Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Department

History

Additional Departmental Affiliation

Educational Administration, Leadership, and Research

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Public educators have a great deal of responsibility to their students. In Kentucky one of their greatest responsibilities comes in the form of preparation for standardized testing. Teachers scrutinize Kentucky's Core Content for Assessment and Programs of Studies, basin their instruction for the year on these two documents. While these two documents set the standards for instruction many other units are implemented throughout the school year. The purpose of this study was to discover the content of such units, specifically those dealing with the Civil Rights Movement. Middle school Social Studies teachers in different geographic regions of the state were interviewed and asked to describe teaching practices and content. Based on research conducted in this project it is obvious that multiculturalism and diversity education, in terms of relation with civil rights and the Civil Rights Movement, has much room for improvement in Kentucky's middle school social studies classrooms. Teachers have had vary little training on how to incorporate multiculturalism into their curriculum and often personal and intellectual biases keep them from successfully doing so. This study also raises a great deal of questions about Hispanic students, who, many educators said, live in white communities that grow increasingly hostile towards them.

Advisor(s) or Committee Chair

Dr. Patricia Minter

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences

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