A Quasi-Experimental Design To Study The Effect Of Multicultural Coursework And Culturally Diverse Field Placements On Preservice Teachers' Attitudes Toward Diversity

A quasi-experimental study was conducted within the context of the University of North Florida's EXCEL (Excelling in Clinical Education Learning) teacher preparation program to investigate the impact of three types of educational treatment on the attitudes toward diversity of preservice teachers. Data were collected and analyzed based on the pretest/posttest measures of three self-reporting instruments: Cross Cultural-Adaptability Inventory, the Cultural Diversity Awareness Inventory, and the Bogardus Social Distance Scale. The preservice teachers (fi = 208; K-12 regular and special education majors) experienced the following treatments: (1) informal seminar stUdies of multicultural education issues accompanied by a field experience in a non-culturally diverse public school classroom; (2) informal seminar studies of multicultural education issues accompanied by a field experience in a culturally diverse public school classroom; and (3) no seminar studies of multicultural education issues and no field experience in a public school classroom. The weekly on-campus seminars were conducted by four clinical educators (master teachers from neighboring districts on alternative assignments for two years). In addition, with-in group attitudinal differences toward diversity of preservice teachers enrolled in the fieldbased seminars were examined based on variates of field placement, seminar instructor, gender, age, race, educational major, association with culturally different people, and teaching grade level. xii Examination of relationships between groups, based on ANOVA and ANCOVA results at the . 05 level of confidence, reveals the followings: (1) no significant differences were found in attitudes toward diversity of preservice teachers enrolled in the field-based seminars focusing on issues of diversity, but significant differences were found between the control and experimental groups at both the onset and end of the study (experimental group had higher mean scores), (2) significant differences were found within-groups for the demographic variates of seminar instructor, age, race, association with people of diversity, and grade level, (3) significant (although minimal) differences were found in attitudes toward diversity between preservice teachers enrolled in the seminars focusing on issues of cultural diversity as compared to the control group of students not enrolled in the seminars (experimental groups had higher mean scores), (4) no significant differences were found between the experimental groups to support the assumption that field experiences within CUlturally diverse settings have a positive effect on the attitudes of preservice teachers toward diversity, and· (5) although positive significant differences were found between the control and experimental groups following the completion of the multicultural seminars, all three groups remained at the social distance preference level "having merely as a speaking acquaintance" in working with the culturally different as measured on the Bogardus and far below the normed population on the Cross Cultural Adaptability Inventory factor Flexibility/Openness (FO). xiii A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN TO STUDY THE EFFECT OF MULTICULTURAL COURSEWORK AND CULTURALLY DIVERSE FIELD PLACEMENTS ON PRESERVICE TEACHERS' ATTITUDES TOWARD DIVERSITY CHAPTER ONE Overview of the Study Overview This study addresses one of the most fundamental issues presently facing teacher educators: the effective preparation of teachers to meet the educational needs of an increasingly diverse student population (Grant & Secada, 1990; Hodgkinson, 1985; U.S. Bureau of Census, 1992). The quasi-experimental design examined preservice teachers' cross-cultural adaptability, cultural diversity awareness, and social distance through three self-report instruments administered as pretests and posttests to three types of educational treatment implemented during a sixteen-week preinternship experience: (1) an informal study of multicultural education and related concepts in a seminar-based setting accompanied by a field experience in a public school classroom having a high level of cultural diversity among the students, (2) an informal study of multicultural education and related concepts in a seminar-based setting accompanied by a field experience in a public school classroom having a moderate or almost no level of cultural diversity among the students, and (3) no informal study of multicultural education and related concepts in a seminar-based setting and no field experience in a public school classroom. In addition, with-in group attitudinal differences of preservice teachers enrolled in the preinternship teacher education field-based seminar toward diversity were examined based on variates of field placement, seminar instructor, gender, age, race, educational major, association with people different from themselves (e.g., cultural, racial, gender, special needs, reHgious, class and/or sexual preference/orientation), and expected teaching grade level. Sexual orientation/preference was assessed on a social distance scale only. At the request of the school district utilized for field experience, the sexual orientation/preference of public school students was not considered in the definition for culturally diverse field settings due to the unavailability of demographic data for this student difference. Introduction This study is based on the premise that culturally diverse groups enrich the world in which we live and that a better understanding of people and their differences leads to higher levels of acceptance and respect for all people. The research is being undertaken at a time and within a relevant context when demographic projections indicate that the number of CUlturally diverse people in the United States will increase during the 1990s and the 21 st century (Cortes, 1990; United States Bureau of Census, 1990). During the eighties, over twenty-five reports (Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy, 1986; Holmes Group, 1986; National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983)