The Impact of Professional Development on Public School Teachers' Understanding of Religious Diversity

Abstract

Schools and classrooms in the United States are increasingly religiously diverse, and religion remains a deeply influential social force, locally, nationally, and globally. However, decades of misunderstanding about the constitutionally appropriate relationship between religion and public education have created a cycle of silence about religion in K-12 schools and in teacher education. As a result, public school educators are not prepared to teach about religion in the curriculum. Nor do they have the skills to respond to common challenges that arise in religiously diverse school communities. This dissertation examines four professional development courses about religious diversity to understand the motivations and experiences of the educators who participated and to explore the impacts these courses had on the educators’ teaching practices. The 145 participants in the professional development courses learned about several religious traditions through a combination of visits to religious communities, guest speakers, and classroom discussion. The mixed methods study surveyed the participants three times, once before the courses, and twice afterwards. Follow-up interviews with 13 educators were conducted approximately one year after they completed the courses. The findings reveal that educators working at all grade levels and in all content areas found valuable benefits from increasing their understanding of religion, including a greater appreciation for the religious identities of their students and increased comfort with religion when it appeared in a range of school settings. Based on my analysis, I propose a framework of Pedagogical Content Knowledge about Religion to describe five domains of knowledge and skills that are necessary for educators to be able to competently respond to religion in public schools. This framework and the findings of this study have valuable implications for the development of future professional development courses and in charting a trajectory for further research on religion in U.S. public schools.