Elementary Education, Teacher Preparation for Diversity in

Teacher Preparation for Diversity: The Emergence of a Concept

Most scholars would point to the 1960s as the period when diversity emerged as a major sociological concept. Teacher preparation for diversity as an educational concept or practice followed in the 1970s. Until that time, diversity had been framed negatively, as different from the norm or dominant majority (White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, and middle class). Those who did not conform to this mainstream standard for culture, values, and behavior were often perceived as “less than.” This included minorities or non-Whites, particularly African Americans, immigrants, and the poor, who, according to an analysis of racial identity and education conducted by Robert Carter and A. Lin Goodwin, were conceptualized as inferior—either genetically inferior, and therefore incapable of learning, or culturally or environmentally inferior because they lacked experiences or knowledge considered by most middle-class Whites to be essential for academic success and social acceptance.

This changed in the 1960s when the civil rights movement transformed the social consciousness of the United States and focused public attention on racism and the unjust treatment of people of color. This was also a period of social agitation, when marginalized and oppressed groups organized to collectively advocate for their right to fair treatment in all matters, including education. African American scholars led the way in challenging the deficit model, according to which minorities had previously been depicted. They argued that diversity is different with—that difference is a natural human characteristic that shapes how people of varying cultural groups may experience the world, and that these differences are important to understand but should not be defined as a sign of inferiority.

In the decade from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, several important legislative acts were passed, including the Civil Rights Act, the Bilingual Education Act, the Ethnic Heritage Act, and the Special Education Act. These laws mandated educational equity for meeting the unique needs of students from diverse groups. They also provided funding for a multitude of special programs and trainings to ensure that teachers were equipped to teach children from diverse groups. Consequently, the education field adopted a multicultural approach, and in 1973 the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education's (AACTE's) first Commission on Multicultural Education issued a key policy statement to its membership, requiring that teachers have specific preparation to work with children from culturally diverse groups, preparation that needed to be integrated into teacher education programs. The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) reinforced this message, announcing that as of 1979, institutions seeking accreditation must demonstrate evidence of multicultural teacher preparation.

...