Building Community and Creating Change: Collaboratively Engaging Diverse Educational Constituents in Schoolwide Equity-Based Work

Abstract

ABSTRACT Teacher education has long been critiqued for failing to adequately prepare teachers to teach historically marginalized youth; thus, many have called for teacher education’s transformation to address this critical issue. Recognizing shortcomings within our own institution, we formed an Equity and Advocacy Committee that facilitated a series of public events focused on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Using surveys and focus groups, we studied the impact of this work on participants, who ranged from undergraduate and graduate preservice teachers to in-service teachers, administrators, and college faculty. Findings demonstrated that building community with a diverse group was a unique and impactful experience. Influenced by the content of the equity events, participants reported changed mind-sets and practices within their classrooms, schools, and communities. Data also revealed barriers to engaging in equity-based work and places where the work fell short of our goals. Implications for furthering similar equity-based work in teacher education programs are addressed.