4c. Experiences working with diverse candidates
4c1. What educational interactions do candidates (including candidates from off-campus sites and/or in distance learning programs) have with peers from diverse groups?
UW-Whitewater is the second most diverse regional comprehensive campus in the UW-System with a minority enrollment of 10.5%. In addition, we have the largest percentage of students with disabilities in the UW-System. According to the 2003-05 NSSE data, UWW students report slightly higher mean levels on self-reported racial understanding and institutional emphasis encouraging contact among students of different backgrounds than comparison groups. In 2004 and 2005 the increasing first-year averages became significantly higher than senior means. Additionally, the broadening experience of studying abroad is being engaged in by more UWW respondents.
The 2003-05 NSSE data asked the following questions with related results for the college of Education’s undergraduate majors (scale: 1=Never, 2=Sometimes, 3= Often, 4= Very Often)
“During the current school year, about how often have you had serious conversations with students of a different race or ethnicity than your own?”
Year |
Comm. Dis. |
Early Child. |
Education |
Elem. Ed. |
Phys. Ed |
Special Ed. |
2003 |
2.00 |
2.00 |
2.50 |
2.26 |
1.67 |
2.25 |
2004 |
1.78 |
2.32 |
2.03 |
2.28 |
2.41 |
2.73 |
2005 |
2.30 |
2.29 |
2.16 |
2.20 |
2.86 |
2.17 |
“During the current school year, about how often have you had serious conversations with students who differ from you in terms of their religious beliefs, political opinion, or personal values?”
Year |
Comm. Dis. |
Early Child. |
Education |
Elem. Ed. |
Phys. Ed |
Special Ed. |
2003 |
1.88 |
2.25 |
2.40 |
2.51 |
2.44 |
2.58 |
2004 |
2.11 |
2.89 |
2.38 |
2.48 |
2.44 |
2.55 |
2005 |
2.60 |
3.07 |
2.63 |
2.43 |
2.86 |
2.52 |
Opportunities to study internationally and interact with international students on campus have increased in the past 5 years. The College of Education is very proud of its current international opportunities in Jamaica, Australia, Sweden, Mexico, and Scotland and is working to open up experiences in Thailand, Ghana, China and Ecuador. These opportunities afford students a chance to teach in diverse settings as well as interact with international students on campus through coursework and practica. During 2006-07 fourteen student teachers (4%) did a portion of their student teaching assignment outside the United States. In the past seven years, 103 students have participated in international student teaching, representing of 5.2% of all student teachers. This type of experience is expensive and represents an average financial investment by the unit of $9500 per year to support and promote international student teaching opportunities since 1999.
Students get many opportunities to work with candidates from diverse backgrounds in and out of their professional education courses. Some of these opportunities include candidates from Project SWEETT, interactions with international exchange students, multiple events sponsored by the Multicultural Resource Center, the Diversity Advocates Program, and participating in diverse groups such as our Gospel Choir. A list of student organizations, demonstrating the diversity and multiple opportunities for diverse interactive experiences can be found here.
4c2. What efforts does the unit make to recruit and retain candidates from diverse groups?
UWW is unique in its efforts to recruit and retain diverse candidates in teacher education. The Minority Teacher Preparation Program is a well-established unit on campus. Its purpose is to increase enrollment, retention and graduation rates of undergraduate multicultural students who major in education. It has four main emphases: 1) to enhance minority high school and college students’ awareness of career opportunities in the education profession, 2) to increase the involvement of enrolled students in activities leading to improved academic performance, 3) to provide opportunities for minority students to regularly meet and exchange ideas with successful minority educators, and 4) to provide support in the form of academic, personal and financial counseling for students with such needs. It offers one-on-one academic advising, student seminars on education topics and issues, field trips to public and private elementary and secondary schools, employment announcements and teaching internship opportunities, student conferences, career and financial counseling, and has a lending library containing PPST study guides and career-oriented publications. A significant influence of the MTP Program is its role as a information center for teacher education scholarships and grants at the state and national level. In addition to the MTP Program, UWW’s multicultural students in their junior and senior who wish to pursue their education beyond initial licensure (Bachelor’s degree) year may be eligible for the McNair Scholar’s Program. In addition, UWW participates in the federally funded TRIO program through the Student Retention Services Office. The mission of the EOP is to provide academic support services to at least 180 students who are first generation, low income and/or learning/physically challenged. UWW also has several pre-college programs designed to recruit minority students including a very popular Upward Bound Program. Individual departments also pursue additional support for minority student recruitment. For example, the Special Education Department has submitted a COBE grant targeting supports for increasing the number of minority teachers in special education.
Starting with the 2008-09 the unit was given a special budgetary allocation to help recruit and retain diverse teachers. This budgetary DIN will enable the unit to hire one full time instructor in high need areas, one minority teacher recruiter/advisor, and one half time data manager.
4c3. Please complete the following table (Table 9) to identify the gender, ethnic, and racial diversity of candidates preparing to work in P-12 settings using the U.S. Census categories.
Table 9
Candidate Demographics
Candidates in Initial Teacher Preparation Programs* |
Candidates In Advanced Preparation Programs* |
All Students in the Institution |
Demographics of Geographical Area Served by Institution** |
|
n (%) |
n (%) |
n (%) |
% |
|
American Indian or Alaskan Native |
4 (.34%) |
2 (.57%) |
45 (0.42%) |
0.40% |
Asian |
14 (1.19%) |
4 (1.15%) |
271 (2.52%) |
1.54% |
Black or African American |
11 (.93%) |
6 (1.73%) |
465 (4.33%) |
5.34% |
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander |
No data |
No data |
No data |
No data |
Hispanic or Latino |
18 (1.53%) |
12 (3.45%) |
274 (2.52%) |
5.8% |
White |
1121 (95.48%) |
317 (91.35%) |
9579 (89.21%) |
86.2% |
Two or more races |
No data |
No data |
No data |
1.06% |
International Students*** |
0 |
0 |
103 (.96%) |
- |
Race/ethnicity unknown |
6(.51%) |
6 (1.72%) |
0 |
- |
Total |
1174 |
347 |
10,737 |
- |
Female |
893 (76.06%) |
296 (85.30%) |
5463 (50.08%) |
50.13% |
Male |
281 (23.93%) |
51 (14.94%) |
5274 (49.12%) |
49.87% |
Total |
1174 |
347 |
10,737 |
- |
*Demographics were compiled using the 2006 US Census Bureau data averages for the following Wisconsin counties in our official “service area” for professional education programs: Dane, Green, Rock, Jefferson, Dodge, Waukesha, Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, Walworth, Ozaukee (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/55/55025.html)
** Data include both full and part time students enrolled in professional education from 2007 PEDS report.
*** Data was collected for international students on our campus and held separately as they are not residents.
4c4. How diverse are candidates in the initial teacher preparation and advanced preparation programs? Diversity characteristics beyond those in Table 9 should be discussed. How diverse is the geographical area from which candidates are drawn? What do the data in Table 9 tell the unit about its candidates?
Data from Table 9 show us that candidates in our initial and advanced teacher preparation programs are predominately white and female. Our advanced programs are slightly more diverse than our initial programs, with diversity coming primarily from Hispanic and Latino students. This is probably due to the influence of our Project SWEETT grant. Our advanced teacher preparation programs also average more Asians and Black or African American students per capita than our initial programs. When Unit data are compared to university data our programs closely mirror the university population at large. However, it is clear that the Unit needs to examine ways to recruit more males into teacher education at both the initial and advanced programs. Teacher education has historically been seen as a female-dominated profession, and our numbers support this belief. This is particularly true for the EC/MC and MC/EA licensure programs. The EA/A programs are more gender balanced. Again, this is closely related to historic teacher education culture where females are seen to nurture young children and males teach more content in the higher grades. When examining the census data for the counties with high Black or African American populations they are generally furthest away from our institution (Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, Beloit areas) and are also served by other private and public teacher education programs in the state (UW-Milwaukee, Cardinal Stritch University, Alverno College, Beloit College). These data indicate that we could do a better job of recruiting students from these service areas and evaluate ways to make our programs distinct from competing teacher education institutions.
