Cross Case Features: Context

Wadsworth Middle School: School Context

Wadsworth Middle School, which is located in a prosperous residential suburb, serves about 850 students in grades six through eight. The students are predominately white. Asians comprise about six percent of the student population. Wadsworth Middle School is technologically well-equipped. As a result of grants, classrooms have several computers available for student use, allowing for Internet access and links to useful Asia-related web sites that have been bookmarked by the humanities staff.

To serve the number of Asian American students who attend Wadsworth, the library has a representative sample of Asia-related fiction and biographies on hand. Although the librarian has not participated in NCTA and has little awareness of what might be available through NCTA, he is receptive to seeing book lists recommended by NCTA that might strengthen the library’s Asian reference section. One Social Studies team member describes the library’s selections as comparatively weak.