Education and Family Diversity

Family diversity refers to the vastly differentiated forms of family that characterize present-day U.S. society and its schools. These differences are recognized in two ways: the structures of families and the attributes of family members. Family diversity based on diverse family structures may include children living with and being raised by grandparents or other relatives, by two mothers or two fathers, by single parents, or by foster and adoptive parents, as well as families blended through new partnerships and remarriage. Family diversity based on the diverse attributes of family members is more akin to dimensions of multiculturalism and may include race, ethnicity, language, religion, sexual orientation, age, and other factors. These dimensions may be varied within individual families, making them inherently heterogeneous where homogeneity is ...