Deconstructing Deficit Thinking

Abstract

Studies of comprehensive school reform suggest that such efforts often fail because of educators’ unwillingness to examine the root causes of underachievement and of failure among students from low-income and racially or ethnically diverse backgrounds and because of their tendency to locate the problem within students, families, and communities. Drawing on their research and professional development experiences, the authors present a conceptual framework for the deconstruction of deficit thinking through staff development. Next, they discuss assumptions and beliefs about culturally diverse students and families that they have encountered in low performing schools, and they illustrate how such beliefs may be successfully challenged and reframed.

A framework for science classroom assessment task design for emergent bilingual learners

“…However, teachers who work with emergent bilingual learners often maintain views that reflect assumptions that they are not capable of engaging in the same rigorous and challenging learning experiences as their monolingual Englishspeaking peers (Garcia & Guerra, 2004). Often, this manifests in the "basic-skills conspiracy," whereby learners are only provided access to lower-cognitive demand tasks on the assumption they are necessary precursors to more challenging activities (Pearson & Cervetti, 2015).…”

The covert mechanisms of education policy discourse: Unmasking policy insiders’ discourses and discursive strategies in upholding or challenging racism and classism in education

“…This is the verbalized or textual form of deficit thinking, which Valencia (1997aValencia ( , 2010 defines as that which cites perceived internal deficits of working-class students and students of color and their families as the causes of school failure, while not acknowledging structural racism and economic inequity. This common discourse can be found at a variety of levels-from individuals to systems, and from classrooms, to school administration, to research, to national policy (García & Guerra, 2004;Howard, 2013;Jimenez, 2012;Matias & Liou, 2015;Oakes & Rogers, 2006;J. Rogers & Terriquez, 2009;Solórzano & Yosso, 2001;Souto-Manning & M., 2006;Trent, Artiles, & Englert, 1998).…”

Legitimizing the Dilettante: Teach For America and the Allure of Ed Cred

“…The hero teacher is saving students from whatever at-risk circumstance they are in or toward which they are headed. This is associated with the concept of deficit mindset, which foregrounds perceived shortcomings in students and communities as explanations for the problems they face in school (García & Guerra, 2004). A deficit mindset is how empathy, privilege, and paternalism temper the rigor in a participant's notion of competence.…”