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This article was downloaded by: [University of Cambridge] On: 20 December 2014, At: 03:30 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK The Teacher Educator Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/utte20 Multicultural teacher preparation: A study of teacher migration patterns and certification requirements Caroline Sherritt a a Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction , University of Wyoming , Published online: 20 Jan 2010. To cite this article: Caroline Sherritt (1990) Multicultural teacher preparation: A study of teacher migration patterns and certification requirements, The Teacher Educator, 25:4, 16-21, DOI: 10.1080/08878739009554967 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08878739009554967 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Multicultural teacher preparation: A study of teacher migration patterns and certification requirements

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Page 1: Multicultural teacher preparation: A study of teacher migration patterns and certification requirements

This article was downloaded by: [University of Cambridge]On: 20 December 2014, At: 03:30Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

The Teacher EducatorPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/utte20

Multicultural teacher preparation: A study of teachermigration patterns and certification requirementsCaroline Sherritt aa Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction , University of Wyoming ,Published online: 20 Jan 2010.

To cite this article: Caroline Sherritt (1990) Multicultural teacher preparation: A study of teacher migration patterns andcertification requirements, The Teacher Educator, 25:4, 16-21, DOI: 10.1080/08878739009554967

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08878739009554967

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in thepublications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representationsor warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Anyopinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not theviews of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should beindependently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses,actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoevercaused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematicreproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in anyform to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: Multicultural teacher preparation: A study of teacher migration patterns and certification requirements

MULTICULTURAL TEACHER PREPARATION:A STUDY OF TEACHER MIGRATION PATTERNS

AND CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

Caroline Sherritt

Introduction

Shortly after the turn of the century, four states will have a majorityof "minority" children, and two more states will have close to 50-percentminority enrollment in their public schools. (1) All six states are populous:California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois. Severalother states will approach 20- to 30-percent minority representation inschools. Indeed, several cities and regions now have majority "minority"enrollment. Closely related are trends that indicate that the fastest grow-ing areas in the United States are the Southwest, Southeast, andNortheast, all with significant ethnic concentrations.

There are states where minority populations are not pervasive. Forexample, among other low minority states in the 1987 census, Maine hadfewer than 2 percent minorities, New Hampshire and Minnesota hadfewer than 5 percent, and Nebraska, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Idahohad fewer than 10 percent. These states, with the possible exception ofMassachusetts, are not in geographic areas of rapid growth. The threerapid growth areas all have significant ethnic concentrations and containthree states that employ nearly two hundred thousand teachers each.

These demographics suggest that teacher preparation programs andaccrediting agencies need to address the changing composition ofAmerican student populations. Requiring teachers to have basicmulticultural competence makes a great deal of sense, particularly instates with large numbers of minority students. This article summarizesthe results of a national study that sought answers to three questions:

1. Are state accrediting agencies responding to growing minority enrollmentsby requiring teachers to exhibit some multicultural competence?

2. Are states with large numbers of minorities more likely than states withfew minorities to require multicultural competence for certification?

3. Do teacher migration patterns indicate that teachers from mostlymonocultural states are finding jobs in mostly multicultural states?

Dr. Sherritt is an Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at theUniversity of Wyoming.

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Page 3: Multicultural teacher preparation: A study of teacher migration patterns and certification requirements

Part One: Teacher Migration

A random sample of ten out of twenty states with fewer than 10percent minorities was chosen for a survey. Teacher placement officesin the state university and in one private college or university in eachof the ten states were asked to list the top five states in which theirgraduates receive employment.

With a 55-percent return rate (N = 11), the data indicate thatteachers in states with few minorities are moving to culturally andethnically diverse states for employment. For example, the seven statesmentioned above, i.e., Maine, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Nebraska,Massachusetts, Idaho, and Indiana, all train some teachers who moveto states with large minority populations. Examples of this phenomenonare discussed below. Parenthetical figures represent the percent ofminorities compared to the total population of each state according toa 1987 U. S. Census. Migration data were reported by teacher placementoffices.

Examples of teacher migration• Approximately 4 percent of Nebraska (6 percent) teachers move

to Texas (34 percent) and California (38 percent).• Indiana (10 percent) places 5 percent of its teachers in Texas

(34 percent).• Florida (22 percent) and North Carolina (23 percent) are among

the top five states to employ teachers from Massachusetts(8 percent).

• Some Idaho (7 percent) teachers go to California (38 percent).• New Hampshire (2 percent) and Maine (2 percent) include New

York (28 percent) among the top states employing their teachers.• Minnesota (3 percent) teachers find employment in Florida

(22 percent).

Apparently, states with high population densities and large numbersof minorities are providing jobs for teachers from states with low popula-tion densities and few minorities. Listed below are the numbers ofteachers employed in 1988 by states with more than 20-percent minoritypopulations in 1987.

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Page 4: Multicultural teacher preparation: A study of teacher migration patterns and certification requirements

Total Number of Teachers Employed in 1988by States (and District of Columbia) with Largest Minority Populations

State

District of ColumbiaNew MexicoCaliforniaMississippiTexasLouisianaSouth CarolinaMarylandNew YorkGeorgiaAlabamaArizonaIllinoisNorth CarolinaNew JerseyVirginiaFlorida

Percent of Minorities*

6946383634312928282524232323222222

Teachers (l,000)t

5.615.0

196.526.3

187.243.034.739.6

176.059.436.925.1

101.759.775.560.395.9

Sources:*U. S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, #1019tNEA Estimates of School Statistics 1987-88

Conclusions

States with more than 20 percent minorities employed more thana million teachers in 1988. Several states—for example, California, Texas,Florida, and New York—import significant numbers of teachers fromother places. Since the employing states are in regions that are expectedto continue to grow into the next century, and all four have large minoritypopulations, there will continue to be a need for teachers to work withculturally diverse students. Many teachers who find employment inFlorida, California, Texas, and New York come from states with fewminorities, such as New Hampshire, Idaho, and Maine. In fact, denselypopulated, culturally diverse states and areas hire many teachers fromsparsely populated monocultural states. Are these migration patternssufficient to warrant multicultural teacher preparation in largelymonocultural states, or are culturally diverse states more likely to assumeleadership in training culturally competent teachers? This question is thegenesis for part two of the study.

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Page 5: Multicultural teacher preparation: A study of teacher migration patterns and certification requirements

Part Two: Multicultural Teaching Credentials

States with more than 20 percent and fewer than 10 percentminorities were extracted from 1987 census counts. Ten states wererandomly selected from each group (N = 20), delineated below.

States (and District of Columbia) included with large minoritypopulationsFlorida, California, Arizona, New York, Illinois, District ofColumbia, Georgia, North Carolina, Mississippi, Texas

States included with small minority populationsMaine, New Hampshire, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin,Indiana, Nebraska, Kentucky, Idaho, Utah

Teacher accrediting agencies in the twenty participating states were senta mail questionnaire in October 1989 asking if they have a multiculturalcredential for teacher certification. Sixteen states (80 percent) responded.

Results

The data indicate that multicultural teacher credentials are requiredby seven of sixteen responding state agencies: Utah, Nebraska, Indiana,New Hampshire, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and California. AH but one(California) are states with low numbers of minorities. Thus, anyhypothesis that ethnic diversity induces state accrediting agencies torequire multicultural teacher credentials is probably false. For example,it is not entirely clear why New Hampshire, with 8 percent minorities,should train teachers multiculturally, but Texas, which has 34 percentminorities, does not.

Summary

Global education reform often evolves from grass roots. Teachercertification requirements for multicultural competence reflect this patch-work approach so indigenous to and treasured in American education.However, there is some evidence that what worked for education in thepast has broken down. A desultory and reactive commitment to teachingculturally diverse students may have serious long-range effects becausethere are and will continue to be so many more minorities in publicschools than ever before.

This study indicates that teachers are mobile and that many teachersfrom largely monocultural states are finding employment in multiculturalstates. In addition, it was discovered that states with few minorities aremore inclined than states with large minority populations to requiremulticultural credentials for certification. It is not clear why this should

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Page 6: Multicultural teacher preparation: A study of teacher migration patterns and certification requirements

be so; however, there are several ways in which to inculcate multiculturalawareness, and this study focused exclusively on state accreditation.Below are some examples of multicultural preparation that are not partof state certification requirements.

Examples of Multicultural Teacher Preparation That Are Not Part ofCertification Requirements

• The Far West Laboratory in conjuction with California StateUniversity is developing programs to address the recruitment,retention, and preparation of teachers for diverse studentpopulations. (2)

• Arizona and other states have multicultural requirements forbilingual teachers.

• Minnesota has a human relations course requirement in theteacher education curriculum that may include material on racialminorities.

• Massachusetts has a "standard" for teachers to "avoid anddiscourage racial, sexual, social, ethnic, religious, physical, andother stereotyping." (Commonwealth Bureau of TeacherPreparation Certification and Placement, 1989)

• North Dakota requires prospective teachers to take a class onNorth Dakota's Native American population.

• Teacher education curricula in several universities, includingOhio State, include mandatory multicultural classes.

• Some disciplines, such as special education, are addingmulticultural requirements for teachers within their spheres ofinfluence.

Thus, it cannot be said that because a state has no multiculturalrequirement for teacher certification, teachers in that state are not beingtrained in multicultural competence. However, California alone amongculturally diverse responding states has a multicultural credential forteachers.

Answers to Research Questions

1. Accrediting agencies are responding to the need formulticultural teacher competence. However, efforts to enhancemulticultural skills among teachers are desultory, lacking inpattern and leadership.

2. States with large numbers of minorities appear less inclined thanstates with few minorities to require that teachers have amulticultural credential for certification. Evidence implies thatinstitutional and discipline-based initiatives are developing inthe wake of growing numbers of culturally diverse students.

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Page 7: Multicultural teacher preparation: A study of teacher migration patterns and certification requirements

3. Teachers from largely monocultural states are finding employ-ment in multicultural states, notably New York, California,Texas, and Florida. This trend, and the growth of "majorityminorities" is likely to continue into the next century.

References

1. Hodgkinson, H. The Same Client: The Demographics of Education and ServiceDelivery Systems. Institute for Educational Leadership, Inc., Washington,D. C., 1989.

2. Dash, R. Roundtable Report: Preparing Teachers for Diverse Student Populations.Far West Laboratory, California State University, 1988.

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