Using Multicultural Children's Literature to Leverage Student Cultural Competence and Promote Social Justice

Abstract

According to a National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) report, the total enrollment of minority groups in public elementary and secondary schools reached 52%, and 48% of school students were White/European American. The percentage of children attending school who are White is projected to continue decreasing, whereas each minority ethnic group is projected to continue increasing. Therefore, since schools are becoming much more culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD), educators need to not only learn about the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of all their learners but also strive to provide curricula that can mirror their diverse cultural and linguistic environments. As classroom teachers encounter CLD students, several scholars advocate using multicultural literature in the classroom. Yet, despite the merits of multicultural literature, books about CLD children are seldom available and rarely used in the United States school curriculum.