Learning within community settings provides preservice teachers important opportunities beyond those of traditional teacher preparation. Immersive learning opportunities within communities strengthen preservice teachers' repertoires and provoke new ways of thinking about how different settings create possibilities and constraints for student…

Teacher education programs challenge students' beliefs about teaching and learning in hope of creating a pedagogical awareness that will inform teaching practices and guide the professional transformation from student to teacher. The process of becoming a teacher is referred to variously as teacher development, professional growth and development,…

High-quality professional development is defined as having the characteristics of longevity, context specificity, teacher voice, collaboration, and followup. Effective professional development is "grounded in inquiry, reflection, and experimentation that are participant driven." One vehicle for professional development that adheres to the…

With the nation's shifting ethnic and cultural texture, multicultural education has become imperative in the 21st century. Even though most teacher education programs report that they have thoroughly incorporated diversity perspectives and multicultural content into the curriculum, external examinations often prove the contrary. The purpose of…

This paper presents a study about how schools of education impact their students' ability to be successful in urban schools. What experiences--if any--in teacher education programs shape the development of race-conscious White teachers? To address her goal, the author conducted a qualitative study of six teachers currently employed in urban…

The present study follows a cohort of 17 K-12 teachers through a six-week resident learning experience in science and engineering, and on into the planning and implementation of applications for their classrooms. This Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program was examined using the strategic approach of design-based research, with its fluid,…

"The Wire" is a crime drama that aired for five seasons on the Home Box Office (HBO) cable channel from 2002-2008. The entire series is set in Baltimore, Maryland, and as Kinder (2008) points out, "Each season "The Wire" shifts focus to a different segment of society: the drug wars, the docks, city politics, education, and the media" (p. 52). In…

A number of socially transformative implications of connecting teacher education with urban schools and communities have been documented, including: (1) building trust with local communities; (2) creating a greater commitment to community through service learning; (3) preparing culturally responsive future teachers who are more effective when…

Despite progress in urban teacher preparation over the past 40 years, concerns still remain about transforming programs and practices in order to affect teachers' capacities to work with culturally diverse communities. These concerns include time in course curricula for discussion and reflection on field-based work, adequate supervision in…

A primary purpose of teacher education is to prepare and induct candidates into the teaching profession. What does it mean to be a professional educator? Is deep content knowledge really enough as the federal government and others suggest? Does professionalism look different in urban contexts? How do teachers learn to navigate the multiple…

The partnership between Best Elementary School and Texas Tech University's College of Education has been in place over 15 years. During this time field based methods classes have been taught at Best, graduate and undergraduate students have been involved in tutoring programs, and activities such as field trips have been conducted in partnership…

Educational reformers have argued that universities and the schools they serve must work as partners in teacher education so as to tighten linkages between theory and practice. Such partnerships ultimately aim to achieve "simultaneous renewal" wherein each institution participates equitably in a "mutually beneficial relationship." However, because…

This article presents findings from the second year of one large university's grant-supported work to infuse teacher education courses with new contents, guided discourse, and diverse field experiences related to urban teacher preparation (UTP). The findings are based on data from attitudinal surveys completed at the beginning and end of each…

The College of Teacher Education and Leadership (CTEL) at Arizona State University (ASU) embraced the opportunity to partner with Teach For America (TFA) to tailor existing teacher preparation programs to meet the unique needs of alternatively certified teachers in urban schools. Rather than harp on the distinctions between ideologies and…

By taking the position that teaching for social justice is an act of necessity and solidarity, this work seeks to highlight two examples of teacher education initiatives. Because the relationships between teacher, student, family, school, and state are integral to the teaching process, three central questions guide the authors' thinking and…