STANDARD 4: DIVERSITY

Introduction

4.1 Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Curriculum and Experiences

4.2 Experiences Working with Diverse Higher Education and School Faculty

4.3 Experiences Working with Diverse Candidates

4.4 Experiences Working with Diverse Students in P-12 Schools

Summary

Introduction

Diversity is a characteristic of higher learning; in fact, one of the strengths of American higher education is its remarkable diversity. The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) defines “diversity” in the following terms: Differences among groups of people and individuals based on race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, language, exceptionalities, religion, sexual orientation, and geographic region in which they live.  In applying this definition of diversity, the University of Guam (UOG) has a comprehensive nondiscrimination policy stated in Rules, Regulations and Procedures Manual Appendix A approved by the Board of Regents in 2001. The policy (pp. 143-145) is summarized as follows:

The University does not discriminate based on gender, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, or age in any of its policies or practices in compliance with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the American with Disabilities Act of 1990. Additionally, the University prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation with regard to all matters under the authority and control of the University. The University also complies with the Readjustment Discrimination Act of 1974 pertaining to Vietnam Era Veterans and qualified special disabled veterans. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 makes it illegal to discriminate because of pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of age.

UOG is committed to achieving equal opportunity and full participation of persons with disabilities by providing for nondiscriminatory access to its services and facilities through the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) office. In 2005, UOG had three students with physical disability and four students with learning disability. The UOG 2005-2006 Undergraduate Catalog, p. 2 states:

The President of the University of Guam is committed to ensuring a work environment free of discrimination and sexual harassment. Administrators, directors, managers, and supervisors must inform employees of the policies prohibiting discrimination and sexual harassment, emphasize the policy of zero tolerance, and deal promptly with any problem situations. Each of us is expected to maintain high standards of honesty, integrity, and conduct. Discrimination and sexual harassment violate those standards.

There is great acceptance of UOG’s diverse population. This is evident through the various units focusing on serving individuals from diverse populations such as people with disabilities, the aged, and people who speak a language other than English. The School of Education (SOE) related to serving these diverse learners include the Equal Employment Opportunity office, ADA office, the Institute for Micronesian Health and Aging, Guam Center for Excellence on Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service (CEDDERS), and the Micronesian Language Institute. UOG TRIO (Upward Bound, Talent Search, and Student Support Services) programs assist low-income students attend UOG. The diversity of learners and communities at UOG make it unique.

UOG is a diverse university campus within the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), as expressed by Manuel Esteban, co-chair of the WASC accreditation team: “People in the mainland talk about diversity, and most struggle just to get a student body that is representative of a region. But here you have an exceptionally diverse population, both in terms of the students, the faculty, and the administration.” (“WASC’s answers,” 2000, p. 2)

The philosophy of SOE is that education is the forum through which human conditions are improved and egalitarian values are taught. Education is a necessity and opportunity as well. The SOE provides initial preparation and continuing educational opportunities to aspiring candidates and other education personnel for meeting the diverse educational demands as well as the practice of multicultural education. The SOE realizes that multicultural education is a process that permeates all aspects of school practices, policies and organization as a means to ensure the highest levels of academic achievement for all students. The SOE is the academic, research, and service resource center for Guam and the greater Micronesian areas. The SOE plays a leadership role in delivering instruction and related educational services under challenging social, economic, environmental, and political realities. To support both the Conceptual Framework and the mission of SOE, the programs, faculty and staff exemplify and address diversity through its curriculum, field experiences, hiring of diverse faculty, enrollment of diverse candidates, and experience with P-12 students of diverse backgrounds.

4.1 Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Curriculum and Experiences

How does UOG introduce candidates to diverse cultures and peoples through the General Education curriculum?

UOG’s General Education curriculum is designed to expose students to issues related to diversity. These include general education courses listed in the UOG Catalog (2005-2006) under the following categories: Global Studies (diverse culture), Modern Language (the study of a foreign language), Regional Studies (ethnicity), and Search for Meaning (gender). Specifically (pp. 41-42):

Global Studies courses introduce students to a broad perspective of the world’s civilizations and provide them with various aspects of human society from the past to the present. The Modern Language requirement provides students with the opportunity to learn to understand different patterns of communication and perspectives. Regional Studies courses help students gain an understanding of how Pacific island cultures are different from other societies and what factors contributed to the differences. Search for Meaning courses teach students how to inquiry while challenging them to question fundamental concepts such as the meaning of life and the nature of reality. Students develop an awareness of the significance of social and cultural contexts in defining themselves, their gender and their relations with one another.

Professional education requirements include one course in local history, or culture. Candidates are recommended to enroll in HI211 or ED265 to fulfill general education requirements as they focus on multicultural issues. ED265 focuses on issues related to Culture and Education on Guam. HI211 is the History of Guam as summarized below:

• HI211: History of Guam: This course examines the pre-Magellan period, the Spanish regime, Guam’s political development under the United States Naval Government, and the island’s present civil government.
• ED265: Culture and Education in Guam: This is a study of Guam’s cultural development; differing educational approaches to the cultural environment, both past and present, are explored. It meets the Guam teacher certification requirement in culture or history.

What required coursework and experiences enable teacher candidates and candidates for other professional school roles to develop awareness of the importance of diversity in teaching and learning and to develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to adapt instructional services to diverse populations?

The SOE reflects its commitment to diversity through the development of each candidate as aknowledgeable scholar who knows and learns about the background and experience of students. Under the Conceptual Framework of effective communicator, SOE prepares candidates to tailor instruction by adapting presentations to the needs, abilities, and experiential backgrounds of learners. The professional education requirements provide candidates within the SOE—the opportunity to develop their knowledge, skills, and dispositions to work with P-12 students of diverse backgrounds. The specific courses include ED201 (Human Growth and Development) and ED300 (Educational Psychology). Both courses provide an introduction to diverse learners and the need for schools to consider the individual needs of the learner. The ED201 course covers human growth and development with special emphasis on the formative and school years of the child. Through observation of children in the school and elsewhere, patterns of development and the impact of school on the child are studied. The ED300 courseoffers an analysis of the complex factors involved in learning, individual differences, motivation for learning, individual differences in learning, and socio-cultural factors as they affect the education of children and youth. In addition to these two courses related to diversity, elementary majors are required to take ED215 (Introduction to Exceptional Children) and ED446 (Including Students with Disabilities in the Regular Classroom). These courses help candidates to develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to work with students with disabilities in an inclusive environment.Table 1 is a summary of the required courses and experiences that enable candidates to develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions to adapt instruction and services to diverse populations.

Table 1: Knowledge, Skills, Dispositions Related to Diversity

What UOG research provides evidence about candidates’ proficiencies and understanding of diversity?

Critical thinking is an important learning outcome for teacher candidates. The literature shows that this outcome is affected by a number of factors, including exposure to cultural diversity. Focus group interviews were thus conducted by one of the SOE faculty to achieve a better understanding of the development of critical thinking among the SOE students (Inoue, 2005). When asked how or what diversity experiences through the curriculum and learning experience influenced their perceived development of critical thinking skills, the typical answers were:

·       Good SOE professors facilitate students to think critically, providing knowledge and applications useful in real world situations, and using a classroom as a community.

·       Learning from ethnically diverse professors at SOE is beneficial. Integrating their own cultural experiences into the learning climate makes the teaching process even better.

·       Non-traditional adult students have a great deal of life experiences and associating with them helps younger students to enhance survival skills as well as people skills.

Furthermore, the SOE focus group participants recognized that working on group projects with ethnically diverse students as well as field experiences promoted their critical and creative thinking skills. This point of view supports Lynn’s (1998) observation: “One of the richest vehicles for enhancing student learning in the classroom is the diversity of students themselves” (p. 123). In addition to the diversified student population (in terms of ethnicity and social status), the number of non-traditional-aged students has been increasing at SOE. As the focus group participants described, “it is beneficial to tap the knowledge and experiences of non-traditional students, allowing younger students to learn from older students, and vice versa” (Finkel, 1999, p. 33). Diversity is a given at SOE, and such diversity represents an opportunity and a potential source of enrichment in teacher education. The findings of the focus study suggest that SOE is well equipped to help students move from a denial or a minimization of difference to an acceptance, an adaptation and an integration of cultural diversity into their own worldview.

The notion of “we teach who we are” has significant implications for teachers of today’s learners (Howard, 2003, p. 198). Therefore, teachers knowing who they are as people, understanding the contexts in which they teach, and questioning their knowledge about teaching and learning styles are as important as the mastery of techniques for instructional effectiveness. Through daily teaching, seminars, and conferences, the SOE faculty provide candidates with maximum opportunities to understand teaching and learning styles and to adapt instruction in diverse learning environments.

4.2 Experiences working with Diverse Higher Education and School Faculty

How diverse are the professional education faculty, faculty from other units and school-based faculty?

The SOE is committed to the recruitment, hiring and retention of faculty from diverse populations. The desired background stated in SOE position announcements is knowledge and experience working in a multicultural setting: “the position calls for someone who is adaptable, who possesses a global vision and who is interested in working in a dynamic and multi-cultural institution” (UOG Human Resources Office Position Announcement). An excerpt from the policy on equal employment opportunity reads as follows: The University of Guam is an equal opportunity employer and is firmly committed to nondiscrimination in its hiring, termination, compensation, promotion decisions and in all other employment decisions and practices and in the application of its personnel policies and collective bargaining agreements. As part of its policy and practice, employment decisions will be made irrespective of the employee’s or applicant’s race, color, religion, religious creed, national origin, age (except for minors), disability, sexual orientation, gender, citizenship, military service status, and/or any other status protected by law.

What effort does the SOE make in recruiting and retaining a culturally diverse faculty?

The SOE recognizes that faculty search committees are successful in contributing to the goal of diversifying the SOE faculty. Efforts recruiting diverse faculty include: keeping resumes of prospective candidates on file and contacting them when a faculty search begins; and searching for individuals employed outside of academe but who, through cutbacks or a career change, may be well suited to a faculty position. The SOE does not make any assumptions about candidates (e.g., an assumption that a particular racial group would not feel welcome in the UOG community), resisting the tendency to measure individuals and their credentials against one standard. The SOE also recognizes that achieving reappointment requires a great effort, and that new faculty members are more likely to attain reappointment if they receive guidance from the Unit administrator and senior faculty members during the early years at SOE. Senior professors provide guidance for junior faculty by examining the syllabi and teaching materials, as well as by visiting classes. Mentors also provide junior faculty evaluations of their research when it is in an early state of development, and offer suggestions for future scholarly activities and research planning. An important function of the Affirmative Action Program at UOG is to provide faculty diversification within each unit. Giving faculty members of unit complementary assignments based on the Comprehensive Faculty Evaluation System (CFES) assists in promoting faculty diversification. Faculty members are evaluated on how well they accomplish their assigned responsibilities. In evaluating scholarship, the same high standards are applied to all the faculty members, regardless of their cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

Out of 31 school-based faculty members, 19 or 62% are Asian or Pacific Islanders (see Table 2). This is comparable with the SOE student enrollment and the P-12 population within the Guam Department of Education. Table 2 also indicates gender differences among the faculty.

Table 2: Faculty Demographics (Fall 2005 – Spring 2006)

4.3 Experiences working with Diverse Candidates

How diverse are the candidates and what opportunities do they have to interact with diverse students?

UOG candidates come from Guam, the U.S. mainland, the various islands of Micronesia, the Philippines, India, Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan. The UOG campus makes for an interesting ethnic mix. That is, students enrolled within the SOE from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, various native languages, and composed of both genders (seeTable 3).

Table 3: Candidate Demographics (Fall 2005 – Spring 2006)

Focus group research noted above indicates that diversity experiences help SOE candidates to develop sensitivity and awareness of self. Specifically (Inoue, 2005),

·       Ethnic diversity provides students with opportunities to enhance cultural sensitivity, which, in turn, can enrich the intellectual development including critical thinking.

·       Students gain insight into how to maintain their own ethnic values and behaviors and how to think about cultural and racial matters scholarly and critically.

·       Students learn to attach positive feelings to multicultural experiences so that they feel respectful toward other ethnic and cultural groups, developing critical reflection.

Diversity at UOG is evident in the eclectic sampling of ethnic backgrounds represented in the university community. This provides a rich environment for student challenges in developing a critical consciousness relating racial, cultural, and ethnic diversity. Through the curriculum and academic forums, SOE emphasizes that the cultural critical consciousness is imperative to improving the educational opportunities and outcomes for candidates. Meaningful field experiences further the expansion of knowledge and appreciation of people from various cultural backgrounds. Additionally, UOG dormitories provide students with a sense of community, and offer students the opportunity to meet new people by participating in activities such as cultural events and camping trips for dorm residents (Muna, 2006).

4.4 Experiences Working with Diverse Student in P-12 Schools

The tropical island of Guam is the southernmost island in the Marianas chain, about 3,700 miles west south-west of Hawaii. Table 4 shows the ethnic breakdown of the island population.

Table 4: Ethnic Breakdown of Island Population based on 2000 Census

How does the Unit ensure that each candidate has a field experience in at least one diverse site? How does the Unit ensure that each candidate has a field experience working with exceptional children?

A major purpose of field experience (including student teaching) is to provide candidates with an opportunity to explore the initial feelings about teaching. Observation and reflection about teaching is important, as well as to have the opportunity to work with students individually, in small groups, and in whole-class situations. Teaching should be from a lesson plan basis. The SOE ensures that each of the candidates will have the experience working with exceptional children in at least one diverse site integrating a team approach involving the student teacher or intern, the cooperating teacher, and the SOE supervisor. Based on the notion that experience is oftentimes the best teacher, candidates develop and demonstrate competence in teaching children with diverse backgrounds and complex needs through the field experience.

As described in Standard 3, the majority of field experiences and clinical practices for pre-service students in SOE are conducted in the single public school district on the island, namely the Guam Public School System (GPSS). As described in Table 5, the P-12 population in GPSS consists of a diverse population that includes students with disabilities, English as a second language learners, and students with low socioeconomic status. Other experiences include working in the Department of Defense Education Activities (DODEA), and private schools. All private schools are affiliated with a specific religious organization.

How does the Unit ensure that candidates develop and practice the knowledge, skills, and dispositions related to diversity during their field experiences and clinical practices? How does the Unit ensure that candidates use feedback from peers and supervisors to reflect on their skills working with diverse populations?

The INTASC (Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium) standard 3 is a measurement of the candidates’ ability to demonstrate understanding of how students differ in their approaches to learning and create instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners. Element 1 of the INTASC Standards evaluates the candidates ability to take into account the needs of various learners during the planning and implementation stages and to make appropriate adaptations as a routine part of planning and delivery. Element 2 of the INTASC Standards evaluates the candidates’ ability for selection of resources to meet a range of
individual needs (special education to gifted). Candidates have a field experience and are assessed by the SOE supervisors and cooperating teachers at least two times using the rubric, whereby candidates’ evidence of attainment of each of the INTASC Standards is evaluated.

In field experiences and student teaching on Guam, candidates interact and work in highly diverse learning environments, developing and practicing knowledge, skills, and dispositions to work with P-12 students through exposure and working with students who represent a variety of racial, cultural, religious, and linguistic populations, as well as exceptionalities. The field experiences provide candidates with the opportunity to achieve a better understanding of diversity and direct experience in improving their skills at working with diverse populations. Data on student diversity in terms of ethnicity and socio-economic status in the GPSS schools in which candidates do their field experiences and clinical practice is presented in Table 5.

Table 5: Demographics on Clinical Sites for Initial and Advanced Programs (Fall 2005 – Spring 2006)

Summary

Higher education is especially influential when its social environment is different from students’ background and when it is diverse and complex enough to encourage intellectual experimentation and recognition of varied future possibilities in a diverse and globalized world. UOG’s General Education curriculum is designed to expose students to issues related to diversity, including courses such as Global Studies (diverse cultures), Modern Language (the study of a foreign language), Regional Studies (ethnicity), and Search for Meaning (gender). The SOE courses help candidates develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to work with students from diverse backgrounds, providing learning opportunities that enable candidates to develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions to adapt instruction and services to diverse populations. Further, the SOE focus-group participants recognized that working on group projects with ethnically diverse students as well as field experiences promoted their critical and creative thinking skills.

The SOE is committed to the recruitment, hiring and retention of faculty from diverse populations. Mentorship is recognized at the SOE as an important activity for retaining diverse faculty members. As expressed by Manuel Esteban, co-chair of the WASC accreditation team in 2000, UOG has an exceptionally diverse population in terms of the students, faculty, and administration.