Centering educators of color in teacher preparation

Abstract

Traditional teacher education and alternative teacher preparation programs struggle to recruit and retain prospective and early-career educators of color. To address this challenge, Jalene Tamerat and Clifford Lee recount their experiences as teachers and teacher educators-of color. They propose a reframing of pedagogies, curricula, and programmatic structures so they will more effectively center the cultural assets and critical perspectives among future educators of color. They share their personal reflections and offer an overview of the current educational landscape to contextualize and ground their recommendations for how teacher training programs can be more attuned to the needs of teacher candidates from minoritized and historically marginalized backgrounds.