Diversity Placements: Supporting the Development of Socially Just Teachers or Reinforcing Negative Stereotypes?

Oct 15, 2026

While K-12 schools become increasingly more diverse, teacher preparation programs often graduate predominantly White, middle-class teacher candidates, creating a cultural mismatch that can hinder inclusive instruction. This mixed-methods study examines how a diversity placement influences elementary teacher candidates’ personal and professional beliefs about diversity at a Midwestern U.S. university. A pre-/post-survey design shows significant score increases after placement, and interview analysis contextualizes the change. Recommendations for teacher preparation programs are provided.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages28

Reading Time1 h 11 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Diversity Placement and Teacher Beliefs

Theoretical Influence: Teacher Candidate Beliefs about Diverse Students

| | Diversity Placements: Supporting the Development of Socially Just Teachers or Reinforcing Negative Stereotypes? | | --- | --- | | | | Chloé S. Bolyard andA. Minor Baker, Missouri State University Abstract While K-12 schools become increasingly more diverse, teacher preparation programs continue graduating mostly White teacher candidates from a middle-class background. If not mitigated, this cultural mismatch can have a detrimental impact on students, as teachers’ beliefs about diverse students go unchecked and impact their practice with students. Oneway teacher preparation programs have sought to prepare teacher candidates to meet the diverse needs of students is through requiring a diverse field experience. This paper shares findings from a mixed-methods study that examined the influence of a diversity placement on elementary teacher candidates’personal and professional beliefs about diversity at a university in the Midwest United States. As a large, public university, Midwest University draws students from a wide variety of settings, from rural locations to dense urban communities. The majority of teacher candidates at Midwest University are from suburban and rural communities. Using a pre-/post-survey design, the researchers note two significant increases in participants’ scores after the diversity placement. Additionally, qualitative data analysis from interviews provides a nuanced understanding of survey score changes. Three recommendations for teacher preparation programs are provided. Keywords: elementary teacher education; teacher candidates; multicultural education; field experiences; teacher beliefs Given the increasing student diversity within schools (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2019) and the predominantly White, middle-class, female teaching force (Hochschild, 2003; Loewus, 2017), teachers must gain competencies related to serving diverse students through inclusive, equitable, and just practices. By diverse students, we mean students belonging to “historically marginalized sociocultural groups”(Pohan & Aguilar, 2001, p. 161) . Teacher beliefs and practices, specifically related to students who are different from them, have a profound impact on the teaching and learning environment (Kahn et al., 2014; Nelson & Guerra, 2014; Sleeter, 2001) . The demographic mismatch of teachers and students creates significant cultural and social gaps that contribute to the likelihood of marginalized students' poor performance in public education (Sandell & Tupy, 2015) . Responsive teacher preparation programs (TPPs), therefore, must prepare teacher candidates (TCs) for the social and cultural contexts found in public schools. These contexts are defined in the diversity standards required by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) (CAEP, 2013) . Some scholars have argued that teacher education tends to perpetuate the status quo by failing to adequately prepare TCs to work with diverse students (Allen et al., 2017; LadsonBillings, 2010; Nelson & Guerra, 2014) . Current inadequate teacher education practices include a cultural homogeneity of faculty (Ladson-Billings, 2010; Warren, 2018); an additive, piecemeal approach to multicultural education (Ladson-Billings, 2010; Mills & Ballantyne, 2010); a “diverse” field experience as a hoop to jump through (Ladson-Billings, 2010) or that reinforces problematic stereotypes (Haberman & Post, 1992; Hayes & Juárez, 2012; Warren, 2018); and simplistic notions of culturally relevant pedagogy (Sleeter, 2012) . One way TPPs can disrupt the status quo is by working to enhance TCs’ equity literacy (Gorski, 2016) through meaningful and structured field experiences in schools with diverse student populations, sometimes referred to as “diversity placements”(Acquah & Commins, 2016; Siwatu et al., 2011) . Community-based experiences can be more important than coursework for developing TCs’ equity literacy (Sleeter, 2001) and self-efficacy a

FAQs

What problem does the paper address regarding teacher diversity placements?

It examines whether diversity placements help teacher candidates develop socially just beliefs or instead reinforce negative stereotypes, given ongoing mismatches between diverse students and mostly White, middle-class teacher candidates.

What research design is used to study the impact of the diversity placement?

The study uses a mixed-methods approach with a pre-/post-survey design and qualitative interview analysis to interpret changes in teacher candidates’ beliefs.

What main evidence is reported from the study’s quantitative results?

The researchers report two significant increases in participants’ scores after completing the diversity placement.

Oct 15, 2026

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