Teaching for Diversity
Summary and Conclusion
In two days, SEDL's Policy Networkshop provided an overview of issues related to teaching for diversity. Clearly, the efforts of many people and institutions are needed to weave together the two strands of the concept‹(1) the need to prepare a teaching force able to work with and teach an increasingly diverse student population; and (2) the need to increase the representation of teachers of color in the teaching force.
In state policy arenas, colleges of education, and local school districts the following strategies are being tried to strengthen and enrich opportunities for teaching for diversity:
Recruitment
- Improvement of general working conditions and physical environment of schools
- Identification of students in high school or middle school who might be interested in teaching, and nurture that interest through Teacher Cadet Programs, Future Teachers of America, Recruiting New Teachers, Inc.
- Magnet schools with programs for students interested in the teaching profession
- Guidance and assistance for high school students of color who apply for college admission
- Recruiting strategies that seek out teachers of color, other staff, paraprofessionals, or volunteers in non-traditional places such as community networks, social organizations, armed forces, service groups
- Financial assistance, scholarships and loan forgiveness programs for qualified minority education students who teach
- Networks of employment in which a local school district guarantees placement of teacher education students from teacher preparation, through student teaching or internship into a first teaching job
Preparation
- "Cohort groups" that create a community for and among ethnic minority students; provision of academic guidance, social or emotional support, help in preparing for certification tests
- Partnership agreements among two- and four-year institutions and among local communities and school districts to support internships, student teaching, or service projects in local schools and communities
- Articulation agreements between two- and four-year institutions for transfer of course credits and field experiences
- Collaborative efforts among historically black institutions and large research universities
- Courses and activities in which students examine their own attitudes toward other ethnic groups
- Teacher education curriculum that gives considerable attention to the findings of sociocultural research about relationships among language, culture, and learning
- Liberal arts curriculum suffused with issues of diversity
- Student teachers take field experiences in minority schools and communities
Credentialing
- Ongoing review and revision of state teacher certification tests to check cultural bias
- Teacher assessment systems take a long-term perspective, use multiple indicators, and are based on appropriate levels of skill at stages in a teacher's career
- Consideration and/or development of a differentiated licensing/credentialing "tiers"
- Ongoing review of alternative certification programs to maintain high standards and high levels of support for participating students.
Next Page: Teaching for Diversity - Six Policy Considerations