A multicultural curriculum for educational equity: Montclair high school, (U.S. 1983–1990)

Abstract

This chapter describes the steps one high school English Department in the United States took to create and implement a multicultural world literature course and to dismantle the hegemonic and unequal system of ability grouping that tracked ninth grade students into leveled classes. It begins with an overview of United States schooling touching on the Civil Rights Movement and its connection to educational equity. It then focuses in on Montclair, New Jersey, a suburban metropolitan community outside New York and highlights a single department’s efforts and a community’s commitment to bring about racial justice through curriculum change. The author highlights the specific processes and the personal re-education that all stakeholders shared in bringing about equity and excellence. Specific examples give the reader an understanding of how pedagogy, content and structural change work in tandem to bring about social justice.