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Responding to racism: measuring the effectiveness of an anti-racism program for secondary schools Culhane, Stephen F.
Abstract
This thesis reports on the effectiveness of an anti-racist training program implemented at secondary schools in Vancouver and Richmond in February and March of 1995. The program used Responding to Racism; a guide for High School Students, prepared by the author, with John Kehoe and Lily Yee. Training involved three hours of anti-racist role-play exercises from Responding to Racism. A pretest-posttest control group design was employed to measure: retention of given models for dealing with racist incidents, post-treatment levels of racism, and behavioral reactions during a staged racist incident. Ten social studies classes from two schools made up a sample population of 262 students. Following half-day workshops, three teachers carried out the program with a total of six classes of either grade 9 or 11 students. Four additional classes continued with regular curriculum to serve as the Control sample. The Cultural Diversity Scale (Kehoe, 1982, 1984), was given as a pretest to establish Control to Experimental group equivalency. A posttest Written Response to Racist Incidents instrument, used to measure knowledge of how to respond to a racist incident, found a significant positive difference between Experimental and Control groups, (t=(3.83) p.<.001). Post-training levels of racism, evaluated through the Evidence of Racism Scale, were not significantly different (+.16Sd). The final postmeasure, the Racist Incident Behavioral Scale (Culhane, 1995), found significant positive effect among a sample of 68 students (40-Exp./28-Cntl.), (t=(3.33) p.<.001). Students undergoing treatment were in the 68th percentile of Control students on the Written Response to Racist incidents, (+.47Sd), and the 92nd percentile (+1.23Sd) of Control subjects on results from the Racist Incident Behavioral Scale. Experimental students did not show significant difference when compared to Control subjects on items pertaining to empathy for the victims of racism. The results suggest the program was most successful in changing behaviour, over attitudes, within the context of a relatively short-term time period. Responding to Racism provided students with methods for responding to racist incidents which were evident on written and behavioral measures. Support given to the victims of the racist incidents, opposition to the perpetrators, and positive attempts to limit the racism in each incident were all significantly more apparent in responses of Experimental students over Control. The results reaffirm the utility of role-play anti-racist training, and validate the use of Responding to Racism as an effective package for use in secondary school settings, notably in regards to changing student behaviour in racially-motivated situations.
Item Metadata
Title |
Responding to racism: measuring the effectiveness of an anti-racism program for secondary schools
|
Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
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Date Issued |
1995
|
Description |
This thesis reports on the effectiveness of an anti-racist
training program implemented at secondary schools in Vancouver
and Richmond in February and March of 1995. The program used
Responding to Racism; a guide for High School Students, prepared
by the author, with John Kehoe and Lily Yee. Training involved
three hours of anti-racist role-play exercises from Responding to
Racism. A pretest-posttest control group design was employed to
measure: retention of given models for dealing with racist
incidents, post-treatment levels of racism, and behavioral
reactions during a staged racist incident.
Ten social studies classes from two schools made up a sample
population of 262 students. Following half-day workshops, three
teachers carried out the program with a total of six classes of
either grade 9 or 11 students. Four additional classes continued
with regular curriculum to serve as the Control sample. The
Cultural Diversity Scale (Kehoe, 1982, 1984), was given as a
pretest to establish Control to Experimental group equivalency.
A posttest Written Response to Racist Incidents instrument, used
to measure knowledge of how to respond to a racist incident,
found a significant positive difference between Experimental and
Control groups, (t=(3.83) p.<.001). Post-training levels of
racism, evaluated through the Evidence of Racism Scale, were not
significantly different (+.16Sd).
The final postmeasure, the Racist Incident Behavioral Scale
(Culhane, 1995), found significant positive effect among a sample
of 68 students (40-Exp./28-Cntl.), (t=(3.33) p.<.001). Students
undergoing treatment were in the 68th percentile of Control
students on the Written Response to Racist incidents, (+.47Sd),
and the 92nd percentile (+1.23Sd) of Control subjects on results
from the Racist Incident Behavioral Scale. Experimental students
did not show significant difference when compared to Control
subjects on items pertaining to empathy for the victims of
racism. The results suggest the program was most successful in
changing behaviour, over attitudes, within the context of a
relatively short-term time period.
Responding to Racism provided students with methods for
responding to racist incidents which were evident on written and
behavioral measures. Support given to the victims of the racist
incidents, opposition to the perpetrators, and positive attempts
to limit the racism in each incident were all significantly more
apparent in responses of Experimental students over Control. The
results reaffirm the utility of role-play anti-racist training,
and validate the use of Responding to Racism as an effective
package for use in secondary school settings, notably in regards
to changing student behaviour in racially-motivated situations.
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Extent |
4795463 bytes
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Genre | |
Type | |
File Format |
application/pdf
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Language |
eng
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Date Available |
2009-01-16
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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DOI |
10.14288/1.0054806
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URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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Graduation Date |
1995-05
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Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.