This study provides a description of 34 practicing teachers’ beliefs regarding the role of empathy as an attribute in their effectiveness with culturally diverse students. Empathy involves cognitive, affective, and behavioral components that teachers believed were manifested in their practice. All of these teachers had participated in a multicultural professional development program geared to fostering culturally responsive practice. Through a content analysis of more than 125 documents, three themes in teachers’practices emerged: more positive interactions with culturally diverse students, more supportive classroom climates, and more student-centered practices. In addition, teachers discussed their most valuable learning experiences in the professional development course. These included a cross-cultural simulation, cultural immersion trips, and their own experiences as minorities. The results from this study underscore the importance of creating contexts in teacher education and professional development programs in which teachers and preservice teachers use and nurture empathetic dispositions and behaviors.

Teachers require support as they face the challenge of effectively teaching diverse students in their classrooms. Teacher-educators have used various methods to foster change in teachers' thinking, attitudes, and behaviors regarding cultural diversity, but these efforts have produced mixed results because they often focused on content rather the process of cross-cutural learning. The purpose of this review is to examine three process-oriented models that have been used to describe and measure the development of racial identity and cross-cultural competence. These models include Helm's model of racial identity development, Banks's Typology of Ethnicity, and Bennett's Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity. Research using the models revealed insights for multicultural teacher education in assessing readiness to learn, designing effective learning opportunities, and providing appropriate support and challenge for teachers.

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After 20 years, the research on empathy in teacher education has grown tremendously. This concept originally explored in our article 20 years ago, raised questions regarding the type of empathy and its potential implications for preparing culturally responsive teachers. Though research on empathy has increased 3-fold, teacher educators still struggle in our preparation of effective teachers for all children. One positive step forward in this recent line of research has been the centering of empathy in a more critical frame cautioning us against the concept of inauthentic or false empathy, as well as questioning whether empathy is enough.