therefore, there is a richness that is created when

students are working together with others who are from different backgrounds.

Description of the project

One of the greatest problems in implementing inclusion and diversity is ensuring the

methods used is effective. Assessing diversity measures is dependent on temporary affective

feeling towards the diversity initiative. It is important to incorporate accountability for teachers

and to do so, diversity should be properly examined. A crucial part of this is to come up with

clear goals concerning a particular program. Establishing both short and long-term goals aid in

determining the effectiveness of diversity and inclusion in class. Also, diversity and inclusion

initiatives should be examined by tracking the student for some time. Therefore, the levels of

students on variables of interests such as feelings of self-confidence and self-efficacy in a

domain, a pursuit of a field, interest in the domain, increase in knowledge and academic

performance should be examined first at a starting point and then tracked longitudinally for some

time. If diversity and inclusion initiatives in class are truly effective, teachers should be capable

of identifying when learners from stigmatized societies are no longer interested in fields and

lower the level of attrition by minorities and women in these fields.

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References

Clark, Christine, and Sonya Douglass Horsford. "Inclusive Leadership and Race." Leadership for

Increasingly Diverse Schools. Routledge, 2015. 84-107.

Hodge, Samuel, Nathan Murata, and Lauren Lieberman. Essentials of teaching adapted physical

education: Diversity, culture, and inclusion. Routledge, 2017.

Intxausti, Nahia, Feli Etxeberria, and Isabel Bartau. "Effective and inclusive schools? Attention

to diversity in highly effective schools in the Autonomous Region of the Basque

Country." International Journal of Inclusive Education 21.1 (2017): 14-30.

Mertens, Donna M. Research and evaluation in education and psychology: Integrating diversity

with quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. Sage publications, 2014.

Siegel, Alana, et al. "Welcoming Parents to Their Child’s School: Practices Supporting Students

With Diverse Needs and Backgrounds." Education and Urban Society (2018):

0013124517747682.

Tharp, Roland. Teaching transformed: Achieving excellence, fairness, inclusion, and harmony.

Routledge, 2018.