State Legislation, Provisions and Practices Related to Multicultural Education.

Overview & Synopsis

Two questionnaires elicited information on state provisions and policies related to multicultural education and on multicultural activities in state departments of education in 1977. The data provided a descriptive profile of state education agency (SEA) activities in equal educational opportunities, human or intergroup relations, bilingual education, desegregation, urban education, compensatory education, ethnic studies, teacher certification, and women's studies. Among the findings were that thirty-four states address multicultural education through legislation, regulation, guidelines, or policies. Most states indicated that activities related to multicultural education are undertaken by units that are usually federally supported in the SEA, such as those responsible for equal education opportunity, teacher certification and education, and bilingual education. It was also found that the approach to multicultural education taken by SEAs often excludes people who are not members of specific categories of eligibility while the state provisions focus on teaching about cultural diversity to all students. Three appendices contain the state regulations and policies related to multicultural education and a bibliography of multicultural education resources from the SEAs. (FG)