Graduate Program

School Psychology

Degree Name

Specialist in School Psychology

Semester of Degree Completion

Spring 2024

Thesis Director

Assege HaileMariam

Thesis Committee Member

Margaret T. Floress

Thesis Committee Member

Gary L. Canivez

Abstract

Research continues to show that students who belong to racial and/or ethnic minority groups face a variety of challenges at school, such as disproportionate rates of drop out, behavioral problems, exclusionary discipline practices, absenteeism, placement in special education, and more. These challenges are thought to contribute to the academic achievement gap between White and racial/ethnic minority students throughout the American public school system. Therefore, it is important to assess the multicultural teaching competence of American teachers and investigate barriers to improving culturally responsive teaching practices. Past research has investigated teachers’ multicultural teaching competence, but fewer compared general and special education teachers to examine if the differences in their training programs lead to disparities in multicultural teaching competence. In the current study, 207 teachers (129 general education and 78 special education) completed the Multicultural Teaching Competence Scale (MTCS). A majority of participating teachers (150) work in midwestern urban environments (primarily Chicago, IL and Saint Louis, MO), although 57 teachers from other U.S. areas accessed the survey through a Facebook group. The MTCS yields a total score and two sub-scales scores for multicultural teaching knowledge and skills. The average MTCS scores for each group were very similar, 74.93 for general education teachers and 74.81 for special education teachers. Three items were added to gather information on the teachers’ views regarding stress, unfairness, and worry related to teaching culturally diverse students. Participants who scored in the non-Mastery range on the MTCS reported more feelings of stress (51% of non-Mastery scorers), while White participants (49.03%) indicated high levels of worry related to working with diverse groups.

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