ABSTRACT
The demographics of the elementary classroom are dramatically shifting in many schools throughout the nation, heightening the expectations of our educational systems to address the needs of students from diverse cultural backgrounds. Educators are realizing the need to help tomorrow’s citizens acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes critical to functioning and interacting with people from varied cultures and backgrounds throughout the world. The Multicultural Literacy Project, a three-year program funded by the Fund for the Improvement and Reform of Schools and Teachers, United States Department of Education, is designed to address the needs of the changing populations of the once monocultural school districts. The emergence of significant and meaningful change in the behaviors and attitudes of students and teachers might be attributed to the staff development model that promotes the acquisition of new skills within the context of the specific school and community, the specific classroom, and the specific concerns of the teachers.
