Selected Demographics, Attitudes, and Beliefs About Diversity of Preservice Teachers

Abstract

In this study, preservice teachers’ demographic variables such as race, innercity program experiences, religious affiliation, and cross-cultural friendships are examined to see if they influence the preservice teachers’ beliefs on issues of diversity. The data are from a Personal Beliefs About Diversity Scale and a Professional Beliefs About Diversity Scale. Analyses of the data indicate that religious denomination and cross-cultural friendship involvement as demographic variables significantly predicted scores on all the surveys. Another important finding of these analyses is a closing gap between students who had lower scores and higher scores on the presurveys by the end of the course.