An ethnographic study of norms of inclusion and cooperation in a multiethnic middle school

This study used ethnographic methods to examine cultural norms regarding inclusion and cooperation at Banner Middle School, in a western U.S. metropolitan area. Banner's students were predominantly working-class Caucasians and Chicanos. Much middle-school and multicultural educational literature calls for the inclusion of students of diverse abilities and race or ethnicity in school and classroom contexts, and for cooperative rather than competitive norms. There was generally powerful and consistent support at Banner for inclusive and cooperative norms at the sociocultural levels of the school as an institution, peer groups, and parents. Two factors stand out in explaining the high degree of inclusion and cooperation: the strong, effective leadership provided by the principal and the cultural congruity of these norms. This study supports the theoretical compatibility of middle-school and multicultural educational philosophy. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Atlanta, April 1992.