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The influence of a multiculturalteacher education program onteachers’ multicultural practicesKezia McNeal aa Georgia State University , USAPublished online: 21 Aug 2006.
To cite this article: Kezia McNeal (2005) The influence of a multicultural teacher educationprogram on teachers’ multicultural practices, Intercultural Education, 16:4, 405-419, DOI:10.1080/14675980500304405
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Intercultural Education,Vol. 16, No. 4, October 2005, pp. 405–419
ISSN 1467-5986 (print)/ISSN 1469-8439 (online)/05/040405–15© 2005 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/14675980500304405
The influence of a multicultural teacher education program on teachers’ multicultural practices
Kezia McNeal*Georgia State University, USATaylor and Francis LtdCEJI_A_130423.sgm10.1080/14675980500304405Intercultural Education1467-5986 (print)/1469-8439 (online)Original Article2005Taylor & Francis164000000October 2005KeziaMcNealCollege of Education, Room 638Georgia State UniversityCollege of Education Building, 30 Pryor StreetAtlantaGA [email protected]
This study examined the multicultural classroom practices of two novice secondary English teach-ers employed by the same US school district that serves a diverse student population. Findingsindicated a high level of consistency between the teachers’ intended multicultural practices andtheir implemented practices. Based on classroom observations, both teachers implemented thegeneral multicultural practices of critical pedagogy, real life application, student choice, multicul-tural literature, individual student attention, cultural physical adaptation, active learning and coop-erative grouping. The factors supporting multicultural infusion were the teachers’ previousexperiences with diverse populations, the teachers’ own previous meaningful high school experi-ences and the teachers’ backgrounds that were similar to their students. The impeding factors werethe structure of the school, time constraints, racism and tracking.
Introduction
The increasing cultural diversity of the student population in the United States hascreated an urgent need for teacher education programs to effectively prepare cultur-ally responsive teachers who are capable of facilitating the academic success ofdiverse learners (Gay 1997; Grant & Wieczorek, 2000). While the cultural diversityof the student population is increasing, that same kind of diversity within the teacherpopulation is decreasing (Snyder & Hoffman, 2002). This cultural gap betweenstudents and teachers seems to have more profound academic and social implica-tions for ethnically and culturally diverse students (Irvine, 1990; Ladson-Billings,2000). Multicultural education scholars have consistently called for authentic inte-gration of multicultural principles and practices into teacher education programs(Banks, 1997; Bennett, 1999). Numerous educators and professional education
*Room 638, College of Education Building, 30 Pryor Street, Georgia State University, Atlanta,GA 30303-3083, USA. Email: [email protected]
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organizations support the movement to require teacher education programs toinclude multicultural education as an integral part of their programs (Grant, 1994;Gay & Howard, 2000; Banks et al., 2001).
As a result of this movement, many teacher education programs have begun toalign their programs with multicultural educational theories and goals outlined byexperts in the field because research suggests that teachers prepared in a multicul-tural teacher education program (MTEP) are more capable of teaching diversestudents than teachers who do not receive such preparation (Grant, 1981; Gonzalez& Picciano, 1993; Cwick et al., 2001). In these multicultural programs, teachersbecome knowledgeable about multicultural principles and are provided with signifi-cant knowledge of and experiences with students from diverse cultures and back-grounds.
Research is limited on the continuing effects of an MTEP on teachers’ beliefs andpractices after a significant amount of time has elapsed since the completion of sucha program (Grant, 1994; Sleeter, 2001). Even less is known about the influence of aMTEP in the content areas. The larger study from which this article stems wasdesigned to investigate specific features of a multicultural preservice program thatsignificantly developed the pedagogy of teachers. Specifically, this article focuses onthe multicultural classroom practices of two novice secondary English teachers whograduated from a nationally accredited multicultural teacher education program inthe southeastern region of the United States. The research questions guiding thisstudy were:
1. How are novice secondary English teachers’ intended beliefs about multiculturaleducation reflected in their classroom practices?
2. How do novice secondary English teachers’ multicultural practices reflect theirteacher preparation in a multicultural teacher education program (MTEP)?
3. What factors do novice secondary English teachers identify as impediments andsupports to infusing multicultural education into their classroom practices?
Past studies
A review of relevant literature on the influence of a MTEP can be divided into twocategories: (a) essential elements of an MTEP; and (b) evidence of the influence ofMTEP components on teachers’ multicultural classroom practices. Literature thatdetails the essential elements is necessary in an effort to better understand whatconstitutes an authentic MTEP. Likewise, literature, although limited, that providesevidence of an MTEP influencing teachers’ multicultural practices is helpful inunderstanding the varying degrees of influence of an MTEP.
Essential elements of a MTEP
The theoretical integration of multicultural education (Banks, 1997) and teachereducation (Goodlad, 1990) provides a strong foundation upon which teacher
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educators can build a successful MTEP (Hicks & Monroe, 1984; Fox & Gay, 1995;Banks et al., 2001). Many multicultural education experts have done extensive workon developing guidelines for restructuring teacher education programs to becomeMTEPs (Banks, 1989; Sleeter, 2001; Vavrus, 2002). In particular, after severalmonths of independent research, which culminated in a three-day symposium,Zeichner et al. (1998) developed a set of guidelines to assist educators in structuringa multicultural teacher education program. The guidelines consist of three overarch-ing categories that are further subdivided into principles that address specific areas.The categories are (a) institutional and programmatic principles; (b) personnelprinciples; and (c) curriculum and instruction principles.
The three principles in the institutional and programmatic category address theMTEP holistically. Relevant literature supporting the need for the mission statementof the institution as well as policies and procedures to reflect diversity provides thefoundation for this category. Essentially, the principles in this category challengeMTEP coordinators to ensure that institutions housing MTEPs understand theimportance of the larger institution reflecting multicultural education principles inaddition to being committed to the success of their MTEP in promoting educationfor diversity. An example of one such principle is that the teacher education programitself demonstrates a real-life example of multicultural education. An MTEP thatdoes not support the activity of preservice teachers in causes for social justice wouldbe inconsistent with this principle.
The two principles in the personnel category address the recommended character-istics of both faculty and students in an MTEP. The attitudes, dispositions and abil-ities of the individuals involved in an MTEP should not only be of a high academicnature, but should indicate an understanding of and/or openness to a multiculturalorientation in education. An example of a personnel principle is that admissionsrequirements should include a combination of multicultural and academic criteria.Under this principle, a nontraditional university student who had lived in anothercountry for a period of time and who had evidenced above-average academic perfor-mance would be an ideal candidate.
Finally, the third category, addresses the curricular and instructional issues ofdeveloping an MTEP. For all intents and purposes, the nine principles in this cate-gory are the most critical because they define the types of actual classroom practicesthat directly affect students. These principles provide unambiguous direction forwhat should be included in the curriculum and how instruction should proceed. Anexample of the curriculum and instruction principles is that the MTEP fosters theunderstanding that all students at the primary and secondary levels bring knowledge,skills and experiences to the classroom that should be used as resources in teachingand learning with high expectations. In a classroom that exemplifies this principle, ascience teacher would capitalize on the knowledge of a student from a rural area whois familiar with agriculture to validate his/her knowledge and extend the knowledgeof the other students in the class.
These 14 principles present a thorough foundation for establishing an effectiveMTEP. The ways in which MTEPs implement these principles undoubtedly varies.
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However, in order for a teacher education program to be considered an authenticMTEP, the variation should be in degree not in essence. Although not the onlyprinciples for structuring a MTEP, these particular principles have been developedwith scientific rigor by noted multicultural educators. Therefore, the use of theseprinciples to structure and evaluate a MTEP is warranted.
Evidence of the influence of MTEP components on teachers’ multicultural classroom practices
The understood goal of any MTEP is to prepare preservice teachers to becomeinservice teachers with a strong multicultural orientation, who are capable of facili-tating the successful academic instruction of diverse students. The majority of therelevant literature focuses on how an MTEP influences preservice teachers duringtheir tenure as students (Barry & Lechner, 1995; Olmedo, 1997; Peterson et al.,2000). The evidence indicates primarily positive results, especially in terms ofpreservice teachers’ increased favorable attitudes towards understanding and teach-ing diverse students. Most of the studies examined preservice teachers’ attitudesboth before and after they had taken a course on diversity or had been involved infield experiences in which they had to interact with diverse students. Theapproaches that many of the teacher educators took to address diversity issuesvaried from aggressive to nonaggressive. For example, upon enrolling in an earlychildhood course on diversity, 23 university students were administered a ques-tionnaire that addressed their understanding of multicultural issues. Upon comple-tion of the course, the students were administered the same questionnaire and themean score for the majority of the questions increased from 2, which indicated‘some knowledge’ to 3, ‘very knowledgeable’ (Morales, 2000). The literaturereviewed showed that MTEPs that are generally aligned with the previously exam-ined essential elements of a MTEP do positively influence preservice teachers.However, the research is extremely limited in examining the long-term influence ofan MTEP on inservice teachers and their instructional behaviors with a diversestudent population.
Methodology
This study was a qualitative case study based on the Merriam (1998) model. Thismulti-site case study was an effort to probe the kinds of interactions and activitiesthat took place inside two secondary English classrooms and to describe and analyzethoroughly these classroom events as they related to multicultural education.Because of the very specific aims of this research which were to investigate novice,secondary, English teachers who completed an MTEP within a particular timeframe and who taught in the same school district with similar student populationsand curriculum, I only selected two teachers.
The participants were selected using a ‘purposeful sampling strategy’ (Merriam,1998) and were two novice secondary English teachers who graduated four years
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earlier from a nationally certified urban education MTEP located within the South-east region. Each successfully completed a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT)program with a content area focus in English language arts. Both teachers were inthe same cohort group and entered the program several years after completing theirundergraduate degrees and working in other fields. At the time of the study, eachteacher was at the beginning of her fourth year of teaching secondary English. Theytaught English in two different high schools within the same district. Both partici-pants were in their early thirties. Juanita Court is African American and is a native ofthe metropolitan area in which the study took place. All of her elementary andsecondary education was completed in private and Christian schools. Her under-graduate and Masters studies were in the areas of East Asian Studies and Businessrespectively. Darcy Matthews is Caucasian and is originally from a metropolitannortheastern city. She attended elementary and secondary schools in three differentstates. Her undergraduate work was in Performance Studies.
Data for this study were collected through: (a) in-depth semi-structured inter-views; (b) observations of 16 class sessions at three different grade levels; (c) lessonplanning materials; (d) philosophy of teaching statements from the exit portfolio ofeach teacher during her MAT program; and (e) electronic mail interviews.
Results
Based on the data from both teachers, they indicated that they implemented sixmulticultural practices in common, as well as one unique practice for each teacher.The common multicultural practices were multicultural literature, active learning,real life application, student choice, individual attention and critical pedagogy. Theunique multicultural practices intended by the teachers were the use of culturalphysical adaptation and cooperative grouping. The literature on multiculturaleducation supports these and other particular practices as effective for all students.However, for diverse students, these practices are especially effective in helping themto succeed academically. Further, although these practices seem appropriate forstandard use with diverse students, unfortunately evidence does not support theirwidespread usage (Irvine, 1990; Bennett, 1999; Ladson-Billings, 2000).
The primary basis for determining whether or not the teachers implemented bothgeneral and content specific multicultural practices was comparing what the teachersreported to what I observed. The data supporting each teacher’s multicultural prac-tices was often applicable to more than one category of practice as well as deter-mined by one or more data sources. For the sake of clarity, I described the clearestexamples of the practices of each teacher. Table 1 provides a summary of bothteachers’ implemented general multicultural practices.
During the four days of observations, Darcy’s advanced ninth grade class wascovering the short story unit of their anthology. The advanced eleventh grade classwas covering traditionally significant pieces of the literature of the United States.Darcy demonstrated some level of implementation of all eight multicultural prac-tices. However, on three days, five of the practices, including active learning, student
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choice, critical pedagogy, real-life application and cooperative grouping appeared tobe the ones that took place most frequently. The practices that were observed lessfrequently were cultural physical adaptations and assisting students individually. Inmost instances, the integration of two or more of the general practices was apparent.I did not observe use of multicultural literature, although data from interviews andlesson planning materials suggested that Darcy did implement it.
Overwhelmingly, active learning appeared to be Darcy’s dominant multiculturalpractice. For example, students in the ninth-grade class were responsible forperforming their adaptation of a short story from their anthology. The students hadto communicate effectively the main point of the story and the significant literaryfeatures such as metaphor and personification. Students in the eleventh-grade classwere to present a short story and were required to include ‘dramatic flair’ whichcould be musical, dramatic, visual, physical or other. The purpose of these presenta-tions was for the group to provide enough information about each of the stories sothat the other students could decide if the particular story being presented would betheir second choice of story to read. For example, the second group (composed oftwo White females, one Asian female and one White male) acted out a scene from astory in which the main character was daydreaming about being a military pilottrying to fly his crew through a major ice storm to safety. Based on the students’performance, other students who had not read the story could decide if they wantedto read it.
Critical pedagogy, primarily by means of critical literacy, was also a frequentlyused multicultural practice. On numerous occasions, while discussing particularliterature selections, Darcy would ask the students to deconstruct the texts andexamine the assumed cultural and political power structures found within them. Forexample in the ninth-grade class, during the discussion of a short story in which amiddle-class Parisian woman borrows what she thought was an expensive necklacefrom a friend to impress people at a party and subsequently loses the necklace andends up in financial and social ruin, Darcy asked her students how many of them
Table 1. Summary of general multicultural practices implemented
Darcy Juanita
General practices:Multicultural literature NO OActive learning O OStudent choice O OCritical pedagogy O OReal-life application O OCultural physical adaptations O OCooperative grouping O NOIndividual attention O O
Note: O = observed; NO = not observed.
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would consider themselves middle class. From there, she asked them to think aboutwhy the expectations for certain classes exist and how they would universally definethe ‘American dream’. She said, ‘It’s [the question is] more about considering whatthis kind of system can do to a person to create the story that makes up our lives’.
Real-life application of class material was also another multicultural practice thatDarcy often used. A significant theme she expressed throughout the multiple inter-views was her earnest desire to make sure the students could use what they werelearning in class. One of the ways that Darcy encouraged real-life application was bymaking direct connections between the situations found within the literature andthe students’ experiences. For example, during the discussion of a short story in theninth-grade class, many students shared their stories about sibling rivalry and thecommon conflicts that occur between siblings even though they are family and loveone another. During the discussion, Darcy said, ‘… certainly any of you with siblingsor cousins can understand the wanting of a younger person to do things your way.Have you ever had … a little brother that wanted to go [with you] so bad, you justhad to say no?’ One student replied, ‘I’m that little brother’, which, in turn, moti-vated other students to tell about their experiences.
For Darcy, the multicultural practices of cooperative grouping and student choicewere most often embedded within the active learning opportunities. The multiplepresentations that were required of both class levels were done in cooperativegroups. In Darcy’s lesson planning material, which provided students with thedescriptions and due dates of the assignments, she outlined the group formationrequirements. She wrote, ‘Divide into groups of four. Make groups diverse alonglines of gender, race, and clique. Work with at least one person with whom you havenot yet worked.’ Although students appeared to be allowed to define their owngroups at various times, Darcy consciously made an effort to create heterogeneousgroups from which all students could benefit.
As with cooperative grouping, student choice was primarily embedded into activelearning. For example, although students were required to include all of the aspectsof the story in their presentation, they were allowed to choose how to present thestory. Also, the students determined what would be on the quizzes and which quizthey wanted to take. Each group was responsible for developing a quiz about theirstory that covered the key points of the story and the key literary devices. Subse-quently, each individual student chose which quiz s/he wanted to take, provided itwas not the one from his/her group.
I did not observe Darcy using multicultural literature. Darcy indicated that shelimited her use of multicultural literature in an effort to follow the curriculum. In herninth-grade class, Darcy had more opportunity to expose students to diverse litera-ture because the curriculum was based on universal themes from literature aroundthe world. However, in the eleventh-grade class, fewer opportunities existed. Shesaid, ‘I believe in … exposing students to the world of literature, which is limited inAmerican Literature class. I haven’t done as much Central American or SouthAmerican, Canadian or even Mexican literature as I would like to.’ The Americanliterature curriculum of the eleventh grade did include some diverse American
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authors, so at various times, Darcy indicated that she highlighted them. For Darcy,the primary exposure to multicultural literature seemed to come from the curricu-lum.
In terms of the remaining multicultural practices, cultural physical adaptationsand addressing individual needs, Darcy’s classroom practices indicated that she wasaware of the need to incorporate them, although these practices were less clearlyobserved. For cultural physical adaptations, I observed consistency with herreported action of using direct eye contact with students to communicate mutualrespect. Whenever she spoke one-on-one with students, she always made direct eyecontact, and the students appeared to respond to her in like manner. In addressingstudents’ individual needs, she stated in the interviews that she was concerned thatstudents felt ‘comfortable’ in being able to approach her in her ‘space’ both insideand outside of the classroom. She commented that she wanted them to not be intim-idated by her as the authority figure. One student, who would be considered ‘unpop-ular’ by his peers, demonstrated his comfortableness in approaching Darcy whenone day he stayed after class to discuss the possibility of altering an assignment.Darcy spent several minutes providing him with feedback and helping him thinkabout the direction he wanted his work to take. In all, Darcy showed evidence ofprimarily using five of the eight multicultural practices and some level of inclusion ofthe other practices outside of using multicultural literature
Over the course of the four days of observations, Juanita demonstrated evidence ofimplementing most of the general multicultural practices. Specifically, the use ofcritical pedagogy, multicultural literature, real-life application and addressing indi-vidual needs appeared to be her dominant practices, while the remaining practices ofactive learning, student choice, cooperative grouping and cultural physical adapta-tions seemed to be less frequent. Yet, based on an analysis of all of the data sources,these practices appeared to be incorporated as well.
Data revealed that Juanita engaged students daily in critical thinking skills thatoften led to her use of critical pedagogy. For example, while studying the work ofShakespeare in her twelfth-grade classes, Juanita introduced an essay by VirginiaWoolf that challenged the assumption of that day that women could not be success-ful in pursuing literary careers because of their gender. The students engaged in animpassioned discussion about gender roles and equality of opportunity after Juanitaprompted the discussion by asking:
How do we define equality? … You can have equal opportunity … where everybody getsa chance to go to school. That’s one way to define equality. Or it could be that every-body is treated exactly the same. So what do you think?
Several of the male students claimed that the female students were being inconsis-tent in their definitions of equality. In particular, one football player said that womenwere in favor of receiving equal pay, but were very resistant to doing any kind ofmanual labor associated with equal pay. In response, one female student acknowl-edged that women sometimes think unevenly about the roles, but that the mainpoint was that women should be respected.
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The use of multicultural literature, primarily through visual media, was also adaily multicultural practice Juanita used. The use of films served a dual purpose insimultaneously addressing critical thinking and multicultural literature. About thepurpose, Juanita said:
… I liked the issues that it [a film about American Indians] brought out. I like the criti-cal thinking. We talked about symbolism … the same kinds of questions that I ask whenit comes to text … [With the films] I can talk about the same kinds of [ideas] that I’mtalking about with short stories. … This is a nice way to get the same thing as I’m tryingto get to discuss through the literature. I’m getting them to discuss and to listen to eachother and communicate ideas.
Juanita indicated that as each year progressed, she tried to incorporate more diversefilms that would serve both the school’s curricular and her personal multiculturalgoals
Juanita’s practice of using the English class content for real-life application wasfrequently used as a way to help students make meaningful connections betweentheir school lives and personal lives. A critical discussion about dealing with over-whelming adversity in life took place during a twelfth-grade lesson on Greek mythol-ogy. The main character in the story had offended the gods and for his punishmentwas doomed to roll a stone uphill for all of eternity. Juanita led the students to thinkabout why the character approached the undesirable task with optimism instead ofdefeat. The discussion led one Caucasian student to share how he learned how todeal with the death of his mother by focusing on the positive aspects of her life andtime spent with him. As a result, another student, an African American, shared thatwhen she faced obstacles she often sang a church song that admonishes people notto complain. Other students also shared some of their difficult experiences and theways in which they attempted to overcome them.
Addressing the individual needs of students was also a primary focus for Juanita.Even with respect to the classroom arrangement, Juanita consciously made an effortto create a great deal of accessibility to individual students. Her classroom wasarranged in rows, which at first appeared to be a result of traditional school struc-ture. However, Juanita indicated that she intentionally arranged the seats in thatmanner because it allowed her to have impromptu, individual conversations withstudents as she moved about the room during instruction.
Although Juanita maintained her responsibility to adhere to the given curriculum,she did attempt to provide each individual student with opportunities to makemeaningful choices. One such opportunity was the flexibility for the ninth graders torecite a memorized poem at a time that was convenient for them. With minimaladjustments to the grading, some students who were less comfortable with publicspeaking had the option of reciting the poem outside of class, while some studentscould recite the poem earlier than the due date. Juanita said that she wanted to makesure that the she did everything she could to help the students succeed while at thesame time helping the students to take personal responsibility for their learning.
During the observations, most of Juanita’s use of active learning came in theform of oral presentations, such as the poem recitations. She indicated that she was
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particularly concerned with students’ ability to effectively communicate and withthem being given multiple chances to present their ideas publicly. The remainingmulticultural practices, cultural physical adaptations and cooperative groupingseemed to be embedded within other multicultural practices. In terms of physicallyrelating to students in a culturally responsive way, Juanita indicated in her inter-views that she made sure that she looked her students in the eyes so that she couldestablish mutual respect. In one instance, I observed Juanita using her eyes todirect the kind of stern, corrective, sustained, head-slightly-tilted-sideways glance,traditionally found in African American culture, to a couple of female students, oneHispanic and the other African American, who were talking to each another insteadof paying attention. Although Juanita gave no verbal directives, the girls verballyresponded as if she had spoken to them by saying they would be quiet. Juanitaappeared to be familiar with the cultural physical adaptations necessary to interacteffectively with her students.
Based on the interviews and comments from students heard during observations,Juanita used cooperative grouping. From the observations, the activity that mostresembled cooperative grouping was the work on poem recitations. During the reci-tations in the ninth grade, students were given the option to work together and assisteach other or work independently. In her interviews, Juanita spoke extensively abouther use of cooperative grouping and identified it as a useful practice. However, I didnot observe definitive instances of this strategy.
Both teachers illustrated their intended beliefs about multicultural educationthrough varying levels of implementation. Additionally, the teachers used all five ofBanks’ (1997) dimensions of multicultural education. On the whole, they appearedto have established the use of the practices upon considerable reflection prior to theirinvolvement in this study. Their implemented multicultural and content specificpractices were very consistent with their self-reported multicultural instruction.Although they did not operate from any sort of predetermined list of ‘multiculturalmandates’, their professional and personal goals for the students dictated their prac-tice, which echoed the common tenets of multicultural education.
The previous evidence for support of both teachers’ implementation of multicul-tural education into their classroom practices, while critical, cannot be considered inisolation from the contexts in which they operated. Specifically, these practicesshould be considered while also bearing in mind the influence of both the supportsand impediments for implementing multicultural education. The chief support forthe teachers’ implementation of multicultural education into their classroom prac-tices came from various aspects of their personal experiences. Namely, thesesupportive factors were the teachers’ previous experience in diverse settings, theirmeaningful high school experiences, and their background experiences that weresimilar to their students’. Because of their positive experiences with diverse popula-tions prior to their preservice preparation, both teachers initially sought to teach in adiverse setting and chose to teach in schools with diverse student populations. Eventhough both made employment decisions based on multiple factors including family,location, opportunity and preference, teaching in a diverse school was a priority.
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Similarly, both teachers drew from their own meaningful high school experiencesto enrich the high school experience of their students. Juanita placed a great deal ofimportance on making sure students had access to extra help in the form of tutorials,just as she had experienced in ninth grade. Darcy intentionally made active learningan integral part of her practice which, in part, reflected her tenth-grade Englishteacher who made learning fun and was not ‘boring’. As students, both teachers hadexperienced the high quality teaching that is typical of higher tracked students, andthey expressed a desire to provide that kind of instruction for all of their studentsregardless of track.
Along the same lines, the similar experiences that the teachers shared with thestudents often supported the infusion of multicultural education. Darcy’s childhoodexperiences with adverse life circumstances gave her a deeper degree of understand-ing when her students struggled with the same kinds of situations, such as onestudent’s incomplete assignments due to a sudden family relocation. Juanita was alsosensitive to the students in her class when they were in the ethnic minority, a posi-tion she often occupied as an African American in private schools. These similarexperiences did not serve to lower the expectations the teachers had for the students,but instead they served to provide the teachers with more specific ways to addressthe students’ needs so they could meet and exceed the expectations.
While aspects of the teachers’ individual backgrounds were supportive of multi-cultural infusion, a positive relationship with both the administration and with thestudents was also critical. Both teachers had been at their respective schools sincethe beginning of their four-year teaching careers. Throughout that time, they eachhad developed reputations as good teachers from their administrators, colleaguesand students. Often, their requests for flexibility in instructional planning were metfavorably. The professional abilities of each teacher were highly regarded and as aresult, they were able to make meaningful instructional choices such as how tosupplement the curriculum to cover key areas.
In like manner, the positive relationship each teacher had with her studentsprovided further support for the infusion of multicultural education. On severaloccasions throughout the classroom observations, students from each teacher’s classwould comment on how much they liked the teacher and/or how much they enjoyeda particular activity or learning approach. Most of the students displayed a highdegree of trust in their teachers, and therefore seemed willing to be active partici-pants in the class. The successful relationship each teacher had with her studentswas also displayed in the way that students were willing to openly share personalexperiences. If the students did not sense a deep level of care from their teachers,they would not have made themselves vulnerable by disclosing personal informationsuch as uncertain living conditions or family difficulties.
The final support for multicultural infusion was the scheduling factor which washelpful to Darcy, but not to Juanita. As a result of the block scheduling, whichincreases class periods from 50 to 90 minutes, originally set in place by the school’scharter, Darcy taught two academic periods and one performance art period, incontrast to Juanita who taught five academic periods. Further, Darcy’s academic
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classes were both advanced level. Darcy acknowledged the advantage she had overmost teachers, more in-depth coverage of materials and fewer courses to plan andteach.
In vivid contrast, several factors impeded the infusion of multicultural educationinto the teachers’ classroom practices. The most prominent barriers appeared to beschool structure and time constraints, which were often interrelated, while racismand tracking were significant as well. While Darcy infrequently cited timeconstraints as a hindrance, Juanita, on the other hand, often lamented the lack oftime necessary to sufficiently address critical academic instruction. Further, Juanitaexpressed that, at times, she felt divided between her responsibilities as an expectingmother with two small children, a wife, and a teacher. To a much lesser degree,Darcy also experienced time constraints, but for Darcy, instructional timeconstraints seemed to be minimal. Consequently, both teachers experienced drasti-cally different degrees of time constraints which often determined the amount anddepth of material covered.
Seemingly, the time constraints were considerably affected by the structure of theschool. For example, the school district in which both teachers worked had recentlyimplemented a reading improvement plan for upper grades. This program requiredstudents to read a specified number of books and complete a computer-generatedassessment evaluating their comprehension. According to the teachers, the timenecessary to implement the plan did not necessarily serve to further students’ higheracademic success in their English classes.
Racism and the effects of racism were other impediments to both teachers imple-mentation of multicultural practices. Although at no time did I observe any inten-tionally damaging racially motivated actions, clear evidence of racial tensions,consistent with the teachers’ earlier reports, was manifested. One such example wasduring one of Darcy’s eleventh-grade class sessions in which individual studentswere doing presentations, an African American female offered an apology for havingto mention the ways in which Whites historically mistreated African Americans. OneWhite male jokingly responded by warning her to be careful about what she wassaying. However, Darcy quickly and forcefully issued a directive to the male studentto stop his comments. The tensions were not just present between Black and Whitestudents. In one instance, Darcy asked students to comment about the personalcharacter of a particular man in one of their stories. A White male student judgmen-tally responded, ‘He’s Jewish.’ Darcy replied, ‘Yes. What does that have to do withhis character? … His occupation tells more about his character than his ethnic back-ground.’
Similarly, racism and its effects were seen in Juanita’s classes. In one of thetwelfth-grade classes, the students were visibly divided into a Black side and Whiteside. Juanita indicated that she gave the older students the opportunity to make seat-ing choices, and that type of class division was what resulted. She said although thestudents got along and were friendly to each other, over the years she had notedsome changes in many students’ grouping from being racially heterogeneous toracially homogeneous. These incidents, as well as others, provide evidence that
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racism and the effects of racism lie beneath the academic terrain of schools, and thatthe daily occurrences of schools are not unaffected.
Adding to the list of impediments that impede multicultural infusion is the prac-tice of tracking. Both teachers indicated that they employed cooperative grouping, astrategy built on the cooperation within heterogeneous groups which has beenshown to enhance the academic performance of all kinds of students, especiallylower ability and ethnically diverse students (Slavin & Braddock, 1993). However,both teachers used cooperative grouping within classes that were tracked by ability.Thus, tracking prevented authentic academic cooperative grouping from ever takingplace. Overall, tracking, according to the teachers, seemed to do more harm thangood. Consideration of these supporting and impeding factors while simultaneouslyreviewing the teachers’ multicultural practices is imperative if the complex nature ofteaching toward the academic success of all students is to be understood.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the results of this study can be seen as part of a larger, continuing,interconnected process. Although the evidence supporting the influence of anMTEP on teachers’ multicultural practices is convincing, the significance of thecontextual factors must not be overlooked. The central aim for preparing teachers inMTEPs is to improve the academic success of all students, particularly diversestudents. Students’ academic success is dependent upon multiple internal and exter-nal factors. However, the work of the teacher is one of the most significant factors,and the recognition of the multiple factors which influence their work is quitegermane. In-depth investigation revealed that the influence of a MTEP, whileimportant, did not exist in isolation. The schooling context in which the teachersoperated and the characteristics of the individual teachers also proved influential andinterrelated. This study revealed many of the particular ways in which the MTEPhelped these teachers, who entered their teacher preparation program with positiveexperiences with multiculturalism and with strong, positive beliefs about studentsfrom diverse backgrounds, interpret their extensive background knowledge intoeffective multicultural practice and theory. The data from this study suggest thatpreservice teachers who have had diverse experiences are more predisposed, sensi-tive and accepting of diversity. However, the presumption should not be made thatpreservice teachers without such experiences should not be admitted to an MTEP.Rather, the faculty of the admitting MTEP should have a wealth of diverse experi-ences from which to instruct the preservice teachers. When teacher preparationprograms that claim to have a multicultural orientation fail to infuse multiculturaleducation throughout the entire program, the result is often preservice teachers whohave a positive, yet rather vague, outlook on multicultural education and who do nothave the appropriate pedagogy to be effective in diverse settings (Barry & Lechner,1995). In contrast, both teachers in this study, graduates of a comprehensiveMTEP, were highly knowledgeable about and intensively deliberate in using a multi-cultural approach even several years after completing the program. This work has
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contributed to the literature by providing deeper insight into the complex process ofpreparing teachers to teach students from diverse backgrounds and by providingevidence of the specific kinds of instructional influence an MTEP can make.
Notes on contributor
Kezia McNeal is Assistant Professor in the Middle Childhood Education Unit in theDepartment of Middle/Secondary & Instructional Technology at Georgia StateUniversity, USA. She teaches a wide variety of teacher preparation courses atthe undergraduate and graduate levels (i.e., Diversity/Multicultural Education,Curriculum, Trends & Issues in Middle Grades, Teaching Methods courses inLanguage Arts & Social Studies). Her research interests are multiculturalteacher education and professional development, interdisciplinary studies andinternational studies.
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