As student enrollments in U.S. public schools continue to become increasingly diverse, it is imperative that the demographics of the teaching population become diverse as well (Lewis, 2006). As such, this study provides an examination of the status of minority teachers in U.S. public schools. It has three interrelated objectives: to document the…

Teacher leadership is difficult because teachers often lack encouragement and opportunities to implement ideas that deliberately and strategically interact with and tap power structures in schools. In this study, a book club of university faculty and middle school teachers provided teacher leaders with a template for change around concepts…

Teacher educators have a civic responsibility to prepare novice teachers to foster relationships across cultural, racial, and socioeconomic divides. Care ethics acknowledges this imperative and context's role in determining varied meanings of care. The voices of teachers of color can help us to understand the demands of care across differences.…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether student teacher performance is associated with emotional intelligence. The results indicate that emotional intelligence (as assessed by the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory) and college supervisors' assessments of student teacher performance are related. While total emotional quotient scores…

Most of the literature on dispositions is focused on mainstream teachers and on diversity and not specifically on the dispositions of teachers of English-language learners. Researchers have stated that while dispositions are extremely important, they continue to be elusive and a neglected part of teacher education, especially for teachers of…

In this article, we describe a study of teachers' constructions of understandings about race and achievement in the context of a course on literacy learning and instruction. We documented the course activities, the readings, the assignments, and the teachers' responses related to race during the semester course. The lead researcher also…

This phenomenological study of one charter school teacher sought to answer the question, what is it like to be a teacher in a charter school? Exploring issues of preparation, working conditions, and job satisfaction, this teacher expressed a range of emotions about her chosen work environment. I found that the pervasive stress surrounding her work…

This study examined rural high school teachers' characteristics and their apparent influences on teachers' motivating strategies. Participants were 46 teachers, across subjects and grade levels, in nine rural public high schools. A multimethod approach was used, with questionnaires, narrative reports, and interviews assessing teachers' individual…

In this article, we report the action research that shaped the development of the Growing Career Educators project, a teacher-designed field experience for preservice teachers within a high school in the fifth-largest school district in the country. The research consisted of two cycles of action research, both of which focused on whether a…

In this article, we describe a school-university relationship that aims to sustain dialogue between educators who are positioned differently in relation to preservice teacher growth. We distinguish an intentional partnership model from other approaches to school-university collaboration, providing a rationale for our focus on dialogue and identity…

Toward a deeper understanding of the viability of partnerships and collaboratives, a central framing question is of importance: What are the promises, potentials, and problematics of university partnerships necessary to informing teacher educators in preparing teachers for the challenges they face teaching in today's schools? The issue addressed…

The author's work as a university faculty member and partner with local school districts remains rooted in the ideals of the Holmes Partnership and its foundational professional development school efforts begun in the 1980s. She is fortunate to have lived several classroom teacher and university professor lives--involved with nascent and…

There are few conversations about teaching these days that do not include talk about teacher quality. Yet, within the conversations about improving teacher quality, the dialogue is often political--consumed with one-dimensional solutions for improving teacher quality, such as linking teacher pay to student performance. Absent from the pervasive…

The promise, potential, and problems associated with school-university partnerships interested in better preparing teachers for the challenges they face teaching in today's schools rest in educators' ability to actualize transformative practices within partnership contexts. To date, most partnerships have focused on less complex forms of…

The nature of partnerships and the integration of theory and practice in professional positioning is so complex that there are undoubtedly promises, potentials, and problematics. To live within this complexity, embrace tensions and challenges, and sustain this important work, the author views living an inquiry stance toward teaching as the…