Detrimental Effects of Color-Blind Racial Attitudes in Preparing a Culturally Responsive Teaching Workforce for Immigrants

Abstract

Demands on the teacher workforce are changing as one quarter of children in U.S. schools live in immigrant families and about half of students are racial/ethnic minorities. Simultaneously, diminishing teacher support and teacher shortages cause reliance on alternative certification programs (e.g., Teach for America). In response, we studied the links between color-blind racial attitudes and culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy and outcome expectations with immigrant students among 323 teachers completing an alternative program. Results from a moderated mediation model based on social cognitive career theory demonstrated that color-blind racial attitudes were significantly negatively associated with teaching outcome expectations with immigrants. In addition, the link between color-blind attitudes and self-efficacy was positive and significant only for Asian/Asian American teachers, and the link between self-efficacy and outcome expectations was significant for Latinx and Asian/Asian American teachers, and White teachers. We discuss implications for supporting teachers’ career development in schools serving immigrants of color.