Cultural and linguistic diversity in early childhood teacher preparation: The impact of contextual characteristics on coursework and practica

Abstract

CHIH-ING LIM: Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Early Childhood Teacher Preparation:The Impact of Contextual Characteristics on Coursework and Practica (Under the direction of Kelly Maxwell)The population of children in early childhood settings is becoming increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse, and these changes in demographics have warranted teachers becoming more culturally responsive and better prepared to work with diverse young children and families. Teacher preparation programs across the nation have responded differently to this critical issue because of the different contexts in which they are in. Some promising strategies are including cultural and linguistic diversity in both course content and clinical experiences into early childhood teacher preparation programs. Using data from the National Prekindergarten Center's (NPC) National Study of Early Childhood Teacher Preparation Programs and the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) Integrated Post-Secondary Education Dataset (IPEDS), this research study examined the variables that contributed to how much cultural and linguistic diversity content and experiences were required of Bachelor's degree students in their coursework and practica in early childhood teacher preparation programs. Specifically, geographical contexts, program and institutional characteristics were analyzed from a sample of 417 Bachelor's degree programs to determine how these variables predicted the amount of diversity content and experience required in teacher preparation programs. Results indicated that percentage of non-Hispanic White in a state, geographic region, degree of urbanization, governance of institutions, NCATE iv accreditation, and the presence of non-White full-time faculty in early childhood programs were predictors of coursework or practica requirements. Implications and recommendations for policy, future research, and early childhood teacher preparation are discussed. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study would not have been possible without Kelly Maxwell and Richard Clifford of the National Prekindergarten Center (NPC) who generously gave me access to the NPC dataset on early childhood teacher preparation programs. Kelly Maxwell who was also my advisor and Harriet who chaired my dissertation committee were both instrumental in providing guidance and development of the study. Many thanks to Catherine Zimmer for serving on my dissertation committee and for working very patiently with me through numerous statistical issues and throughout the analyses process. A special thanks also to Virginia Buysse, Xue-Lan Rong, and Pamela Winton for serving on my committee and for their valuable and constructive feedback. Last but not least, thanks to my husband, Hsien-Yao and my family for their constant support and encouragement.

The Retention of Educators of Color Amidst Institutionalized Racism

“…Preservice teachers of color often feel marginalized or isolated within their preparation programs (Brown, 2014). Universities with fewer faculty of color in their educator preparation programs offer fewer courses about cultural competency (Lim et al, 2009), reinforcing the idea that educators of color (at all educational levels) bear the responsibility of initiating and continuing discussions of race, racism, and privilege. In fact, teacher education programs may not be prepared to teach such courses anyway (Milner & Howard, 2013) as “softer” approaches—those referring to diversity and/or multiculturalism—”assure little to no meaningful discussions of racism, power, and whiteness and how the privileges and benefits that accrue from these systems thwart the very efforts underway to truly produce a teaching force equipped for diverse classrooms” (Cross, 2005, p. 265).…”

Evaluating the perceptions of pre-service teachers' personal and professional readiness to teach culturally and linguistically diverse students

“…All respondents showed the same exposure to all three characteristics. The lack of difference in characteristics for diversity between HBCUs and non-HBCUs was consistent with previous research that found proportionately equal number of courses on cultural diversity between HBCUs and non-HBCUs (Lim et al, 2009), and inconsistent with Marchitello and Trinidad (2019), who found that HBCUs were more effective in preparing teachers to successfully work with marginalized communities due to their curricula design that emphasized supporting the educational needs of marginalized students.…”

Teacher Preparation in Changing Times: One Program’s Journey Toward Re-Vision and Revision

“…When this survey was repeated 5 years later with a national sample of programs, there was only minor change; 15% of bachelor's degree programs and 13% of associate degree programs reported requiring an entire course or more in the subject area of "working with bilingual children learning English as a second language" (Maxwell, Lim, & Early, 2006, p. 12). Lim, Maxwell, Able-Boone, and Zimmer (2009) did find that individual early childhood program requirements for course coverage in linguistic diversity were more variable when compared to course coverage in general cultural diversity. Only 14% of institutions required an entire course or more focused on linguistic diversity, while 47% required a course or more focused on general cultural diversity Downloaded by [University of Otago] at 12:56 25 July 2015 (Lim et al, 2009)-which, as indicated earlier, is not considered sufficient to effectively address the learning needs of DLLs.…”

“…Lim, Maxwell, Able-Boone, and Zimmer (2009) did find that individual early childhood program requirements for course coverage in linguistic diversity were more variable when compared to course coverage in general cultural diversity. Only 14% of institutions required an entire course or more focused on linguistic diversity, while 47% required a course or more focused on general cultural diversity Downloaded by [University of Otago] at 12:56 25 July 2015 (Lim et al, 2009)-which, as indicated earlier, is not considered sufficient to effectively address the learning needs of DLLs.…”