An Exploration of Preservice Teacher Perceptions on the Effectiveness of a Multicultural Lecture Series.

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to assess prospective teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of the School of Education's Multicultural Lecture Series designed to increase the cultural knowledge and cultural awareness of prospective teachers, and to promote the development of positive attitudes in the classroom. Thirty-six prospective teachers who voluntarily enrolled in the Lecture Series participated in the study. Two instruments were used: A Survey on Groups (Shulman and Harding, 1964) to determine the attitudes of the participants toward minority groups and a Multicultural Objectives Questionnaire to determine their perceptions of the effectiveness of the Lecture Series. The research design included a before-after comparison using the Survey on Groups under the assumption that prospective teachers would not have changed their attitudes during the program period, as well as a post test, using the Multicultural Objectives Questionnaire, to determine teacher perceptions of program effectiveness. Six hypotheses were developed to assess changes in attitudes of the participants as measured by the Pro and Anti attitude scales of the Survey on Groups. The data were analyzed using the paired t-test to determine whether scores on the Pro and Anti scales changes as a result of participation in the Multicultural Lecture Series. Analysis of the data from the Pro and Anti scales showed that the largest amount of attitude change occurred on the Anti scale indicating a significant lessening of prejudice toward minority groups. For the Multicultural Objectives Questionnaire, twelve research questions were developed as a guide for evaluating attainment of the twelve objectives of the Lecture Series based on the perceptions of the participants. The data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages and group mean scores. Analysis of the data revealed that a majority (75%) of the prospective teachers rated the program objectives in the higher intervals of 3, 4, and 5, indicating their perceptions of the Lecture Series as a highly effective experience. The Spearman Rank Correlation statistic is used to assess the relationship between the two instruments to determine whether similar conclusions are reached by each measure of program effectiveness. Data from the Multicultural Objectives Questionnaire, representing a system model of program evaluation were correlated with data from the Survey on Groups, representing a goal model of program evaluation. Although data obtained from both instruments reveal an overall effectiveness when examined individually, analysis showed low correlations between the two instruments in terms of effectiveness. In general, the data revealed an overall positive influence on the Multicultural Lecture Series on perceptions of program effectiveness in meeting the objectives of the Lecture Series, and significant positive changes in participants' attitudes toward minority groups. Implications of findings in the study suggest the need for: (1) Additional teacher training programs that focus on multicultural education at both preservice and inservice levels. (2) Future research and studies which focus on multicultural education in order to establish a body of knowledge readily available to practitioners and program developers. (3) Widespread and systematic evaluation of multicultural programs for determining what activities, methods and criteria of program development are most effective from both student and institutional perspectives. (4) Future multicultural research which includes longitudinal studies that focus on the relationship between attitude change and classroom behavior.