The Cultural Diversity Professional Development in School Survey: Development, Validation, and Measurement Invariance

• In Event: Diversity, Equity, and Social Justice in Educational Measurement

Abstract

This study presents the development and initial validation of a survey designed to capture in-service teachers’ multicultural beliefs, practices and efficacy alongside their perceived school supports, family and community engagement, and any challenges they may face. Although several previously validated scales of teachers’ multicultural teaching practices and beliefs are used in the field, we were able to find no scales that simultaneously measured all six of the variables listed above. Multicultural teachers have long faced barriers that are now being exacerbated through legislation restricting the ways in which they can discuss race and equity. Future researchers may thus benefit from the availability of a scale that allows for testing associations among these variables to better understand contexts of multicultural education.

Authors

• Chu Yi Lu, University of Delaware

• Hillary Parkhouse, Virginia Commonwealth University