Teaching for minority student retention is one of the most critical and challenging issues facing faculty and TA's today. It requires that those educators who are committed to teaching excellence become sensitive to the needs and experiences of a range of persons with widely different ethnic, cultural, and social histories.

Based on the review of literature in the field, the following are recommendations that can be adopted by faculty and TA's committed to improving the educational development of minority students:

• Create a learning environment in which minority students are encouraged to participate in class discussions and a variety of learning activities Avoid, however, calling on minority students to serve as "experts" on minority issues.

• Welcome differences in communication styles.

• Expand the definition of "good teaching so that it is defined by such attributes as caring, mentoring, sensitivity to cultural differences, and high expectations for all students, in addition to knowledge of subject matter.

• Create a non-threatening social environment in which problematic overt and covert behaviors are not tolerated, whether this includes racial slurs and jokes, or other forms of insensitive language and nonverbal behavior.

• Bridge the educational gap, i.e., provide under-prepared students with opportunities for academic success through extended classes, tutoring, learning laboratories, study groups, and strong advising.

• Get to know students as individuals; avoid making overgeneralizations about students' backgrounds, abilities, and preparation levels.

• Recognize the legitimacy of variations in students' preferred learning styles. Provide students with options for receiving and processing information that reflect students' preferred learning styles.

• Provide students with honest feedback, both positive and negative, early and frequently, both in class and outside the classroom

• Design courses so that the contributions of minority scholars to the discipline are an integral part of the course content. Examine basic assumptions for discriminatory biases, thus expanding the repertoire of world views, creating new paradigms, and bringing a richer conceptualization to the discipline.

• Encourage the success of minority students by welcoming meetings outside class, providing them with good advising, recruiting them as majors, and nominating them for awards or other opportunities.
To implement these strategies and skills for effectively teaching a diverse student population, faculty and TA's will want to prepare themselves by

• Obtaining a sound understanding of not only the learning styles associated with various minority students but by becoming more aware of biases in instructional materials. These ethnically biased representations perpetuate discrimination through the inclusion of racially offensive material as well as the omission of important references to contributions of minorities to the discipline.

• Learning about the history and culture of minority groups and researching the contributions of minorities to the disciplines.

• Caring about the developmental welfare of minority students and working to uncover and release personal biases that prevent effective teaching. These, perhaps, will present the greatest challenge to faculty and TA's, yet the achievement of both can yield the greatest personal reward.
The dedication that teaching for minority student retention demands and the determination to do whatever it takes to enable minority students to success-whether this involves improving faculty-student relationships in and out of class, expanding course designs to reflect contributions of all cultures to the disciplines and social conditions, creating learning environments in which all students feel respected by peers and teachers-empowers both students and educators to maximize their potential and, thus, make significant contributions to the society of today and the one that is yet to come with all its demographic changes. The caring, conscientious educator will embrace this challenge, seek whatever support is necessary to meet it, and, together with students, soar.

References

American Council on Education. (1988). Handbook on minority participation in higher education. Washington, DC: ACE.

American Council on Education and Education Commission of the States. (1988). One-third of a nation: A report of the commission on minority participation in education and American life. Washington, DC and Denver, CO: ACE and ECS. ED 297 057.

Anderson, J. A. (1988). Cognitive styles and multicultural populations. Journal of Teacher Education, 390), 2-9.

Astin, A. (1975). Preventing students from dropping out. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Banks, J. A. (1988). Multiethnic education: Theory and practice. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
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Chism, N. V., Cano, J., & Pruitt, A. S. (Forthcoming). Teaching in a diverse environment. New Directions for Teaching and Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Green, M. F. (Ed.). (1988). Minorities on campus: A handbook for enhancing diversity. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.

Hilliard, A. G. (1989). Teachers and cultural styles in a pluralistic society. NEA Today. Washington, DC: National Education Association.

Kuroiwa, P. (1975). The "invisible" students. Momentum, 63, 34-36

Mingle, James R. (1987). Focus on minorities. Trends in higher education participation and success. A joint publication of the Higher Education Executive Officers. Denver, CO: ECS and SHEEO. ED 287 404.

Pemberton, G. (1988). On teaching the minority student: Problems and strategies. Brunswick, ME: Bowdoin College.

Sedlacek, W. E. (1983). Teaching minority students: In J. H. Cones, J. F. Noonan, & D. Janha (Eds.), Teaching Minority Students. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no 16. San Francisco: JosseyBass.

"Race Consciousness and Race Blindness" (from the Affirmative Action and Diversity Project site)

"Diversity at UCSB" (from Kiosk, the UCSB Student Handbook)