An appraisal of the multicultural educational environment at an urban community college setting as perceived by students

The purpose of this study was to survey perceptions of students about the provision and importance of a multicultural education environment related to five key education components: curriculum and instruction, student activities, staffing, student support services, and the general college educational environment at an urban community college. Students' expectations, aspirations, and educational tasks can easily be frustrated unless the educational environment is supportive and addresses conflicts between institutional and students' personal priorities. One of the primary roles of an educational institution is to intervene in situations which limit the learning potential of students. The question is whether student's cultural background enhances or inhibits the individual's personal and or school achievement. Viewing the importance and provision of a multicultural education environment as indicators of a positive and symbiotic relationship between the student and the institution, the overall objective of this study was to describe and assess the multicultural education environment through student perspectives.;The results revealed that the majority of the students perceived that a multicultural education environment was provided. Results further indicated that the majority of the students supported the importance of a multicultural education environment. Community colleges may be unaware of the potential difficulties that students from diverse cultural backgrounds face. Students in this study generally recognized the importance of a multicultural education environment, suggesting that the community college should adopt multicultural education policies and practices.;The study examined eight research questions accomplished by answering the Multicultural Education Environment Quotient (MEEQ) instrument developed to measure two scales; provision and importance. The MEEQ was administered to a random sample of seventy-five (n= 75) students from a population of two hundred and sixty four (N= 264) students enrolled in the Social and Behavioral Science Division at the Kansas City Kansas Community College during the Summer of 1995. Data analyses included testing the reliability of the multicultural education environment sub-scales; pearson correlation of age with the provision and importance of the multicultural education environment; sample subdivision by cultural setting; and a series of ANOVA's to test for differences on scale scores between ethnic groups, males and females, and cultural setting.