Education Commons^™

Work Beyond The Work: Amplifying How Black Women Educators Experience Teacher Preparation Programs, Chéleah Victoria Googe

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The representation of Black teachers in the field of K-12 education has declined significantly in the last forty years (Ingersoll, 2011; Milner & Howard, 2004). Once considered a pathway to the middle class for Black Americans, teaching was a sought-after profession for Black folks for job stability (Collier, 2002). While there is extensive research on the experiences of teachers of color, and what might lead to their attrition in the teaching profession, Black women experience a specific intersection of race, class, and gender that affects their sustainability in the teaching profession that deserves exploration.

This qualitative research study examined the …

Preservice Teachers And Curricular Matters: A Reflection On Field Sites As Transformative Spaces, Annmarie Dull, Elizabeth Chase

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

Field experiences are essential to teacher preparation and education, and they are enriched by strong community partnerships where preservice teachers build knowledge from mentor teachers, families, students, and other stakeholders. The influence that the neoliberal agenda has on education forces preservice teachers and the preparation programs they attend to make difficult decisions about creating and sustaining these field experiences. In this paper, we call attention to the difficulties preservice teachers—and the preparation programs they attend—face when seeking to challenge social injustice and curriculum epistemicide. In so doing, we end with ideas for future consideration and scholarly inquiry.

“What Does Learning Sound Like?”: Reverberations, Curriculum Studies, And Teacher Preparation, Boni Wozolek

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

Using a project given to undergraduate students in a foundations of education course, this paper thinks through the assignment title, “What does learning sound like?” to explore the nexus of sound studies in education and curriculum studies. The central argument of this paper is that thinking through sound can be but one way for students to think through the forms of curriculum while examining their own bias in terms of Western privileging of the ocular.

A Primer For Incorporating Pre-Service Co-Teaching Into Teacher Residencies, Prepared To Teach, Bank Street College

Prepared to Teach

Pre-Service co-teaching – where teacher candidates engage as co-teachers during student teaching – is a strong instructional model, especially when combined with yearlong teacher residencies. This brief features a combination of resources, ideas, and activities that can help your preparation program/school district partnership create a shared understanding of pre-service co-teaching.

What Counts As Rigor When Rigor Counts?: Increasing Intentionality In Teacher Education, Derek Riddle, Chyllis E. Scott, Leann G. Putney

Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education

Debates regarding the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs continue to persist. The level of rigor in teacher preparation programs and the ability of teacher educators to prepare candidates for the challenges persist in the educational climate. In higher education, rigor has been well-defined, but the understanding is limited, specifically rigor in preparing new teachers. This study undertook a telling case approach to explore student and faculty perceptions of rigor in a teacher preparation course. This research “leans in” to the criticism of rigor by exploring how teacher preparation programs can match the rigor and demands of the profession and to …

“Sometimes I Do This Thing”: Exploring Preservice Teachers’ Knowledge And Beliefs About Reading Instruction, Sherridon Leigh Sweeney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prior research has established preservice literacy teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning are often misguided and/or overly-simplistic, yet limited work has examined in what ways their in-the-moment teaching decisions align or misalign with what they believe. This qualitative study used deductive analysis methods to: (1) Identify three preservice teachers’ knowledge/beliefs about reading, reading instruction, and learning, as evidenced by their planning, reflecting, and in-the-moment teaching decisions, and (2) investigate if/how participants’ knowledge/beliefs manifested across multiple teaching experiences. Findings indicate that while participants made attempts to act on professional ideas they explored/practiced with the support of a university-based mentor, they taught …

Headaches And Humility: Introducing Preservice Teachers To Undergraduate Research, J. Scott Baker

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

For some teacher educators, the singular goal of teacher preparation is to license new teachers, not develop critical thinkers. This lack of thinking beyond lesson plans, course standards, and classroom management to explore high impact practices – such as undergraduate research – leads to the deterioration of the education field and limits preservice teachers’ understandings of their own curricular and pedagogical practices. This article is a poetic reflection – through headaches and humility – on how 157 preservice teachers (PTs) made connections between curricular research and practice. The article also addresses steps taken by a teacher educator to ensure their …

Registered Apprenticeship Programs And Teacher Residencies: Building Shared Understandings Between Workforce Development And Education, Prepared To Teach, Bank Street College

Prepared to Teach

This brief is the first in a series exploring principles that Prepared To Teach has surfaced as helpful for designing Registered Apprenticeship Programs for teacher residencies to promote and support high-quality teacher preparation systems. Sign up for our monthly newsletter for future releases.

Shaping Educator Sensemaking In Complex Systems? Policy-Directed Teacher Evaluation Models As Boundary Objects, Kelley M. King, Noelle A. Paufler, Rachel L. Biritz, Ryan M. Smits

Journal of Educational Supervision

This study examined a state-wide, policy-directed teacher evaluation model implemented across public schools and educator preparation programs. Such models are grounded in a theory of action that situates teacher learning within social relationships, yet does not account for the complexity of systems. Results challenge policy’s implicit theory that an evaluation model can function as a boundary object to create a common understanding of good teaching and positively impact teacher professional practice. We found contradictory evidence that the model served as a boundary object that facilitated shared sensemaking as mediated understandings of good teaching collided with expectations in classroom contexts.

Exploring Co-Planning Conversations As A Professional Development Activity For Mentors And Mentees At The Beginning Of A Yearlong Teacher Residency, Channing Parfait

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In order to prepare pre-service teachers for their roles in the classroom, it is important to examine the rigor and purpose of the mentoring experience. This study explored the aspects of co-planning conversations that helped experienced and novice teachers expand their expertise and develop a mutually beneficial mentoring relationship at the beginning of a yearlong teacher residency model. While research on co-planning during the student teaching/residency experience exists, this research illuminated the importance of mentoring conversations early on in the teacher residency experience. Using a single case study design, observations, one-on-one interviews, and artifacts from four mentor-mentee dyads, data were …

Preparing Middle Grades Candidates For Edtpa In Uncertain Times, Holly H. Pinter, David C. Virtue

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

Teacher candidates in North Carolina must earn a passing score on the edTPA assessment to get certified. The middle grades education program at Western Carolina University integrates aspects of the edTPA assessment throughout pre-student teaching coursework and field experiences to prepare candidates for this high-stakes assessment. Some of the edTPA practice assignments serve as key assessments that help the middle grades program faculty evaluate the program and make decisions about curriculum. The pivot to remote and blended learning formats on campus and in partner middle level schools affected the implementation of the edTPA-related assignments. The authors share some of the …

Engaging Pre-Service Teachers In Interactive Social Justice-Themed Read-Alouds, Kayln Hoppe

Educational Considerations

This qualitative case study explored how pre-service teachers responded to social justice-themed picture book read-alouds in an undergraduate literacy course. Data were collected from personal observations, semi-structured focus group interviews, and student work, and were analyzed using inductive analysis. Findings indicate how reading multicultural literature aloud plays an important role in post-secondary students’ content understanding and preparation for a career in teaching. This case study may inspire teacher educators to incorporate multicultural read-alouds into higher education coursework.

Review Of Teaching In Rural Places: Thriving In Rural Classrooms, Schools, And Communities, Rachelle Kuehl

Virginia English Journal

This is a book review of Teaching in Rural Places: Thriving in Classrooms, Schools, and Communities, a first-of-its-kind textbook geared for preservice teachers interested in teaching successfully in rural schools.

Building Community Through Asset Mapping In An Alternate Route To Licensure Program, Jori S. Beck, Christina J. Lunsmann, Dan Moore

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Teacher preparation programs in the U.S. have adopted social justice approaches in their work. However, it is necessary to investigate how teacher preparation programs foster an asset orientation in teacher candidates—particularly as Alternative Routes to Licensure have increased in popularity. The current investigation was an interview study of teacher candidates’ experiences after completing an asset mapping activity as part of their field experiences. Participants consistently described how the activity helped them to foster relationships with their students through (a) making connections, (b) humanizing students, and (c) community scaffolding. We explore the implications of these findings for teacher preparation research and …

Teacher Preparation Programs And Teacher Candidates Supporting Staffing Needs During Covid-19 - Program Highlights, Prepared To Teach, Bank Street College

Prepared to Teach

A compilation of programs from across the Prepared To Teach National Learning Network that have creative staffing models that directly address staffing and substitute teaching shortages.

A Path To Equity: Solving New York's Teacher Turnover & Quality Challenges, Prepared To Teach, Bank Street College

Prepared to Teach

This white paper frames both the case for and an approach to addressing persistent teacher quality, diversity, and turnover challenges in the State of New York. A growing set of research and promising practice informs the report, which is intended to offer a high-level understanding of the complexities around how the economics of teacher preparation both drives educational inequities and can be shifted to promote educational quality and equity by investing in funded teacher residencies.

Federal Funding For Aspiring Teachers: An Investment In The Nation's Future, Prepared To Teach, Bank Street College

Prepared to Teach

This concept paper is a high-level overview of the case for and a pathway to achieve universal residencies across the nation created to inform policy discussions at the U.S. Department of Education.

A Study Of Victorian Teachers’ Beliefs About Student Behaviour And Their Perception Of Preparation And Confidence To Engage In Evidence-Based Behaviour Support, Russell A. Fox, Umesh Sharma, Erin S. Leif

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Positive and proactive approaches to behaviour support have been recognised as one component required to create effective and inclusive school environments (Finkelstein et al., 2019). States and territories within Australia have increasingly adopted school-wide positive behavioural interventions and supports (SWPBIS) as a means to creating effective social and behavioural change (Poed & Whitefield, 2020). However, ensuring staff implement SWPBIS as it is intended has been a challenge, both in Australia and internationally (McIntosh et al., 2016; NSW Ombudsman, 2017). The current study identifies and seeks to address two gaps in the existing literature exploring noted barriers to …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of Their Roles And Challenges With Inclusion, Nini Asheki Greenidge

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractMany schools have employed inclusion practices as an instructional framework, meaning general and special educators are expected to coteach students with disabilities in the general education classroom. The research problem at the local study district was that inclusion as an instructional framework challenged the roles of general and special education coteachers as well as the students they were intended to benefit. The conceptual framework for this project study was the social constructivist theory. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to gain an understanding about inclusion as an instructional framework. The research questions addressed how the experiences of the …

Novice General Education Teachers’ Perceptions Of Preparedness In U.S. Public Schools: The Impact Of Learning About And Working With Multilingual Students, Lydiah Kananu Kiramba, Qizhen Deng Ph.D., Kara Viesca

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This study examined perceptions of preparedness among novice general education teachers using 2015/ 16 National Teacher and Principal Survey data. Results show that teachers with training in teaching multilingual learners reported higher perceived preparedness than those without across all five general aspects of teaching (i.e., instructional methods, teaching subject matters, assessing students, differentiating instruction, and using assessment data to inform instruction). Further, teacher preparedness in differentiating instruction was positively associated with the percentage of multilingual learners in a teacher's classroom. Findings suggest that learning to teach multilingual learners supports novice general content teachers to feel more prepared as teachers overall.

Pre-Service Teachers’ Reflective Writing And Learning In Early Field Experiences, Deborah Romero, Mandi Leigh, Weihsuan Lo

Journal of Educational Research and Innovation

As cultural and linguistic diversity (CLD) in schools increases so does the demand for more qualified teachers. Enrollment declines in teacher preparation programs and national teacher shortages, particularly teachers prepared to work with CLD students, further exacerbate the situation. As teacher preparation programs seek to meet the demands for teachers, this study addresses a gap in research and practice that examines pre-service teacher (PST) reflections conducted as part of a non-credit very early field experience (EFE). The study addresses two questions:1) How does participation in EFE shape PST learning and professional identities as expressed in written reflections? 2) In what …