America's diverse, racially changing schools and their teachers

In an era of growing racial segregation of students and the increasing presence of minorities in formerly all-white suburban neighborhoods--and schools--it is important to understand how faculty might create a positive environment for students in schools of varying racial contexts. Few recent surveys of teachers have asked about teaching in diverse schools; this study draws on a unique, recent dataset to explore how teachers perceive their ability to teach students in schools of varying racial contexts. This research demonstrates several related points. First, school racial contexts are complex. In particular, analyses that group stably diverse schools with rapidly transitioning schools--which may be temporarily diverse--are likely to obscure significant differences between two very different types of schools. This analysis argues for a more contextualized analysis of schools and development of policies that affect schools of different contexts. Second, training for diversity relates to teachers' perceptions of more constructive learning environments and greater efficacy in teaching diverse students although this relationship differs by school context and is limited in some of the