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The Civil Rights Act becomes law
This law gave all people the right to live their lives normally without segregation or discrimination. People could no longer keep children or adults out of a classroom for prejudices against things they could not control such as color, sex or religion. This law has lead to our classrooms become more multicultural and diverse by enabling children of all backgrounds to receive an equal education side by side. -
Project Head Start
Head start gave children from families living at low income or poverty levels the ability to begin their education in preschool. The program works with diverse groups of children with all different backgrounds and abilities leading to a more multicultural and diverse classroom. -
Immigration Act of 1965, also known as the Hart-Cellar Act
This act disregarded the national origins formula and because of that large numbers of Asian and and Latin Americans began immigrated to the United States. Larger numbers of these immigrants meant more children in schools being from those countries which lead to a more diverse classroom. -
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 becomes law.
This law prohibits discrimination against someone because of their sex in education. It gave girls the same opportunity in the classroom and in school activities, such as sports, as boys had. -
The Rehabilitation Act becomes law.
Section 504 of this act guaranteed that publicly funded schools must accommodate a person with a disability through use of facilities including buildings and participation in different programs. It gave civil rights to a disabled person who does not qualify for special education or an IEP when it came to an education, allowing that person to participate in a general education classroom with a 504 plan. -
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990
This act increased the annual number of immigrants to the United States to 700,000 people. This, in turn, increased the number of multicultural children in the classroom. -
The Improving America's Schools Act (IASA) is signed into law by President Bill Clinton
This act reauthorizes the ESEA act of 1965, which was put into place partially to provide equal education nationally. This revision in 1994 increased the funding for bilingual and emigrant education, providing more resources for children living in poverty, English language learners, and neglected children within the classroom. -
James Banks' book, Multicultural Education: Transformative Knowledge and Action
This book is an important contribution to the topic of multiculturalism in the classroom. Teachers are students, with more information coming out about topics such as multiculturalism in the classroom teachers are better able to teach about and in a multicultural classroom. -
Minority students enrolled in K-12 public school classrooms outnumber non-Hispanic Caucasians
This milestone shows that multiculturalism in the classroom, based both on the diversity of students as well as the way multiculturalism is taught, is more important than ever. Teaching children with diverse backgrounds and understanding how to create a curriculum based on the needs and education of all children within a classroom is something important for all teachers this demographic milestone proves just that. -
Federal government tells school districts "to allow transgender students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity."
Though this was never law, the government was beginning to take a stand on the discrimination of a group of people whose voices are beginning to be heard. Just when we think everyone is accounted for and is being treated equally across the board in life and in schools, there are still people out there who are not. Teaching multiculturalism in a classroom and having a diverse student body leads to better understanding and acceptance leading to a future where discrimination is no longer a topic.
