The purpose of this study was to describe how particular field experiences prior to teacher certification should contribute to a teacher's effectiveness, specifically teaching in an urban environment, through a basic qualitative study. Guided by the frameworks of self-efficacy and self-cognition, this was achieved through a two phase qualitative research process that sought to answer what the features, attributes and processes of high quality field experience look in an urban teaching environment and how field experience should and in what ways does it prepare teachers for the attributes of urban education, such as cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. The research collected shows that most educators' coursework was not focused on the urban education environment. Participants also shared mixed experiences of their clinical and student teaching hours being in an urban education environment. Through the Phase I and II data, the themes that emerged were exposure, intrinsic motivation and lack of self-efficacy. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]