Education Commons^™

Undoing Whiteness To Diversify Teacher Education And The Teaching Force, Rick Lybeck, Andrew P. Johnson, Maria-Renee Grigsby

Elementary and Literacy Education Department Publications

Various initiatives are underway in Minnesota and around the country to promote racial consciousness in K-12 teaching (R4615). Some of these show great promise for helping to realize goals related to racial equity and social justice articulated by key professional organizations guiding teacher education and educational research nationwide (AACTE; AERA; AESA).

While enrollment statistics point to incremental gains being made toward diversifying the teaching force in Minnesota and nationwide, this pace lags behind the growth in diversity of the K-12 student population. At the same time, Minnesota’s teaching force remains over 90% white (MDE, 2020).

Considering …

Fostering Global-Mindedness In Teacher Preparation, Gail D. Zahn, Elizabeth J. Sandell, Caryn E. Lindsey

Elementary and Literacy Education Department Publications

Teacher education programs require attention to the rapid changes in the world, in part because populations are becoming increasingly diverse. These rapidly changing classroom environments have prompted a need to train teachers who can communicate with and teach students from increasingly diverse backgrounds. In addition, they must have an understanding of cultural family values and practices which influence individual students among the various ethnic populations they teach. This paper will describe steps taken by one College of Education to create international partnerships and learning experiences in an effort to enhance their teacher training programs and develop an environment of global-mindedness.