Multicultural Matters: An Investigation of Key Assumptions of Multicultural Education Reform in Teacher Education Programs

• In Event: 52.048 - Culture in the Classroom: Examining the Influence of Teachers' Identities and Attitudes

Abstract

Multicultural education reform has been a centerpiece of teacher education policy for decades. Two underlying assumptions drive this thrust. First, preservice teachers lack multicultural awareness, which is a problem in light of the demographic divide between teachers and students. Second, better multicultural awareness leads to better pedagogical proficiency. Little work examines multicultural awareness across teachers or the link between awareness and teaching competencies. Using a novel dataset of 2500 preservice teachers, we find that Black and Latinos have greater multicultural awareness, while Asian Americans less, compared to Whites. Experience teaching minority youth is linked with awareness, and particularly so for minority respondents. Propensity score matching analyses reveal that multicultural awareness is linked with stronger abilities to create nurturing classroom environments.

Authors

• Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng, New York University

• Laura A. Davis, New York University