| Until recently, diversity in education was measured quantitatively. A school's success in embracing diversity was based upon the numerical breakdown of a student body along racial, ethnic, and socio-economic lines. However, diversity can also be reflected in terms of the culture of a school and the multicultural environment of an educational community. Patrick Bassett, president of the National Association of Independent schools (NAIS), argues that independent schools should scrutinize how well their community embraces and supports the unique backgrounds of the students they admit and educate. In doing so, each school must chart its own course, ensuring that the community reflects the school's individualized mission and core values.; This study investigates the environmental and cultural factors that impact a student of color's sense of belonging in a predominantly white college preparatory school community. Among the challenges defined and explored in this study are issues of institutionalized racism, oppositional identity, internalized oppression, and self-exclusion. Designed as a case study of Sunnyside School, the study presents the school's leaders with a tangible vision of Sunnyside as a more inclusive community and with realistic implementation suggestions to attain that vision. Further, the study can serve as a model of how an independent school can utilize interested community members to both understand the current climate on campus and to create a list of potential steps the school could take to improve that climate.; Study findings indicate that there are four distinct areas in which a school can have an impact on the sense of community felt by students from a wide range of backgrounds. The four major conclusions drawn by this study are: a solid orientation to the school community and its social and academic norms is invaluable; the framework and expectations of a school's academic arena form the foundation of a student's experience; students who participate in school activities outside of the school's academic arena are more likely to feel a sense of belonging; the leadership of a school must lead any effort to create a culture that supports a sense of belonging in a school. |
