1. Another Look at the Dissemination of Racial Identity Interactional Model in a Cultural-Based Service-Learning Course
Lori Simons, Lawrence Fehr, Nancy Blank, Kevin Barnes, Denise Georganas, & George Manapuram
Widener University
International Research Conference on Service-Learning and Community Engagement
The goal of this presentation is to describe the assessment and outcomes of the diffusion of the racial identify interaction model in a CBSL course.
According to Baldwin et al., 2007 & Sterling 2007, CBSL is defined as…

2. Cultural-Based Service-Learning (CBSL)
Knowledge &
Skills
Course Content
Context
Service
CBSL is an extension of ABSL;
It is a pedagogical approach in which students are required to connect the race, class and culture context to the service context, examine personal dispositions towards diverse racial and ethnic recipients, and think critically about the relationships among power, privilege, and oppression (Baldwin et al., 2007; Sperling, 2007).

3. Research Questions
Do students reformulate their racial attitudes and acquire multicultural skills through participation in cultural-based service-learning (CBSL) by the end of the term?
What and how do students learn through participation in CBSL?
How consistent are the qualitative and quantitative findings? Do these findings help us understand the impact of CBSL on student attitude-formation and skill-development from a racial identity interaction paradigm?
1. This study was guided by three research questions.

4. Service Context
The CBSL course is part of the General Education Curriculum at WU.
Widener University is a teaching college located in a Northern metropolitan area in the United States.
The mission of the University is predicated on dynamic teaching, active scholarship, and community/civic engagement.
The undergraduate student population is demographically homogeneous. Most students are White and female, from middle-class backgrounds, and are first-generation college students.

5. Course Content and Service Context
Multicultural Psychology Course
Service Context
Guest Speakers
Service-Learning orientation and training by guest speakers.
15 hours of mentoring/ tutoring or working with High School students on their research papers and oral presentations for the senior project graduation requirement.
The CBSL pedagogy was the primary teaching strategy in the Multicultural Psychology course;
Multicultural psychology course is a two-hundred level course that satisfies a social science requirement of the general education curriculum in the College of Arts and Sciences.
The course objectives were to foster students’ cultural competence (i.e., ethnic identity, racial attitudes, multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills).
CBSL builds bridges to the community.
Students were required to assist the teacher in his/her classroom and to tutor or mentor children who differ from them in race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status at one of two elementary public school in a district that consistently ranks low on state performance indicators (PSSA, 2007). State performance indicators reveal that in the fourth grade 31% score at a proficient level in Reading, 34% score at the proficient level in Mathematics, and 42% score at a proficient level in Science (PSSA, 2009);
The third placement required students to work with High School students on their senior project requirements of their written paper and oral presentation at a high school in a district that has a 47% drop-out rate and combine average SAT score of % of eleventh-graders enrolled at this high school score at a proficient level in Math and 12.6% score at a proficient level in Reading.
In-class time (50 minutes, 3 times per week, 15 weeks) began with a discussion on student concerns about taking this class, guidelines for this course, and a lecture on multiculturalism.
The next two classes consist of an orientation on cultural-based service-learning activities (i.e., mentoring, tutoring) by guest speakers representing the three placement sites.
The rest of the course is devoted to lecture, reflective and experiential activities, and discussion.

6. Course Content Course Content Academic Components
The Psychology of Prejudice (Nelson, 2006)
White Privilege (Rothenberg, 2008)
Why Are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria (Tatum, 1997)
Experiential activities, talking circles, and video-clips
Academic Components
Multicultural observation paper
Multicultural movie review
Intercultural interview
Structured reflections
Lectures and discussions correspond to assigned readings. Students are required to read - the psychology of prejudice by Nelson (2006), White privilege by Rothenberg (2008), and why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria by Tatum (1997).
They also read supplemental articles on multicultural psychology (Reid, 2002; Sue et al., 1999), cultural-based service-learning (Boyle-Baise, 2002), racial-ethnic identity development (Cross, 1991; Helms, 1990), and cultural competence (Stuart, 2004).
Experiential activities (i.e., crossing-the-line) (Goldstein, 2008; Kivel, 2002; Pedersen, 2004; Singelis, 1998), talking circles (Wolf & Rickard, 2003), and video-clips (i.e., People Like Us, Blue Eyed) are used to stimulate reflection and discussion.
The multicultural observation is an immersion experience. Students attend an activity associated with a culture or ethnic group that is distinctively different from them. For example, some students attend a church service other than their own, dine at restaurant that serves ethnic food, or go to a part of the community or city to which they have never been. Then they write a short description about what they did, how it felt while they were doing it, and what they learned.
5. The multicultural movie required students to watch a diversity film (i.e., Crash, Mississippi Burning), apply diversity theories to explain the main theme of the movie, and describe what they did or did not learn in terms of racial identity development and multicultural competence (i.e., awareness, knowledge, & skills).
6. This intercultural interview assignment required students to develop an interview on any topic related to multicultural psychology (i.e., classism, ageism, racism), interview two individuals who differ in one cultural characteristic (i.e., age, race, religion, sexuality, nationality education, gender, or socioeconomic status), and compare and contrast their responses. Students integrate theory and research to explain the main findings from the interviews.
8. Students completed structured reflections questions after each class and service experience so they could critically analyze their thoughts and feelings about race and class concepts within the context of their course and service experiences.
9. The course ended with a social network activity (Trimble, 2007) and a reflective discussion about how student concerns about taking this class have changed throughout the semester.

7. Participants (n = 54) Mean Age: 20.01 years Gender:
76% Females, 24% Males
Ethnicity:
73% White
23% African-American
2% Latino
2% Asian American
Year in School
2% Freshmen
43% Sophomores
35% Juniors
20% Seniors
Mean GPA: 3.06
Majors:
72% Psychology
5% Social Science
15% Nursing
4% Social Work
2% Business
2% English
Service Placement:
83% Elementary School
17% High School
Mean Service Hrs.: 15.39
48% Continued participation
40% Maintained contact
57% Future service
1. The majority if students enrolled in the multicultural psychology course were White females majoring in Psychology;
2. Most students worked with service recipients in one of the public elementary schools.
Three questions are used to guide this study.

8. Quantitative Measures
Research Methods
Quantitative Measures
Qualitative Measures
Demographic Questionnaire
Civic Attitudes and Skills Questionnaire (CASQ) (Moely et al., 2002)
Color-Blind Racial Attitudes (CoBRAS) (Neville et al., 2000)
Multicultural Awareness-Knowledge-Skills Survey (MAKSS) (D’Andrea et al., 1991)
Multicultural Counseling Inventory (MCI-Educators) (Sodowsky et al., 1994)
Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) (Phinney, 1992)
Pro-Black/Anti-Black Scale (Katz & Hass, 1998)
Daily journals guided by structured reflection questions before, during, and after service
White Racial Identity Attitude Scale (WRIAS) and Black Racial Identity Attitude Scale (BRIAS) (Helms & Carter, 1991)
Focus groups
Multicultural Environmental Inventory (MEI) (Pope-Davis et al., 2000)
A triangulation mixed-methods design was used to measure differences in students’ attitudes and skills.
Quantitative and qualitative data were collected at the same time and the quantitative and qualitative results were merged together to understand the transformation of student attitudes and skills.
The qualitative data were used to refine, explain, and expand the quantitative findings.
All of the students completed an informed consent form and a pretest survey at the beginning of the semester.
The pretest survey consisted of seven measures including:
a. Demographic questionnaire was used to collect information about age, gender, and major.
b. CASQ measures civic attitudes and skills on six subscales (political awareness, civic, diversity, social justice attitudes, leadership & problem-solving skills); the diversity and social justice attitude subscales were used in this study.
c. COBRAS measure unawareness of racial privilege, institutional discrimination, and blatant racism in the US.
d. MAKSS measures multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills; awareness and knowledge subscales were used in this study.
e. MCI measures cultural awareness, knowledge and skills and was used as a reliability check for the MAKSS because this scale was designed for graduate students;
f. MEIM measures ethnic identity achievement and sense of belonging to one’s ethnic group;
g. Pro/Anti-Black scale measures the degree to which students are more or less prejudice.
7. Students completed the survey at their own pace and gave It directly to the researcher; surveys took 45-minutes to complete.
8. In addition, students were required to answer structured questions before, during, and after their service experiences so they could connect the course content to the service experience and examine their thoughts across
the semester.
9. Students also participated in focus groups about CBSL and they completed a racial identity scale that measures their race-related schema during a discussion on RID in the middle of semester; and
10. Students completed a posttest survey and a 7-item course evaluation at the end of the term;
a. The 7-item course evaluation was based on the MEI which measures the degree to which multiculturalism is integrated into the course.

9. CBSL Outcomes
***
A paired t-test was conducted on the Anti-Pro-Black, CASQ, CoBras, MAKSS, MCI, and MEIM scores to measure differences in student attitudes and skills from the beginning to the end of the term.
Students increased their intentions to become involved in future community service, abilities to think logically and analytically about social problems, and understanding about the causes of hardships in the community;

10. CBSL Outcomes
***
1. Students also improved their ethnic identity achievement and reduced their prejudiced attitudes;
***p<.001.

11. CBSL Outcomes
1. Students decreased their unawareness of meaning they increased their awareness of racial privilege, institutional discrimination, and racism,
***p<.001, *p<.05.

12. CBSL Outcomes **
Students increased their multicultural knowledge by the end of the term;
MAKSS and MCI indicates that this finding is reliable.
**p<.01

13. Racial Identity Models
CBSL Outcomes
Assignments
Multicultural
Movie
Intercultural
Interview
Reflections
Structured
Open Coding
Learning
Service
Competence
Cultural
Reliability Check
MEI
Selective Coding
Racial Identity Models
WRIAS
The constant comparative method was used to construct a common framework about what students learn through participation in CBSL (Creswell, 2005);
Open coding – consisted of categorizing and naming the data from the multicultural movie review, intercultural interview, and journal reflections according to service-learning (Eyler & Giles, 1999) and cultural competence paradigms (Howard-Hamilton, 2000);
Coders counted the number of responses for each category and divided the responses by the number of student assignments to obtain the percentages;
Students demonstrated multicultural awareness and knowledge in their movie and interview assignments and they demonstrated a greater understanding of the diversity content, privilege and oppression, and multicultural skills in their reflections;
The 7-item course evaluation based on the MEI served as a reliability check for the course content;
Selective coding consisting of analyzing the data from student reflections using topical codes based on the racial identity development models (Cross, 1991; Helms, 1990).
4a. Coders counted the number of responses for each category and divided the responses by the total number student journals to obtain the percentage for each category.
5. Because the majority of this sample was White, the WRAIS served as reliability checks for qualitative data.
6. The constant comparative method was used to compare the data…..

14. CBCL Outcomes
Preservice
Service
During-
Postservice
1. The constant comparative method was used to further compare and major themes, learning processes, and RID categories across time.

15. Racial Identity Interaction Development Paradigm
Parallel
Regressive
Progressive
Crossed
Autonomy
Immersion-Emersion
Pseudo-Independence
Reintegration
Disintegration
Contact
Helms suggests that interpersonal experiences betweens Whites and individuals belonging to different racial groups serve as a catalyst for White Racial Identity Development;
White racial identity development occurs through six statuses in which Whites transform their views of themselves as privileged and colorblind to perceptions of themselves as radicalized and less racist.
Whites modify their status or schema with each new interpersonal experience and they specially engage in four-types of interactions that increase or decrease their prejudice:
a. Parallel – service-learners are agreeable to avoid racial tension (i.e., although I was offended, I did not respond when the children asked me if I was White);
b. Regression – Both service-learners and service-recipients experience racial tension, one of them relinquishes his/her opinion to preserve the harmonious relationship (i.e., My preceptor teacher could not believe that my parents could afford to pay for my tuition at Widener, I felt uncomfortable by her reaction so I stopped talking to her about my personal life);
c. Progressive – service-learners acquire new racial information, experience cognitive dissonance, and modify their racial statuses (i.e., A Black female who I lost with requested to be my friend on face book. When I did not accept her request she said I was a racist, which made me rethink the way I interact with recipients);
d. Crossed – service-learners perceive and react to racial material opposite from recipients/others (i.e., There was a great deal of debate in my dorm about Presidential candidate, Barack Obama’s visit to campus. Many students stated that having a Black President would end racism. I tried to reason with them, but when they refused to hear my perspective, I retreated to my room).

16. CBSL Outcomes Contact Status : Almost all (95%) students began the
course with resistance and fear, and 88% of them had
preconceived notions about working with diverse recipients in an
urban neighborhood.
“Not only was I afraid to discuss racism and sexism in class
because they are controversial topics and I did not want to
offend anyone, but I was concerned about working in the City
since I was told not to venture very far off campus. After I
participated in service and was the only White person in the
classroom, I realized that my fears were associated with my
stereotypes and if I did not engage in class discussions about
them then my attitudes would interfere with my work with the
children.”
Helms (1995) postulates that initial interracial contact in which Whites avoid racial tension with Blacks is the hallmark of the parallel relationship, and the avoidance of racial conflict allows Whites to preserve their naïve or colorblind view of race in the contact stage of RID;
Almost all students were resistant to engage in class discussions about race and most of them described having preconceived notions about working with diverse recipients at either an urban elementary school or an inner-city high school.
Students’ resistance to discuss racial issues represent the parallel relationship and their preconceived notions represent the contact stage of RID.
4. One student’s reflection illustrates…

17. CBSL Outcomes
2. Disintegration Status: All (100%) students described their
initial visits at the placement as a culture-shock or eye-opening
experience. Almost all students described how applying the
service context to diversity content made them aware of racial
differences (86%) and racial privilege (93%) in their early
entries.
“After reading the ‘White Privilege’ assignment in the Rothenberg
text and reflecting on my service experiences, I felt sick to my
stomach because I realized I was overextending myself to the
White children at the placement. I learned that my behavior is a
result from my racial privilege. I never thought about race and its
implications until this class. I think this is something that most
White people do not think about.”
Helms suggests that the regressive interaction is the experience of racial tension between Whites and Blacks, and the context for this tension forces Whites to think about themselves in racial terms and to recognize racial privilege in the disintegration stage;
All students described their early visits as an eye-opening experience that led to their racial awareness and the application of the service context to the diversity content allowed them to become aware of racial differences and racial privilege.
White students reported that they never thought about being White;
Student reflections about racial differences represent the regressive relationship and their racial or privilege awareness represents the disintegration status of the RID;
One student’s reflection illustrates…

18. CBSL Outcomes
3. Reintegration Stage. Most students described a wide range of
emotions ranging from shame and guilt to sadness and anger in their
descriptions of their relationships with recipients. In fact, they
reported how their interactions with recipients contributed to
their comprehension of White (96%) or socio-economic (87%)
privilege beyond racial privilege awareness in their middle entries.
“Although I learned about racial and social injustices in class, I
did not comprehend it until I saw it firsthand at the placement. I
gained a better understanding about how the school system
operates and attribute the lack of enforcement of policies and the
limited supplies to racial and socioeconomic privileges. The way
this school operates and its lack of textbooks and outdated
computers would never have been tolerated in my White,
middle-class, suburban school.”
Helms refers to the progressive interaction as continual contact between Whites and Blacks in which Whites acquire information that contradicts their assumptions, and Whites experience cognitive dissonance as manifested in their ambivalent attitudes about racial privilege as perpetuating the cycle of racism in the reintegration stage;
Most students expressed a wide range of emotion ranging from shame and guilt to sadness and anger in their examples of racial privilege.
Students affective responses represent the progressive relationship and their deeper comprehension racial privilege represents the reintegration stage of RID;
One student’s reflection illustrates… 18

19. CBSL Outcomes 4. Pseudo-independence Stage: Most students provided
examples of racial tolerance (86%) and prejudice reduction (82%)
to illustrate how the course and service experiences contributed
to the development of new racial attitudes (88%) in their middle
entries.
“I forged relationships with the children with whom I was paired
to work at the placement even though I was offended when they
asked me if I was White because of the way I spoke and
dressed. My initial impression was to get this assignment over as
soon as possible. However, through my relationships with them,
I learned that their perceptions of me were a result from racial,
economic, and educational inequities in this community. I plan to
continue to work with the children beyond the course because I
know I can make a difference.”
Helms suggests that the quality of interpersonal interactions between Whites and Blacks provide Whites with opportunities to adopt liberal attitudes about social programs as a way to resolve their cognitive dissonance felt by their recognition of racial privilege in the pseudo-independence stage;
Students’ develop new racial attitudes represents the progressive relationship and their racial tolerance and prejudice represent the pseudo-independece stage of RID;
One student’s reflection trates… 19

20. CBSL Outcomes 5. Immersion-Emersion Stage: Few students described
discomfort or resistance in their late-occurring reflections of
adopting a Person of Color (79%), steps to confront racism on
campus (86%), or ways to serve as an ally (79%). Most
students described a deeper understanding of racism (89%)
and the ways in which privilege contributes to oppression
(79%) in their late entries.
“The best way to learn about diversity is to experience it. I never
experienced racial or educational oppression because of the
privileges associated with my White, middle-class background.
The service experience not only made me aware of my ‘isms’
but it humanized the diversity content. For example, I learned
that if I remain colorblind then I am contributing to the ignorance
that promotes racism.”
Helms suggests that the context and the quality of continual interpersonal interactions between Whites and Blacks allows Whites to develop tolerance through a deeper understanding of racism and ways in which they benefit;
Few students reported described resistance in their descriptions of adopting a person of color, steps to confront racism on campus, and ways to serve as am ally and most of them reported a deeper understanding of the connection between privilege and oppression;
Students’ resistance represent the parallel relationship, while their thoughts about racism represent the progressive relationship, and their comprehension of the connection between privilege and oppression represent the immersion/emersion stage of RID.
One student’s reflection illustrates… 20

21. CBSL Outcomes
6. Autonomy Stage: All (100%) students described how their
fears about discussing racial issues in class had diminished, and
almost all (97%) students provided examples about how the
course taught them about themselves. Most (82%) White students
learned to view themselves as racial beings and to understand
their Whiteness and the privileges it affords them. Students also
described the acquisition of multicultural awareness
(98%), attitudes (89%), knowledge (100%), and skills (96%) in
their final entries.
“I was afraid to ‘cross the bridge’ to go from the University into
the City because of the stereotypes I heard from parents and
peers. I learned that by not speaking up when someone is
stereotyping is just as bad as the person speaking. I am no
longer afraid to confront people who stereotype, nor am I afraid
to cross the bridge.”
Helms refers to the crosed interaction as situations in which Whites and Blacks engage in meaningful dialogue about racial differences and these discussions contribute to the development of a positive, less-racist identity in which Whites engage in activities that promote equality in the autonomy stage.
All students described how they acquired a voice and learned to engage in a dialogue about race without feeling uncomfortable.
Students’ ability to engage in a racial dialogue represents the crossed relationship and their acquisition of multicultural skills represent the autonomy stage. 21

22. Racial Identity Scales
CBSL Outcomes
Racial Identity Scales
Journals
Stages M SD
Profiles %
Contact
30.50
3.96
High 95
Disintegration
23.16
3.51
Low 71
Reintegration
19.08
4.03
Very Low 92
Pseudo-Independence
33.83
4.66 84
Immersion-Emersion
32.16
2.79 82
Autonomy
36.16
We found consistency between quantitative and qualitative measures on RID.
High scores on the contact, pseudo-independence, immersion-emersion, and autonomy subscales indicate that student transform their colorblind views of race and privilege.
White students embrace their Whiteness, understand the implications of being White and privileged, and make an effort to engage in activities that promote fairness and justice.
Low scores on the disintegration and reintegration subscales of the WRIAS indicate that students exhibit a mild level of racial ambivalence toward other racial groups which is consistent with their reflections of racial awareness and recognition of White privilege.

23. CBSL Outcomes MEI Reflections Questions %
1. The course helped me examine my own cultural bias. 97 93
2. This course helped me learn about cultural competence. 98
3. The assignments in this increased my knowledge of multiculturalism. 92
100
4. The experiential activities in this class increased my knowledge of multiculturalism.
5. The service-learning experiences in this class have increased my knowledge about multiculturalism. 91 85
6. I will take another class that utilized service-learning. 57 69
7. I will take another class that focuses on diversity or multiculturalism. 86
----
1. We also found consistency among student course evaluations and journal reflections that indicate most students thought the course content, experiential activities, class assignments, and service experiences assisted their attitude-formation and skill-development.

24. Discussion
Student reflections illustrate their acquisition of multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills through their own racial identity development over the semester.
White students transform their colorblind views to a less, racist perspective in which they embrace their Whiteness, recognize the connection between oppression and privilege, and engage in activities that promote fairness and justice.
Students develop a greater interest in working with and a deeper understanding of the hardships facing culturally-diverse recipients, as well as they become less prejudiced and more aware of racial privilege, racism, and institutional discrimination through participation in CBSL by the end of the term.
1. The consistency between the quantitative and qualitative data indicates that 24

25. Limitations
We acknowledge there are limitations associated with this study that prevents us from generalizing the results beyond the current sample of White females.
Aside from the homogeneity effects associated with our sample of undergraduate students and service recipients, history effects are most likely associated with student responses.
President Obama’s visit to our campus and the election of him as the first African-American President of the United States may have enhanced students’ multicultural knowledge.
The observed racial tension and the assault of Asian students that resulted in student boycott at the High School allowed students to experience privilege and racism first-hand which may have contributed to the improvement of their racial and social justice attitudes.

26. Discussion
Despite some of the mentioned limitations, we conclude that the inclusion of a Racial Identity Interaction Development framework in a CBSL course teachers students how to engage in a meaningful dialogue about racial differences with both peers and recipients in the course and service context, and it… 26

27. Conclusion
Assists them with the transformation of their World Views.
CBSL provides students with an opportunity to critically analyze diversity concepts – race and class content within the service and course context.
CBSL provides them with an opportunity that shapes their cultural lens by humanizing the course content. 27

28. Questions 28 We would like to thank our community partners – CUSD.
This project was funded by a Project Pericles and a PHENND Grant
Questions 28