The Study
In spite of the documented prevalence of deficit thinking and importance of cultural understanding, few educator preparation programs adequately address the issue of deficit beliefs and cultural knowledge among pre-service educators. While many preparation programs have a multicultural education course requirement, few have truly transformed the program content to reflect a multicultural perspective. A single course is insufficient to shift personal beliefs (Weisman & Garza, 2002) or develop deep cultural knowledge. As a result, many educators enter the field with deficit beliefs about diverse stu- dents and families. These beliefs are strongly held, even by those educators who see themselves as equity-oriented (García & Guerra, 2004). Because many educators also lack sufficient cultural knowledge to understand inter- cultural dynamics in classroom settings and typically do not have access to professional development that helps them develop this knowledge, deficit beliefs are often reinforced through professional practice.
This article adds to the body of literature related to educator beliefs by reporting the findings from a qualitative study of the beliefs and cultural knowledge of practicing teachers and school leaders. This work is significant for two reasons. First, the majority of recent research on educator beliefs has focused on pre-service teachers. There is a dearth of current literature on the beliefs of practicing educators and, in particular, educational leaders. Secondly, while a small number of studies have examined educators’ cultural knowledge, almost none have assessed application of this knowledge in prac- tice. Therefore, this study is of considerable importance because it focuses on educators in the field, the majority of whom are school leaders, and because it examines cultural knowledge and its application in educational practice.
The purpose of this study was threefold: (1) to identify the beliefs practic- ing educators hold about culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse students and families; (2) to assess educator knowledge of culture; and (3) to understand how educators apply cultural knowledge in practice. Data were gathered from 111 educators who were asked to respond to a series of scenarios relating to the education of students from culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse backgrounds. The data-gathering instrument was developed through fieldwork, which examined the interactions of educators with diverse student populations and documented the educators’ explanations for the interactions.