Background/Context: Over the past decade, a growing chorus of educational stakeholders has called for the recruitment of more Black men into the American teaching profession, casting these men as ideal surrogate father figures for Black youth who may lack adult male role models in their families or communities. Although a small body of scholarly…

This article examines how prospective teachers just beginning a professional education program think about working with parents. Through interviews with students in an elementary teacher education program, I explore how biography shapes dispositions toward families by setting expectations for the roles and the activities of participants. Merging…