A LONGITUDINAL MEASURE OF THE PERCEPTUAL IMPACT OF A CULTURALDIVERSITY TEACHING PRACTICUM ON THE INTERPERSONALCOMPETENCY OF STUDENT TEACHERSLloyd C. Bell, Associate ProfessorUniversity of NebraskaAbstractThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the longitudinal effect of a planned in-school practicumexperience addressing cultural diversity on the self perception of student teachers regarding theirinterpersonal competency in such situations. Subjects of the study were eighteen student teachers ofagricultural education and six student teachers of family and consumer science enrolled in the Collegesof Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources,and Human Resources and Family Sciences respectively.Evaluation was accomplished through the administration of a multi-cultural attitudinal inventory to allsubjects prior to, immediately after, and at least one year after the experience. Subscale evaluation includedthe areas of teaching skills, knowledge of cultural diversity, teacher-student relationships, and culturalawareness. Findings of the study indicated perceptual change of interpersonal competency occurred withinsubjects in all subscale areas measured. The area of greatest gain was teacher-student relationships. Thearea of least gain, and regression over time was cultural awareness.Introduction/Theoretical FrameworkThe rapid change in the ethnicdemographics of the United Stateshas made diversity one of the mostsignificant social facts of thissociety. No longer is the occasionfor an inter-cultural encountermost likely when one leaves ones’own country (Avery, 1992, p.3).As of 1992, over 50% of the enrollment in50 of the largest 99 school districts in the UnitedStates was comprised by students of color. Thesedistricts comprise 23% of the total studentpopulation in the United States (Nieto, 1996). It isa challenge for schools to help youth from diversecultures and groups attain the necessaryknowledge, skills and attitudes to functioneffectively in the 21st century.Teachers play a key role inimplementing multi-culturaleducation and helping studentsJournal of Agricultural Education 11develop democratic racial attitudesand behaviors. Because they bringtheir own cultural perspectives,values, hopes, and dreams to theclassroom they are in a position tostrongly influence the views,conceptions, and behaviors ofstudents (Banks, 1995, p. 333).Banks (1994) identifies four categories ofknowledge in which teachers require a solidbackground in order to acquire attitudes,perceptions and behavior necessary to actualizemulti-cultural education in schools. Thosecategories are (1) a knowledge of major paradigmsin multi-cultural education; (2) a knowledge of themajor concepts in multi-cultural education; (3) ahistorical and cultural knowledge of major ethnicgroups; and (4) a pedagogical knowledge abouthow to adapt curriculum and instruction to uniqueneeds of students from diverse cultural, ethnic,and/or social class groups.If teachers are to work successfullyVol. 41 Issue 2, 2000with students from culturesdifferent from their own, it isimperative that their trainingprogram provide for more thanintellectualization about cross-cultural issues. Teacher growth inthis area is possible only to theextent that the teacher’s ownbehavior in a cross-cultural settingis the subject of examination andexperimentation (Hillard's chaptercited in Zeichner, 1995, pg. 407).Probably the most frequently citedtopic of discussion in the teachereducation for diversity literature isthe provision of some type of fieldexperience to help sensitizeprospective teachers to culturaldifferences and/or to help thembecome more capable cross-cultural teachers.A variety of typologies for staffdevelopment andseveralcomprehensive lists of what areclaimed to be research-basedeffective staff developmentstrategies are offered in the staffdevelopment for diversityliterature. However, there is littleevidence that any of the staffdevelopment for diversity reportedin this literature has been effectiveover the long term in producinganything more than surface-levelchanges in teachers or theirteaching practices. As in preserviceteacher education for diversity,what little success has beendemonstrated seems to be closelylinked with cultural immersionexperiences (Zeichner, 1995, pp.407-413).Individual sensitization to culturalJournal of Agricultural Educationdifference and/or appreciation of cultural diversityinvolves the consideration of behavioral change.Rokeach (1968) stated that behavior is a functionof two interacting attitudes. One is attitudefocused on an object (cultural diversity), and theother is attitude being focused on the situation(treatment by cultural immersion). Behavior is anexpression of attitude as differentially manifestedalong a range of values in relation to the specificinteraction of the object(s) and the situation(s).12Theories of attitude change seemto be generally unconcerned withwhether an expressed behaviorchange does or does not representan underlying attitude change.Indeed, the classical paradigmemployed in experimental studiesof behavior change - pre-test,treatment, post-test- is not capableof telling us whether an expressedbehavior change indicates anattitude change; it can only tell uswhether an expression of behaviorhas or has not changed as a resultof a particular experimentaltreatment. But, the more post-testsituations in which a changedopinion is manifested, the moreconfident we may be that a changein attitude has actually taken place.Any experimental study ofexpressed opinion change, if toqualify as a study in attitudechange, should demonstrate theexistence of change in at least tworeasonably different situations”(Rokeach, 1968, p. 140 & 148).In 1993, Bell reported research results ona multi-cultural teaching field experienceconducted at the University of Nebraska withstudent teachers of agricultural education andconsumer science. In that research, student teacherperception was inventoried prior to andVol. 41 Issue 2, 2000immediately following the field experienceregarding behavioral teaching skills, culturalawareness, knowledge about cultural diversity, andstudent-teacher relationships. Those resultsreported perceptual interpersonal change in all ofthe areas in which the student teachers wereinventoried. A recommendation of the study wasto conduct a longitudinal follow-up of theparticipants to measure the longer term effectsafter at least one year on the interpersonalcompetency of the participants.Purpose