Date of Award

5-1-1981

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Teaching & Learning

Abstract

The Problem: The purpose Oi this study was to determine the attitudes a: parents and teachers at the Standing Rock Community Elementary Scr.pol cn the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota , toward both the meaning of multicultural education and the desirability oi implement mg multicultural education into the instructional program .

Procedure: A I.ikert-type scale was constructed and administered to fifty randomly selected parents and to all eighteen classroom teachers at Standing Rock Community -Jernentary School. The scale provided the data used in the study. The data obtained were treated for significant differences using analysis of variance, t-tost, and Pearson product- moment correlation coefficient techniques. The .05 level of significance, or less , was considered sufficient to reject a hypothesis of no difference. 7a i .max Rotated Factor Analysis was used to indicate interrelationships a:, one the variables .

Results: There ■ >s a significant difference between the attitudes of parents and teac ers toward the concept of multicultural education arm the desire for an instructional program in multicultural education. However, when age and sex of parents and teachers were considered, there were no significant differences .

Within the group of parents, such variables as age, sex, location of residence, first language , home language , traditionalism, occupation, employment status, and family income did not indicate significant differences in relation to the attitudes toward the concept of multicultural education and the desire for an instructional program in multicultural education. Variables such as years lived off the reservation, degree of Indian blood, tribal enrollment, and level of education of parents produced significant differences in relation to attitude toward multicultural education and the desire for an instructional program in multicultural education. In addition, patterns of interrelationships among the variables did occur.

Within the group of teachers, such variables as age, total years taught and. being Indian or non-Indian, did not produce significant differences in attitudes toward the concept of multicultural education and the desire for an instructional program in multicultural education. The age of the teacher and years taught on a reservation were two variables which produced significant negative correlations in relation to attitudes toward the concept of multicultural education and the desire for an instructional program in multicultural education.

Conclusions: The following conclusions are based upon the statistical treatment of the data gathered for this study, '’’hey apply only to this study.

1 . Experience in off-reservation settings (whether on the job or in educational training), apparently provided enough exposure to cultural differences that attitude toward multicultural concepts tended to be more positive.

2 . Degree of Indian blood and tribal enrollment were two factors which tended to produce less positive attitudes toward multicultural concepts. It may be concluded that those parents who were categorized as having a higher degree of Indian blood and were enrolled tribal members were more reticent to accept concepts such as multicultural education until bicultural concepts applicable to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe are sufficiently presented in the schools .

3 . The significant negative correlations of age of teachers and years taught on the reservation in relation to attitudes toward multicultural concepts and their implementation in the school's instructional program were a possible result of the more experienced teachers on a reservation being more skeptical of changes and innovations . The more experienced teachers possess educational concepts resulting from their earlier teacher training which may have caused them to view children as more alike than different in cultural terms .

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