Diverse students in K-12 schools face many challenges to succeed, including the cultural incongruity between their home cultures and school. A widening achievement gap over the pandemic has prompted research from the culturally responsive teaching (CRT) perspective. This quantitative study aims to understand K-12 teachers' self-efficacy in CRT and…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore and document the complexity of elementary level teacher candidates' (TC) visions of linguistically responsive literacy instruction while reflecting on and discussing exemplary teachers' video cases in a semester-long video club. The following questions guided this study: What do TC notice…

Integrating data driven decision making into teacher preparation programs has been called for by several researchers in order to help lessen the barriers teachers face in using data in their teaching. This mixed methods study examined the perceptions of data use in education by pre-service teachers (N = 112) and perceived knowledge and skills…

This article represents an ideological and methodological call to action that is over fifty years in the making. It seeks to articulate a new form of critical consciousness by combining the principles of a Freirean liberatory pedagogy with the methodological and ideological specificity of Ball's Model of Generative Change. We call this evolved…

I slowly developed the belief that sharing much of educational research with novice teachers was an error. To me, novice teachers appeared to have too little experience to adopt and adapt research to particular school sites and classrooms. I urge, therefore, that more of an apprenticeship in classroom life, and greater understanding of the…

The edTPA, a performance assessment designed to generate reliable and valid measures of teaching practice, increasingly is used as a gatekeeping mechanism for beginning teacher licensure in various states, including New York, Washington State, Wisconsin, and Georgia. One of the edTPA's key components is the demonstration of instructional practice…

Nel Noddings, Lee Jacks Professor of Education, Emerita, at Stanford University, agrees with Professors Lapsley and Woodbury that moral aims are central to education. She has argued that the main aim of education is to produce better people--better in "all aspects of a complete life: moral, physical, social, vocational, aesthetic,…

In this article, we critically analyze our experiences in preparing pre-service teachers (PSTs) to teach for social justice. We utilized an intersectional lens to identify and validate our different positionalities and pedagogies. It is this interplay of validating our differences and commonalities that enabled us to form a sense of solidarity in…

This study contributes to ongoing conversations about mechanisms to support preservice teachers, especially those who are White and middle class, in learning about race and racism in preparation for teaching in diverse settings. We use the frameworks of Critical Race Theory and racial literacy to inquire into the ways that two cohorts of…

Although the NCATE Blue Ribbon Panel Report challenges those responsible for teacher preparation to design clinically rich programs, there is little discussion about preparing teacher educators to actualize these innovations. This study explored how practitioner inquiry could serve as a mechanism to facilitate the development of the next…

Allegations of improper discipline are commonly the focus of special education litigation filed against school districts. Because ignorance of the law is no defense, administrators and educators must understand special education law. Yet many educators receive little to no legal training. To address the lack of training and prevent future…

This article reports on the findings of 25 associate teacher surveys and six associate teacher interviews collected between June 2008 and February 2009. The survey invited associate teachers to report on the preparedness of student teachers, including their strengths, weaknesses, and how well prepared they were for the realities of becoming a…

Understanding effective and appropriate techniques for assessing student learning has never been as critical and political as is it is today. Accurate assessment methodologies employed in public schools are vital to the interpretation of student achievement data through which school effectiveness is being measured. Although there is a need,…

In this article, the author explores her observations of preservice teachers' technological literacy as it is often enacted across iterations of a writing methods course. Using personal examples and classroom anecdotes, the author argues that the construct of "digital native" is flawed and, instead, the author positions preservice…

The middle-grades program at a state university recently underwent a program redesign in an effort to ensure that teacher candidates are well prepared to teach in today's contemporary middle schools while maintaining the principles and standards established by the Association of Middle Level Educators. The purpose of this article is to explain the…