An Empirical Study of College of Education Faculty’s Perceptions, Beliefs, and Commitment to the Teaching of Diversity in Teacher Education Programs at Four Urban Universities

This study used empirical data to investigate College of Education faculty’s perceptions, beliefs, and commitment to diversity. A 44-item survey composed of Likert scale-type questions about characteristics, experiences, perspectives, and personal commitments to addressing diversity issues together with demographic questions, was administered to 116 COE faculty from four urban universities. A MANOVA where the independent variables were the demographic data and the dependent variables were five subscales (importance of diversity, training for pre-service teachers, college support, teaching diversity in courses, and issues of racial sensitivity) identified four statistically significant factors in faculty’s beliefs regarding the importance of diversity. The study found no support for a relationship between the faculty’s beliefs about the importance of teaching diversity and their teaching practices.Lynn A. Smolen is a Professor in the Department of Curricular and Instructional Studies, The University of Akron and has received her Ph.D. from the University of Florida. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in reading, ESL methods, and diversity issues. Her areas of interest in research are diversity issues, multicultural literature, and the reading development of culturally and linguistically diverse students. Susan Colville-Hall, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Curricular and Instructional Studies, The University of Akron and has received her Ph.D. from the Ohio State University. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on Diversity/Multicultural Education, Instructional and Management Practices and Techniques for Teaching Foreign Languages. Her research areas are foreign language acquisition, teacher education, and diversity issues. She is also involved in international education. Xin Liang is an Assistant professor in the Department of Educational Foundations and Leadership, The University of Akron and has received her Ph.D. from the University of North Dakota. She teaches research methods, statistics, classroom assessment and program evaluation. Her research interests are school effectiveness, research methods and evaluation. Suzanne Mac Donald is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Foundations and Leadership, The University of Akron and has received her Ed.D. from the University of Hawaii. Suzanne Mac Donald’s specialty is Social Foundations of Education with emphasis in Educational Anthropology. She teaches social foundations, diversity issues, and qualitative research. Her research interests currently focus on teacher education and its role in addressing urban and cultural/multicultural issues in schooling, and in the context of international knowledge dissemination of pedagogy.