Ethnic Studies/Sociology 499: Cross Cultural Issues in Education - Learning through Listening was an exciting innovative course that used an intensive, five day format to teach students about cross cultural issues in the Oregon pubic school system. We met for approximately fifteen hours each day during our spring break to travel Oregon and conduct a field study. 

What are the causes of disproportionate drop out rates for Latino and African-American youth in the Oregon public school system?

Through ES/SOC 499 I learned lots about many aspects of the educational crisis in Oregon. Many themes were explored, including bilingual education, climate, multicultural education, and communication between schools and communities. On this site, you will learn more about bilingual education and gain access to resources from many folks on in the Internet. 

To answer this, we interviewed lots of stakeholders in this educational crisis. Truly, the drop out rate is a crisis, in that every year 10,000 Oregon high school students decide to quit school. And a vast majority of these students are those of minorities and lower classes.

  • Legislators 
  • DOE Administrators 
  • Principals 
  • Teachers 
  • Parents 
  • Students 
We found through our discussions and interviews that the problem really came down to four core issues.
  • Community 
    • Parent/Teacher Relations 
    • Outreach programs, including "Books and Families." 
  • Communication 
    • Parent/Teacher Communication 
    • Stakeholder Collaboration 
  • Connectivity 
    • Active Listening 
    • Teaching "Work Ethic" 
  • Cirriculum 
    • Bilingual Education 
    • Push to raise standards and equalize benchmarks. 
    • Cultural Competency 

ED/Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs (OBEMLA)
National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education
Center for Applied Linguistics - Bilingual Education
National Association for Bilingual Education