Deconstructing Deficit Thinking & Cultures of Poverty

Simons, Herbert D. & Ogbu, John

100

Societal groups minoritized against their will through conquest, colonialism, and enslavement. 

Involuntary (Nonimmigrant/Castelike) Minorities

200

Societal groups that do not interpret their presence in the U.S. as forced upon them and arrived more or less willingly for better opportunities.

Voluntary (Immigrant) Minorities

300

The notion that hard work can warrant success that is often embraced by non-minorities and voluntary minorities who have not internalized the effects of discrimination to the extent that involuntary minorities have. 

The Folk Theory of "Making It"

400

An instructional approach that attempts to close the gap between the students' cultural patterns and the school's institutional requirements. 

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy 

Levinson, Bradley

100

The explanation that low school achievement arises from discontinuities/conflicts in learning styles and communication. 

Cultural Difference 

200

The methodological approach that studies small-scale classroom interactions and conflicts; Ogbu argues that this technique prioritizes practical interventions over basic research. 

Microethnography

300

The idea that schools are transmitting dominant ideologies, attitudes, and skills to students. 

Reproduction Theory

Erickson, Frederick

100

This explanation for low school achievement among minority and working-class students claimed that their respective cultural or language background was inherently inferior, intellectually and morally, to the white middle-class children of a classroom.

General Deficit Explanation

200

Educators claimed that inequity in access to employment over many generations made minorities cynical about their life chances in American society, and utilized this explanation to place the responsibility of school failure outside the school. 

Cultural Deficit Explanation

300

When teachers and students differ in implicit expectations of appropriateness in behavior because of differences in race, ethnicity, and income, both are prone to misinterpret each other. 

Communication Process Explanation

400

School success is not enough to ensure the financial success of involuntary minorities because racism and systemic oppression prevents them from obtaining the same opportunities as white people. 

The Perceived Labor Market Explanation 

Ladson-Billings, Gloria

100

The tendency to blame a student's behavior on their individual beliefs in themselves as opposed to systemic factors. 

The Self-Esteem Problem

200

The catchall euphemism for racial and other minority identities that is used as an explanation for why some students misbehave and cannot achieve success in the classroom.

The Cultural Answer

300

The practice of educators recognizing their own identities so that they are better able to understand the role culture plays in shaping learning experiences. 

Teachers as Cultural Beings