Education Programs for Improving Intergroup Relations: Theory, Research, and Practice

Research shows that intergroup relations programs can help students develop more positive beliefs, behaviors, values, and attitudes toward diversity. In this book, some of the most knowledgeable practitioners and researchers in the field present a wide variety of approaches that can be used with students of varying ages, from elementary school to college.

The most comprehensive resource on this timely subject, this book:

• Presents some of the finest existing programs to improve intergroup relations in educational settings.
• Examines a broad array of programs, including multicultural education, cooperative learning groups, complex instruction, intergroup dialogues, hate-crime education, moral education, and anti-bias education.
• Provides valuable information on techniques and practices with recommendations for their implementation (e.g., the groups for which a program is most suited, the training required of teachers or facilitators).
• Offers an up-to-date review of the overall effectiveness of each program, including the psychological processes responsible for its success.
• Synthesizes the common elements of the programs presented, identifying the links between processes and outcomes.

Walter G. Stephan is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at New Mexico State University. W. Paul Vogt is Professor of Research and Evaluation in the College of Education at Illinois State University.