Date of Award

1-1-2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Specialization

Communication and Leadership

School or Department

School of Leadership Studies

First Advisor

Dr. Heather Crandall

Second Advisor

Dr. Carolyn Cunningham

Abstract

At a time when public school populations are becoming more diverse, teachers are becoming less diverse and often don’t have the multicultural education necessary to teach in diverse schools. This study examined the effectiveness of multicultural education at a university in the Pacific Northwest at preparing teachers to teach in culturally and linguistically diverse schools. The study utilized a two‐phase design to collect data that will assist education programs to develop multicultural education components that better prepare preservice teachers to teach in diverse schools. The first phase of the study explored the effectiveness of the current education program by examining preservice teachers’ perceptions of their multicultural education. The second phase examined how new teachers’ perceptions of their multicultural education has changed as a result of their teaching experience, and what new teachers believe would better prepare preservice teachers to teach in racially and linguistically diverse classrooms. The results of the study showed that fifteen preservice teachers, 44% of preservice teachers enrolled in the program, overwhelmingly agreed that their teaching program had prepared them to teach in diverse classrooms. Whereas six new teachers, within their first three years of teaching and who had recently graduated from the same teaching program as the preservice teachers felt underprepared and believed the program should have done more to prepare them to teach in diverse classrooms.

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