America's diverse, racially changing schools and their teachers

Description

In an era of growing racial segregation of students and the increasing presence of minorities in formerly all-white suburban neighborhoods--and schools--it is important to understand how faculty might create a positive environment for students in schools of varying racial contexts. Few recent surveys of teachers have asked about teaching in diverse schools; this study draws on a unique, recent dataset to explore how teachers perceive their ability to teach students in schools of varying racial contexts. This research demonstrates several related points. First, school racial contexts are complex. In particular, analyses that group stably diverse schools with rapidly transitioning schools--which may be temporarily diverse--are likely to obscure significant differences between two very different types of schools. This analysis argues for a more contextualized analysis of schools and development of policies that affect schools of different contexts. Second, training for diversity relates to teachers' perceptions of more constructive learning environments and greater efficacy in teaching diverse students although this relationship differs by school context and is limited in some of the most disadvantaged school contexts. Third, the racial composition of faculty in schools is strongly related to some of the patterns--that is, because white teachers and nonwhite teachers differ substantially in rating their own efficacy in teaching racially diverse students, for example, the overall patterns by school context relate to the percentage of nonwhite teachers in a school category. Fourth, there are complex ways in which a teacher's own race interacts with the racial context of his or her students. While this research confirms prior studies' findings that white teachers are likely to want to leave schools with higher percentages of nonwhite students, it also demonstrates that nonwhite teachers are not as receptive to teaching in virtually all-white schools. Finally, considering projected demographic trends, these findings suggest that the schools that are diverse or will become diverse--the schools that need teachers who are able to thoughtfully and expertly teach across lines of difference--have teachers who are the least attuned to these issues, and possess less preparation for and efficacy in such situations.

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