Chapter 3: Teacher Beliefs,Performance and Proficiency in Diversity-Oriented Teacher Preparation

One of the most prominent and frequently discussed issues in the literature on teacher preparation of great concern to researchers, teacher educators, and policy makers is the demographic imbalance between the proportion of students of color and the proportion of teachers of color in American public schools. Already overwhelmingly populated by White, culturally mainstreamed females, the teaching force is becoming even more so, in contrast to a student population that is increasingly culturally, linguistically, and racially diverse. This is a trend expected to increase in the coming decades. According to statistics of the National Center for Education Statistics (1997), in 1994 the teaching force was 87% White with only 13% teachers of color, whereas the student population of color was approaching 50% nationwide.