Diversity Preparedness in Teacher Education

Kappa Delta Pi Record, Winter 2005 by Sobel, Donna M, Taylor, Sheryl V

To ensure that there is a quality teacher in every U.S. classroom, per one of the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act, many highly qualified teachers are needed. The need is great for teachers to teach students on both sides of the achievement gap-mainstream English-speaking students and cultural, language, and racial minorities (Tharp 2004). How best to prepare those teachers remains the topic of ongoing and resounding debate (Lanier etal. 1995).

Preservice and in-service teachers are being asked to teach in ways they were not taught in their teacher education programs, to learners who often are unfamiliar to them, in classroom contexts that are outside their experiential realm. In fact, many preservice teachers face the probability of teaching in schools where their experiential, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds may differ from those of their students (Zeichner 1993). In a recent study, 80 percent of teachers polled reported feeling ill-equipped to teach diverse populations (Futrell, Gomez, and Bedden 2003).

To address this problem and others, Professional Development School (PDS) initiatives have been working since the 1990s to transform teacher education. Collaborative professional relationships between universities and school district partners have created dynamic, complex, and comprehensive training grounds for preservice teachers (Clark 1999; Epanchin and Colucci 2002; Ginsberg and Rhodes 2003; Goodlad 1991; Lanier et al. 1995). PDS-based teacher education emphasizes placing student teachers in schools with diverse student populations and providing coursework that focuses on multicultural education and diversity issues. It is imperative that the costs and benefits of university-school PDS programs to initial teacher education students be evaluated (Sleeter 2001). How well are PDS programs doing to prepare teachers for meeting the needs of all students?

Indications suggest that, even in PDS-based teacher education programs, multicultural coursework can lack depth and take a "music appreciation" approach to diversity (Abdal-Haqq 1999). Though promoting acceptance, tolerance, and respect for diversity are commendable goals, multicultural coursework in general can stop short of affirming one's own and others' diversity (Nieto 2000).

Regardless of the program, to what extent can coursework and field experience prompt preservice teachers to examine and analyze their own underlying assumptions about how schools are structured and how these structures support societal inequities? This foundational understanding of how and why marginalized and disenfranchised students are vulnerable within school and societal structures is essential for teachers. Teachers must possess this understanding before they can work toward the core PDS goal that preservice teachers ultimately advocate both for the elimination of societal inequities as well as deliver effective inclusive instruction that informs and empowers students (Goodlad 1991; Lipman 1997). Clearly, the body of evidence must be augmented regarding PDS-designed teacher education relevant to the preparation of preservice teachers for meeting the needs of all learners and examining school structures and societal inequalities.

The Study

Taylor and Sobel (2001, 2002, 2003; Sobel et al. 2002) examined preservice teachers' feedback about teacher education curriculum and pedagogy grounded in PDS design. Their study was part of an in-depth longitudinal investigation focused on researching preservice teachers' beliefs and behaviors relevant to addressing the needs of students whose backgrounds and abilities differ from their own. The study was set within the School of Education at the University of Colorado at Denver-an urban teacher education program that reflects an urban mission to ensure that new teachers are skilled in working with diverse populations (Guyton and Byrd 2000). The program, which has as its theme "Teacher Leaders for Tomorrow's Schools," aims to prepare teachers to assume leadership roles and act as change agents. This program has become a model of instructional and learning excellence within a professional development school design.

The researchers asked preservice teachers the following questions:

* What elements of the teacher education curriculum and pedagogy affected your knowledge and understanding related to multicultural, multilingual, and inclusive classroom contexts?

* What elements affected your knowledge and understanding of how to provide effective instruction in these classroom contexts?

The 62 preservice teachers participating in this yearlong study were predominantly European-American, monolingual English, female, raised in middle to upper middle class backgrounds, with an average age of 30.5 (Taylor and Sobel 2001). As nontraditional and older students, more than half of the preservice teachers had worked as trained professionals in nonteaching careers before applying to the post-baccalaureate teacher education program. Subjects responded to the preceding open-ended questions, which then were analyzed using interpretative content analysis (Baxter 1991; Krippendorff 1980), a systematic approach for examining text and identifying common, central themes in the data.