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Showing posts from March, 2013

Deficit Theory versus Intercultural Education

Often times, urban school principals blame the background of the students as the source of the school failure. Instead of being optimistic to find solutions to improve school quality, the principals become so frustrated with the condition they have in the buildings.   Blaming the condition of the school (race: black, Latino or Asian, low social economic status of the students) as an inevitable situation that engenders failure is then called deficit theory (Flessa, 2009).   On the other hand, Gorsky (2008) suggest that every teacher and principal need to adopt intercultural education as the way to see the difference at schools. These two different perspectives of how we deal with the diversity in the schools are very relevant with today’s world, which has no more borders for the countries. In this article, I will discuss: deficit theory, intercultural or multicultural education and what are the connections with my experiences. Deficit Theory             Rosenblum and Travis

Classroom Walkthrough (SBIQ)

            Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC) standard number two asserts that leaders should have the knowledge and ability to promote the success of all students by promoting positive school culture, providing an effective instructional program, applying best practices to student learning, and designing comprehensive professional growth plans for teachers (Whitehead, Boschee, and Decker, 2013).   One approach to address the ELCC standard number two is classroom walkthrough. By doing a classroom walkthrough, a principal should be able to give authentic feedback which is based on evidence. Both positive and negative feedback, as long as they are not judgmental, are very important to improve instructional quality in the classroom. A classroom walkthrough is also important to support the vision of learning of the principals. Therefore, as a future principal, I will try to make use of the instructional rounds by visiting a classroom in Pinecrest Elementary School in East