Introduction

The school's conceptual framework provides the foundation for a commitment to diversity. The Guiding Principle, community, is one basis for a focus on diversity. The School of Education itself represents a diverse community of scholars and candidates, and through its various programs and activities offers candidates direct experience with diversity in its varied forms. The commitment to meaningful experience has supported the integration of field experiences in each program to expose candidates to a variety of environments and students. Throughout the professional education coursework, candidates are required to critically reflect on the diversity among students and within school settings. Programs have incorporated opportunities in which candidates acquire knowledge and multiple forms of understanding and thus an appreciation for and sensitivity to the diversity among students.

Diversity is incorporated into each of our programs in several ways. First, most programs include in their required professional education coursework a course that addresses multi-cultural education and one that addresses children with exceptional needs. The multi-cultural education course is complemented with an Indianapolis field experience and reflective assignment. Candidates spend one day in an Indianapolis school shadowing a student, with opportunities to examine an urban school from the perspective of one student. The individual programs that have not incorporated these specific courses (such as the early childhood program) have integrated the topic of diverse learners throughout the programs' curricula.

Second, all programs integrate into their professional education methods coursework the knowledge, skills, and performances that address teaching diverse learners. In each of the program matrices response to INTASC Principle 3, understands how students differ in their approaches to learning, creates instructional opportunities adapted to diverse learners, a minimum of five courses are listed as addressing the issues of diverse learners.

Third, the coursework cited above is complemented by each program's field experience component in which candidates are placed in diverse classroom settings. The settings include students of cultural and economic diversity as well as exceptional needs students.

As elaborated elsewhere in this report, the design of each of the teacher education programs involved the collaboration of faculty and public school representatives. In their deliberations, the value of incorporating coursework and field experiences that specifically addressed diverse learners is evident in the elements of the program design noted above.

Element One: Design, Implementation and Evaluation of Curriculum and Experiences (Initial Programs)

As noted above, most programs require two courses devoted to the topic of diversity. The objectives of the multi-cultural course include:

The course on children with exceptional needs is designed:

In addition to these required courses, several of the other professional education coursework required in each program integrates knowledge and activities that address the needs and instruction of diverse learners. For example, in the elementary education program, nine different courses and field experiences are listed as addressing the issues surrounding diverse learners (INTASC Principle 3). In the secondary program, seven different courses are noted.

All the program matrices indicate the courses in which the issues are addressed, the activities that candidates are required to complete in order to strengthen their knowledge and skills associated with diverse learners, and the criteria by which the activities are assessed. A review of the matrices affirms that candidates do complete specific activities and are assessed as to their abilities to understand students' diverse approaches to learning and to develop and deliver instructional opportunities adapted to diverse learners. In summary, the program matrices reflect that the respective knowledge and skills are integrated well throughout each program. The efficacy of these courses and experiences will be evaluated as part of each program's review for the unit assessment system, described in the response to Standard II.

Furthermore, the field experience component in each program is structured to provide candidates with the opportunities to work with diverse learners, and to prepare and deliver instructional materials which address the needs of all learners. Each field experience within the programs is located at different schools in the seven-county area, providing opportunities for candidates to work with culturally and economically diverse students, as well as those with exceptional needs.

Element One: Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Curriculum and Experiences (Advanced Programs)

Courses at the graduate level incorporate diversity issues in a variety of ways. For example, Educ L500: Issues in Language Learning, introduces candidates to critical children's and adolescent literature and focuses on using this literature as a starting point for classroom discussions about equity and social justice. This literature features stories about present and past marginalized populations and how social action can change patterns of discrimination.

The first course in the master's degree in curriculum and instruction, Educ J500: Instruction in the Context of Curriculum, addresses topics that include conceptions and definitions of curriculum and instruction and the impact of curriculum on social contexts.

The very popular course, Educ H520: Education and Social Issues, examines social conditions, issues, and expectations and how they affect schooling in the United States. Although all types and levels of educational institutions are discussed, examples from schools across the country are used as a context for discussions. Candidates learn how society and culture shape the complex policies and practices of schooling.

Candidates in advanced programs generally complete at least two courses focused upon helping all students learn. These include: Educ H520: Social Issues in Education; Educ H540: Sociology of Education; Educ P515: Child Development; Educ P516: Adolescent Development; Educ P540: Learning and Cognition; and Educ K505: Introduction to Exceptional Needs. Additionally, the design of the curriculum of advanced programs includes course work that demonstrates the school's commitment to advanced candidate preparation that provides the knowledge, skills and experiences necessary to help all students learn and to foster respectful, supportive learning environments. These experiences build upon the candidate's initial teacher preparation as well as the setting in which most of our candidates are working as education professionals.

Most graduate programs include specific coursework that has outcomes related to working with diverse candidates in school settings. Specifically, the course Educ E555: Human Diversity in Education, is taken by all elementary graduate students; Educ G575: Cross Cultural Counseling, is taken by all school counseling candidates and many school psychology candidates. Additionally, our advanced candidates bring a wide range of classroom experience as they enter our programs of study. Through reflection and informal sharing, faculty members have the opportunity to assess candidate dispositions as they may relate to diversity and dealing with exceptional populations.

Initiatives Underway to Address Minority Graduate Recruitment and Retention in the School of Education, IU Bloomington

In a November 1992 Report on Productivity and Enhancement, the faculty of the school stated a commitment to increase the diversity of the students and faculty. The Committee on Diversity was established to facilitate that goal.

The School has increased its minority faculty population from five percent in 1990 to 15 percent in 1999-2000. Minority staff members comprise five percent of the total staff population. From a total enrollment of 2183 undergraduate students, there were 130 minority students enrolled in the fall of 2001, or approximately six percent. Out of approximately 60,000 living alumni of the school, there are 2,848 who represent a minority group, or approximately four and a half percent.

Recruitment Brochure: In March 2001, with the support of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, funding was provided for a brochure, Building a Diverse Community (see document room). The purpose of the brochure is to attract a diverse enrollment by showing some of our current diverse population.

School Targeting: Another initiative started at the School to recruit minority students has been through the identification of five K-12 schools in Indiana with medium to large minority populations. Faculty members from the school are working with those middle and junior high schools to create partnerships and sustain ongoing relationships via personal contact, direct mail, and working with teachers and counselors to identify students with high potential.

Graduate Minority Recruitment and Retention: The school and its academic departments have made explicit commitments to recruit and retain excellent students of color. Departments make individual efforts to attract high quality graduate students into their programs. The current graduate minority student population is 11percent of the total enrollment. The total enrollment for fall 2001 was 128 minority students out of a total enrollment of 1,183 graduate students.

Several subcommittees of the school's Policy Council (need network ID), in particular the Committee on Diversity (need network ID) and the Recruitment, Admission and Financial Aid Committee, have developed a set of recommendations to the Policy Council and to the Long Range Planning Committee to make diversity a priority. Among the recommendations are the following:

Accomplishments within the last two years:

Developed Minority Retention Program: This program recruited faculty and staff as mentors for all minority graduate students who wished to participate in the program. While there were many more volunteer mentors than mentees, the program involved about a dozen minority students and their mentors in a variety of formal and informal activities. Several formal receptions were held each year. The program responsibilities have just been taken over by a new faculty member who will work with minority students to establish new relationships and new events and priorities for the program.

The Minority Education Association (MEA) for graduate students was established recently by a group of minority graduate students. The students created an ambitious program that includes monthly coffee hours, a social event at the beginning of the academic year, and a retreat on dissertation preparation. They are presently planning with the Office of Graduate Studies, RUGS, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs, a new mentoring program for minority students studying at the University.

Two doctoral students competed successfully for national minority fellowships: One is currently receiving a Gates Scholarship and the second a Ford Fellowship.

Within the last two years, approximately fourteen of the school's graduate students received a Chancellor's Minority, Dean's Minority, Graduate Minority, or an Equal Opportunity Fellowship from the University Graduate School.

In February, the Chair of the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology initiated a series of letters to minority undergraduate students of excellence, that were identified by the American Psychological Association.

Scholarships and Fellowships:

• The Laura Ann Rawlins Hinkle Scholarship was established by Daisy Hinkle Garton in honor of her grandmother who was an elementary school teacher. Eligibility: Full-time student with preference given to an American Indian who intends to return to his or her home community to teach. Selection Process: School of Education Scholarship Committee.
• The Joy J. Mays Scholarship was established by Bill Mays in memory of his mother who taught Special Education for many years. Eligibility: Graduate or Undergraduate student in Special Education, with preference given to an African- American. Selection Process: School of Education Scholarship Committee.
• The Gates Minority Scholarship
• Spencer Foundation grants
• McNair Scholarship

There are presently ten graduate students receiving the above minority scholarships.

Assistantships: Minority students holding assistantships by department:

There are also fellowships for continuing minority students that reduce tuition to in-state levels and also provide a stipend. This varies from year to year depending on the market and contributions.

Teaching Diversity Website: A web site for Diversity Teaching was established by the Office of Instructional Consulting in Education Technology Services. The web site provides information regarding learning styles, delivery, and leader-guided discussions. It includes topics such as how to deal with conflict, how to recognize diverse learning styles, and the way women learn and react versus men.

Element Two: Experiences Working with Diverse Faculty (Initial and Advanced Programs)

Both initial and advanced candidates have increasing opportunities to work with faculty members from diverse backgrounds and with faculty who have thought carefully about and studied issues of diversity in education.

Presented below is summary data for gender and ethnicity. In terms of gender, there are 59 women (44%; 43.4% IUB and 46.4% IUPUI) and 75 men (56%; 56.6% IUB and 53.6% IUPUI) on the faculty. In 1984-85, four faculty members were ethnic minorities. In 1996-97, twelve were ethnic minorities, while in 2002-03 there are 17 faculty members (12.7%; 12.3% IUB and 14.3% IUPUI) who add to the diversity of the School. Continued emphasis is placed on recruitment of a more diverse faculty and all faculty search reports must include a section which details the efforts and results in recruiting persons of color.

Candidates have the opportunity to interact in classroom settings on campus and in their field experiences with faculty members from diverse backgrounds, interests, ethnic, racial and gender backgrounds. Our faculty members have expertise in multicultural education and many years of experience related to preparing candidates to work with P-12 students from diverse cultural backgrounds. Our candidates have the opportunity to study with faculty members who have exceptional expertise in training students to work with students with exceptionalities.

Element Three: Experiences Working with Diverse Candidates (Initial and Advanced Programs)

Candidates in the school have a wonderful opportunity to interact with others that represent diverse ethnic, racial, gender, and socioeconomic groups. Of the 2034 initial candidates in the school, 132 (6%) of them represent diverse racial and ethnic groups. Of the 947 advanced candidates in the school, 141 (14%) represent candidates from diverse ethnic backgrounds. An additional 262 international students from 27 countries are enrolled in the school in advanced programs. The following countries have the largest representation of candidates within the school: South Korea (43); Taiwan (33); Turkey (25); and China (15).

The initial student of color population in the school is not yet a reflection of the diversity that we seek in our programs. We continue to enhance our recruitment efforts and just this year, employed a person with the sole responsibility to serve as director of recruitment. We are fortunate that he is also a person of color and highly experienced with recruitment activities. He has already identified a number of activities and plans for enhancing the diversity of our student body.

The school continues to stress a need for greater diversity in the student body in its goal statements, its conceptual framework and in its programs and activities. One highly successful activity to enhance the diversity of the school is Project TEAM (Transformative Education Achievement Model). Project TEAM members form a community within the school to provide academic, social and personal support to one another. This Project has been very successful in creating a caring, supportive climate for candidates. As a result, other IU campuses have been funded to initiate similar projects on their campus.

Specific initiatives in support of traditionally underrepresented advanced students provide a network of people collaborating to make candidate experiences successful and rewarding. Some of these initiatives include: a mentoring program that pairs advanced students with faculty mentors who assist with questions and issues of community and university life; the Committee on Diversity that serves as a sounding board for issues, organizes events such as the month-long "Celebration of Diversity" and provides task forces on recruitment and retention of students; student groups, including the Higher Education Student Association's Students for Diversity, Graduate Women in Education, the Black Graduate Students Association, the Asian American Graduate Organization, and the Minority Education Association.

Element Four: Experiences Working with Diverse Students in P-12 Schools

The field experiences' settings include, primarily, schools and agencies in the immediate seven-county area. The students in these schools are representative of the population in rural southern Indiana. In the 100 sites used most frequently, the mean percentage of minority students in those schools is 6.07%. The average percentage of students at these sites who qualify for free or reduced lunch is 26.86%. In addition to these sites, as noted above, candidates also participate in a day-long field experience in an Indianapolis public school, providing candidates with experience in a large, diverse urban setting. As to the locations of the student teaching placement, IUB has placed candidates in 315 different school corporations throughout the state, thus representing the full range of student diversity in Indiana.

Both the field experiences and student teaching components in each program provide candidates with the opportunity to observe and to work with diverse students. Each field experience has a distinctive set of activities and assessments of candidates' performance in planning and implementing lessons for diverse learners. More specific information may be found in the individual program pages on the web. Additionally, the Field Experiences Table provides an overview of the expectations of candidates during each experience. Specific examples of candidates' work and assessment will be available on site. Reflective of one of the School's Six Guiding Principles, personalized learning, the student teaching evaluation process, introduced in 2002-2003, includes specific elements that address candidates' knowledge, skills and dispositions in working with diverse students (see Student Teaching Handbook).

An additional option for working with diverse populations, provided through IUB, is the Cultural Immersions Project. This project offers candidates the opportunity to student teach overseas in such diverse countries as India, Kenya, and Costa Rica or to student teach on one of several Navajo reservations in New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. Prior to these placements, candidates complete an intense study of the issues in the host nation or setting. During their placements overseas or on one of the reservations, candidates are assessed as to their abilities to work with these diverse learners.