Toward Diversity Responsive Educator Preparation Programs

• But:– No consensus about what this means and how we

would know one when we saw one– We assign the job of ensuring that our students have

the needed dispositions, knowledge and skills to others we deem better qualified than we to do this

– Often, the diversity courses and modules focus on dispositions and knowledge rather than skill development

AACTE/SPLC Award for Exemplary Culturally Responsive Teacher Preparation

Formal announcement this spring: stay tuned

Cash award for top two programs and recognition of other outstanding programs

Applications due October 15, 2011

A Modest Proposal

• Redesign educator preparation programs around the primary goal of maximizing learning opportunities and outcomes for racially, ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse students, including students with disabilities.

Why would we accept such a challenge?

• The most persistent criticism of preparation programs is that we can’t prepare teachers to teach diverse students

• Schools are increasingly diverse• Achievement and opportunity gaps persist• Common core standards both increase the demands on us and

students while opening the door to more adaptive and responsive teaching

• All students would benefit—the skills and school conditions to support diverse learners are not unlike those advocated by people who feel we are shortchanging “high achievers”.

• This would be a long step toward reclaiming the high ground on teacher professionalism

What would the graduates of diversity responsive educator preparation programs know and be able to act accordingly?

• How to “use” cultural knowledge without stereotyping • Why students of different races might respond differently to:

– Different reward structures– High expectations– Responses to teachers’ calls for compliance to school rules

• How to engage students who lack “basic skills” or English language learners in higher order learning

• Strategies for learning from families and engaging them in the education of their children

• Ways to group students for learning that benefit both high and low achieving students

• Why race predicts achievement even when all else is controlled• AND MUCH MORE

A diversity responsive educator preparation program would also:

• Be implemented in diverse settings and/or simulations• Involve collaborative evidence-based authentic problem

solving • Model pedagogies being taught • And?

The Southern Poverty Law Center’s

Teaching Diverse Students Initiative

Organizational partners:– National Education Association (NEA)– American Association of Colleges of Teacher

Education – University Council for Educational

Administration

TDSi National Advisory Group

• Alfredo Artiles, Professor of Special Education and English Language Learning, Arizona State University.

• Nilanjana Dasgupta, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Massachusetts,Amherst

• Willis Hawley, Professor of Education and Public Policy, University of Maryland, and TDSI Director

• Jacqueline Jordan Irvine, Charles Howard Chandler Professor of Urban Education Emerita, Emory University and Senior Advisor, TDSI

• Gloria Ladson-Billings, Kellner Family Professor of Urban Education, University ofWisconsin

• Alicia Ardila-Rey, American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education• Sonia Nieto, Professor Emerita of Language, Literacy, & Culture, University of

Massachusetts, Amherst• Jeannie Oakes, The Ford Foundation and Professor & Director Urban Schooling

Emerita, University of California, Los Angeles• Sheila Simmons, Director, Human Relations Division, National Education Association

Other Scholars Participating in TDSIDenise Alston Carl Gramt Mica Pollock

Linda Darling-Hammond Kris Gutierrez Victoria Purcell-Gates

Patricia Edwards Carol Lee James Schuerich

Joyce Epstein Luis Moll Robert Slavin

Georgia Garcia Nel Noddings Christine Sleeter

Geneva Gay John O’Flahavan Dorothy Strickland

PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN NEW

SKILLS

IMPROVED TEACHING

MOTIVATE INTEREST IN

CHANGE

ENHANCED STUDENT

LEARNING

SCHOOL CONDITIONS

NEW DISPOSITIONS

TDSi Learning Tools/Applications • Interrogating beliefs and understandings about teaching and

learning- Understanding the Influence of Race - The Common Beliefs Survey

• Enhancing pedagogical knowledge and skills- Interactive cases—Adaptive and responsive content pedagogy- Primer on Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

• Ensuring Equity in Opportunities to Learn- School Survey: A School Conditions Assessment Measure

The Common Beliefs Survey4 of 14 Items

• I don't think of my students in terms of their race or ethnicity; I am color blind when it comes to my teaching.

• It is not fair to ask students who are struggling with English to take on challenging academic assignments.

• I try to keep in mind the limits of my students' abilities and give them assignments that I know they can do so that they do not become discouraged.

• Students of different races and ethnicities often have different learning styles, and good teachers will match their instruction to these learning styles.

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

• We are better at knowing what not to do to impede the learning of diverse students.

• The need for video of exemplary CRP

• The Teaching Tolerance Award for Excellence in Culturally Responsive Teaching

www.tolerance.org/award

Teaching Diverse Students School Survey

Four Sets of Conditions that Influence Teaching and Learning for Diverse Students

• School Policies and Processes• Shared Beliefs and Commitments• Professional Expertise• Actions of School Leaders

Improving Leadership Development Programs

• Talk about marginalizing diversity—the case of school leadership programs

• UCEA, in collaboration with SPLC, is undertaking a Leaders to Support Diverse Learners project (FIPSE funded)

TDSi Learning Resources

• Text prepared by TDSi staff• Videos of effective practice• Video interviews with prominent scholars• Learning activities• Tools for assessing dispositions, assumptions and

knowledge• Articles, research reviews, and reports from selected

websites NOTE: There is such a thing as free resources

Videos of effective practice

Video interviews with prominent scholars

Dr. Linda Darling-HammondTeaching for Test Success without Teaching to the Test

Learning activities

Tools for assessing dispositions, assumptions and knowledge

Articles, research reviews, and reports

Collaboration?

• If your program is interested in using, contributing to—and evaluating—the TDSiresources, e-mail us atwdh@umd.edu, with your e-mail address.

OR JUST USE THE STUFFWWW.TOLERANCE.ORG/TDSI

• What about a community of scholars and practitioners sharing research and promising practices—in colleges and schools?

Educators’ Dispositions and Behaviors that ImpedeLearning by Students of Color

• Biases and stereotypes• Misconceptions, misunderstanding and misinformation• Oversimplification (e.g., understanding of “learning styles”)• Limits on learning imposed by family and community conditions (e.g., beliefs about a

“culture of poverty”• The desirability of “color blindness”• Low expectations rooted in beliefs about inherent ability• Inappropriate “ability” grouping • Misdiagnosis of students’ learning needs• Pedagogical practices that favor some learners over others• Instructional management embedded in majority culture assumptions• Practices that do not recognize language facility• Unproductive strategies for dealing with unconventional student behavior and dress• Unfair and inappropriate ways of dealing with student misbehavior

Changing Teacher Behaviors IFocusing on Caring & Engaging Student

Relationships

• Respect and have interest in students’ cultural backgrounds and personal experiences

• Support and encourage students’ learning at high levels• Apply rules relating to behavior fairly and sensitively• Engage families directly in their children’s learning• Understand and adapt to students’ nonverbal communications• Promote learning environments built on social justice,

democracy and equity • Support student empowerment, self-efficacy, and positive self-

regard related to learning

TDSi Design Team (2009)

Enhancing Teacher Behaviors IIDeveloping Effective Instructional Practices

• Build on students’ prior knowledge• Use student values and experiences• Avoid stereotyping of students’ (e.g., “learning styles”)• Use “ability” grouping flexibly and sparingly• Maximize heterogeneous learning opportunities• Adapt instruction to students’ semantics, accents, dialects and

language facility• Use culturally diverse learning resources• Engage students in higher order cognitive development, e.g.,

complex problem solving and participation in demanding curriculum, such as honors and AP

The CRP Primer

The CRP Primer addresses five questions:

What is the definition of culturally relevant pedagogy

Why is culturally relevant pedagogy importantDoes culturally relevant pedagogy have a

theoretical base?Does culturally relevant pedagogy reinforce

stereotypes about students of color because it categorizes and labels students based on their race and ethnicity?

Does culturally relevant pedagogy address the content standards in the subject areas?

The TDSi Cases

• Initial Context: literacy teaching and learning• Dilemmas that implicate racial, cultural and linguistic differences• Anchor case schools with different racial and ethnic

compositionsFocal case teachers who work in those schools– Each is faced with different dilemmas, such as:

grouping, text selection, language proficiency, past school policies, ayp pressures, etc.

– Their decisions unfold over time and dilemmas arise• Participants respond to these dilemmas and explore their

responses by examining different learning resources related to the dilemmas

Turner, O'Flahavan, & Landa 2008

The Cases Challenge Cycle

TDSi Design Team (2009)

School Conditions IPolicies and Processes

• Clear and widely subscribed to formal policies that encourage effective actions and prohibit discrimination

• Targeted professional development for school staff• Student access to and participation in rigorous OTL• Curricula that deal with the experiences and cultures of different racial and

ethnic groups. • Policies and support that prohibit tracking and inflexible “ability” grouping• Extracurricular activities that engage all students and promote intergroup

relations• Fair and inclusive processes for defining and dealing with inappropriate

student behavior• Policies and practices for dealing justly and quickly with conflict• Parent engagement strategies that are responsive to racial and ethnic diversity• Continual monitoring of progress of different racial and ethnic groups• Pursuit of a racially and ethnically diverse school staff

School Conditions IIOrganizational Culture

• Shared responsibility throughout the school community for ensuring that all students learn at high levels

• Open discussions of issues related to race and ethnicity• Beliefs that teachers and administrators can significantly

influence student motivation and achievement regardless of students’ family and community experiences

• Teachers of different races and ethnicities collaborate to enhance the learning of all students