diversity+definition+edits

Draft in progress

=Criteria for Diversity Placement for Middle and Secondary Education=


 * A diversity placement is required in one thirty-hour pre-practicum experiences (eg, in Education Evaluation and Planning or Methods of Teaching History) OR the practicum.

Definition of Diversity

 * A diversity placement is defined as a school whose demographic profile includes a specified (*see categories below) percentage of students of color (African American, Asian, Latino, Native American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Biracial/Multiracial), first language not English, limited English proficient learners, or low income students. The categories selected are used by the Massachusetts Department of Education for its demographics.

Categories
Schools or classrooms identified as meeting the diversity requirement were selected based on the following:
 * Category I: Schools with 40% or more students of color
 * Category II: Schools which meet at least two of the three following descriptors: minimum of 30% students of color, minimum of 30% first language not English, minimum of 23% students with limited English proficiency, minimum of 50% low income
 * Category III: Special Circumstance (excise this word?) - consider percentages in relation to the statewide averages? Here we might also explain further the classroom within a school? There are schools with a high percentage of low-income and with a high/low percentage of ELL students as well as a low percentage of students of color. We believe that although these schools do not meet Category I-II, they offer an important learning experience for our teacher candidates. Therefore these schools could be used as fulfillment of the diversity requirement. __Special Circumstance can be granted by the Chair of the Education Department or the Coordinator of Secondary Education__.

Schools that meet the diversity requirement:
Springfield - Chestnut Middle School, Forest Park Middle School, John Duggan Middle School, John Kennedy Middle School, Van Sickle Middle School; Central High School, High School of Commerce, High School of Science and Technology, Putnam Vocational High School

Holyoke - Lynch, Peck, E.N. White, Morgan; Holyoke High School, William Dean Technical and Vocational High School

Chicopee - Bellamy Middle School (Special Circumstance)