Urban Teachers Research Articles

Books like me: An investigation of urban elementary teachers’ journey towards more culturally relevant pedagogy

ABSTRACT The single-site case study described herein is part of a two-year professional development (PD) initiative aimed at helping teachers from an urban elementary (K-8) school learn how to implement explicit, transactional comprehension strategy instruction across grades using culturally relevant books. This paper describes the urban elementary teachers’ successes and challenges in their first-year implementation of providing culturally relevant literacy instruction. Three types of qualitative data were collected: (a) researchers’ anecdotal notes during the professional learning sessions; (b) teacher focus groups; (c) teachers’ blog reflection entries. The findings revealed that the professional development for culturally relevant literacy instruction resulted in teachers’ heightened awareness of how identities and social subjectivities are negotiated in and through culturally relevant discourse, the implicit and explicit bias in the school curriculum. Finally, professional development served as a catalyst for facilitating students’ and teachers’ racial and cultural identity development.

Technology as a Facilitator in the Learning Process in Urban High-Needs Schools: Challenges and Opportunities

Innovations in educational technology have led to heightened expectations for both K-12 teachers and students. Now, more than ever, teachers are expected to develop 21st century skills, which creates a necessity to understand how urban teachers feel about the role of technology in their teaching practice. In addition, teacher perceptions are necessary to identify better ways to prepare students for success. Utilizing a quantitative approach, this study explored these perceptions among urban K-12 teachers. Results suggested urban teachers lag behind their counterparts related to perceived effectiveness of technology. In addition, respondents indicated technology is not utilized frequently. The results revealed personal trial and error as the most common way of new knowledge and skill acquisition. Participants reported lack of student access to Internet at home as the largest barrier to technology implementation, followed by financial cost. These findings suggest urban teachers may need more guidance and professional development on how to effectively integrate technology into the classroom. Through the development of more thorough understanding of urban teacher usage of technology, administrators may design more effective continued learning opportunities. It is recommended future investigation be conducted across multiple states to investigate technology usage by grade level and content area to best equip urban teachers to effectively implement technology in their teaching practices.

Where Are They Now?

Available evidence suggests that inequities exist in the distribution of qualified teachers within high-poverty urban schools, and further, that such inequities adversely affect student achievement in these schools. This paper highlights the role of teacher education in addressing this challenge by describing the findings of a study of the graduates of University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Urban Teacher Enhancement Program. The career paths of program graduates who began teaching in urban schools were examined at the first-, fifth-, and tenth-year mark to investigate their longevity in urban schools, their perceptions of their greatest rewards and challenges, their perspectives regarding their reasons for entering and/or staying in urban teaching, and their thoughts about the role their teacher education program played in their career trajectory. Findings indicate that retention rates of study participants compare favorably with national averages, and that program participants felt that their teacher education program had a positive influence on their longevity in urban teaching.

The Emerging Critical Pedagogies of Dance Educators in an Urban STEAM After-School Program for Black Girls

The preparation of urban educators has gained widespread attention across education policy, research, and practice. As US urban cities have become more diverse, the teacher workforce has not kept up, and the racial/ethnic demographics of students and teachers are disproportionately incongruent. In order to eradicate an education landscape that perpetuates white, middle-class ways of knowing and being, often at the expense of the cultural practices and cultural wealth of historically marginalized students of color, urban teacher education must be centered toward justice and rooted in critical pedagogies. The literature, albeit bleak, reveals that these perspectives must also be applied to urban dance education. Dance education programs have been significantly eliminated from urban schools over time, and although dance has historical roots in African and African diasporic cultures, dance education continues to be Eurocentric. This phenomenological case study examines the emerging critical pedagogies of undergraduate dance majors and minors who served as dance teachers in an urban Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) after-school program for 7-12-year-old Black girls. Findings reveal that (a) navigating race, place, and space; (b) mentorship and practice; and (c) critical reflection and self-efficacy were critical components of the urban dance educators’ emerging critical pedagogies. Implications for urban dance education and the broader field of urban education are provided.

Beliefs or Classroom Context: What Matters Most to Novice Urban Teachers’ Enactment of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy?

Education scholarship is unclear about what matters most to novice teachers’ enactment of culturally responsive instructional practices. To better understand the factors that contribute to novice teachers’ instructional decision-making, the authors used Role Theory as a framework for an in-depth analysis of three first-year urban teachers who completed the same teacher preparation program. Classroom observation data of the three teachers indicated that one of the teachers used culturally responsive instructional practices frequently, one used them occasionally, and one only rarely. To understand this range in use, surveys and interviews measured the school context and cognitive variables that influenced each teachers’ perception of their professional role. Findings indicate that the key factor affecting use of culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) was the degree to which each teacher experienced consistent or conflicting role demands between their school context and their personal beliefs about teaching. The role consensus experienced by one teacher supported her frequent use of CRP, while the role conflict experienced by the second teacher was attributed to her occasional use, and the role overload experienced by the third teacher explained her rare use of CRP. Implications for preparing teachers to deliver CRP in unfamiliar and complex environments are discussed.

The Double-voiced Nature of Becoming a Teacher in the Era of Neoliberal Teaching and Teacher Education

ABSTRACT As policy makers’ neoliberal reforms continue to impact teaching and teacher education, stakeholders across both fields of teaching continue to seek out alternative practices that assist educators in fostering democratic learning experiences for children in schools. However, many continue to struggle with the impact of these reforms on their teaching. Thus, there is a need to better understand how to support preservice teachers in authoring themselves so that they enter the profession in a manner that allows them to speak back to policy makers’ demands and engage in democratic teaching and learning processes with their students. The instrumental case study examined in this article investigated this issue by examining how a sample of preservice teachers in a large urban teacher education program authored themselves as teachers who spoke with and against policy makers’ neoliberal reforms. These findings demonstrate that while preservice teachers appear willing to pursue alternative visions of schooling they still seem to focus on individualized choices in avoiding policy makers’ reforms. Thus, there appears to be opportunities for teacher educators to support preservice teachers in developing the skills required to speak back to policy makers’ neoliberal reforms so that they can author themselves as the teachers they want to be.

Sustainable Teaching: Three urban teachers make a case for teacher education 3.0

The purpose of this paper is to present evidence as to the efficacy of teacher education 3.0 aligned teacher preparation. This paper shares narratives of three urban teachers who attended a preservice program that did not emphasize practice-based teacher preparation. These programs placed a greater emphasis on providing their graduates with theoretical frameworks and context for schools in the United States. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, these data underscore both the importance of providing preservice teachers with an understanding of educational history and context, especially as it relates to sustainability and satisfaction in the profession and its limitations.

“The Last Refuge of the Incompetent”: Urban Teacher Perceptions of Their Positions in Public Discourse

We present one subset of findings from a larger study of twenty-one practicing urban teachers regarding their perceptions of their positioning in public discourses. We begin with a general introduction, focusing primarily on the myth of the “bad teacher,” after which we provide an overview regarding the evolution of this myth, as well as the overall deprofessionalization of teachers that accompany it. Next, we present our methodology, which we label a focus group interview study. We then present our findings, focusing on the nuances targeted by the participants with whom we spoke. We conclude with an overall discussion of the harm done by this particular positioning, calling on policymakers to make more active use of teacher perspectives regarding their practice.

Attitude of Teacher Trainees Towards Inclusive Education

Globally schools are becoming more inclusive in practice to provide meaningful learning experiences to students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment. Research has documented that teachers with positive attitudes toward inclusion are more likely to modify their instruction and curriculum to meet individual needs of students and have a more positive approach to inclusion. It is the responsibility of teacher training programmes to prepare teachers who can meet expectations of implementing inclusive education programme effectively. The present study was aimed to explore the views of teacher trainees undergoing two-year Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) programme about inclusion and their readiness to teach in inclusive classrooms. In this study, the Scale of Teachers' Attitudes Toward Inclusive Classrooms (STATIC) was used to collect data and 300 teacher trainees studying in their second year of the teacher training programme in two colleges of education in Jammu city were included in the study. The results indicated that generally, teacher trainees had a positive attitude toward inclusion in schools. The findings highlight that there was a significant difference in attitude towards inclusion between urban and rural teacher trainees. However, there was no significant difference in the attitude towards inclusion among the sub-groups of teacher trainees on the basis of qualification, previous awareness about inclusion or familiarity with the disability in the family. Some suggestions and recommendations for improvement of teacher education programmes vis-à-vis inclusion have also been given.

Examining Role Stress, Emotional Intelligence, Emotional Exhaustion, and Affective Commitment Among Secondary Physical Educators

Research on the psychological outcomes of physical education teachers’ perceptions of their work environments and variables that support adaptive coping processes is needed. Purpose: This study examined the relationships among role stress, emotional intelligence, emotional exhaustion (EE), and affective commitment among secondary physical educators in the United States (N = 246). Method: Using participants from a national database, variables were analyzed using multivariate analyses of covariances and structural modeling. Results: Urban teachers reported more role ambiguity than those working in other contexts. Role stress partially predicted emotional intelligence, whereas emotional intelligence predicted EE negatively and affective commitment positively. Role ambiguity influenced EE directly and indirectly through emotional intelligence. Role conflict and overload showed only direct relations. Conclusion: Emotional intelligence may buffer negative effects of role stress on EE while enhancing affective commitment by reappraising stress in manageable ways. Enhancing emotional intelligence may promote adaptive emotional responses.

Tensions in Designing a Third Space in a Justice-Oriented Teacher Residency: Toward an Authentic Collaborative for Clinical Practice

ABSTRACT Urban teacher residencies and university-district partnerships are growing in popularity in the United States and are vital for the clinical practice of preservice teachers. Because urban residencies and university-district partnerships are situated in historically marginalized communities, they strive to prepare teachers with a mind and skill set oriented toward social justice. The Georgia State CREATE Residency strives to prepare critically conscious and skilled educators for Atlanta. Here, we analyze how stakeholders representing the university, residency administrative team, and K–12 partner school and district leaders collaborated to learn from and design a responsive teacher residency. By comparing findings to AACTE’s recently published 10 essential proclamations of high-quality clinical practice, we argue that administrative learning spaces must exist to surface cultural and historical understanding of where residencies and partnerships are located in order to work toward transformative teacher preparation and induction. A critical analysis of the tensions and contradictions within a teacher residency can aid stakeholders in authentically crossing traditional teacher-education boundaries. Implications for further research are provided.

An Inquiry into the Self-Evaluation of Star Teacher Characteristics Necessary for Successful Urban Teaching


 
 
 This study examines the degree of agreement between three Haberman Foundation-trained facilitators’ interviews and pre-service teachers’ self-evaluations of behavioral attributes associated with successful urban teaching. Using a quasi-experimental design research approach, data for this investigation was collected from 17 subjects who are all pre-service teacher candidates enrolled in an urban, metropolitan, co-educational research university. The Star Teacher Selection Interview and the Urban Teacher Behavioral Self-Evaluation Assessment served as the assessment instruments. Overall, findings revealed that the trained interviewers rated the pre-service teacher participants much lower on many of the behavioral attributes associated with successful urban teaching than did the subjects themselves.
 
 

A Study of Attitude of Teachers towards Inclusive Education

This study aimed to investigate the attitude of the teacher’s towards inclusive education as the attitude of teachers or executors has a significant impact on the successful implementation of inclusive education. The population of the study comprised all pre-service and in-service teachers of the Gaya district of Bihar. Out of this population, a sample of 108 pre-service & in-service teachers (associated with primary and secondary school) were selected through quota sampling technique from 11 institutions (belonging to the government and private management system). We wish to discover teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education among their different demographic variables i.e. Mode of service, Gender, Locality. An attitude of teachers towards Inclusive Education questionnaire, was used for data collection. Collected data were statistically analyzed by using Frequency counts, Mean, Standard Deviation (SD), Standard Error of Mean and ` t ` test. Among the total participants n= 108, 48.14% were pre-service teachers & 53.33% were in-service teachers, 50% teachers associated with the urban area & other 50% teachers living in rural areas, 48.14% were female & 53.33% were male. The result shows that attitude of teachers towards inclusive education was moderate to a favorable level. Pre-service and urban teachers had a more positive/favorable attitude towards inclusive education than the attitude of In-service and rural teachers, respectively. In contrast, there was no significant difference between the attitude of male and female teachers towards inclusive education.

Preparing Teacher Candidates for Trauma-Informed Practices

Children who experience trauma may experience negative health and educational outcomes. Teachers are critical stakeholders in trauma-informed schools and are tasked with recognizing and responding to the needs of students who experience trauma. However, teachers face barriers to implementing trauma-informed practices, including high levels of stress and lack of preparation. This article describes training embedded in an urban teacher preparation program aimed at increasing the trauma knowledge and skills confidence of teacher candidates. Findings suggest the training helped teacher candidates increase knowledge and skills and met stated needs. Recommendations for future research and implications for teachers and teacher educators are discussed.

The Third World in the Inner City: The Peace Corps and Multiculturalism

As liberal policymakers and education reformers set about tackling the problem of poorly performing urban schools in the 1960s and 1970s, they turned not only to the works of progressive education heavyweights like John Dewey or Maria Montessori, or popular radical pedagogues like Paulo Friere, but also to methods and ideas first developed in the Peace Corps—President John F. Kennedy’s experimental program “to promote world peace and friendship” by sending young U.S. volunteers abroad.1 Reformers, federal officials, and local school boards sought to adapt Peace Corps practices for domestic teacher training and hailed returned volunteers as ideal candidates to educate the nonwhite children of the nation’s “slum schools.” Why were returned volunteers singled out for recruitment as urban teachers? And why did the Peace Corps appear to offer a model for teacher training that promised to solve the crisis of urban education? The Peace Corps, I argue, was a...

Working Toward Linguistically and Culturally Responsive Math Teaching through a Year-Long Urban Teacher Training Program for English Learners

This qualitative study examined how participating in-service teachers demonstrated linguistically and culturally responsive mathematical teaching (LCRMT) competences after they completed a year-long National Professional Development Program grant-funded project. A two-dimensional LCRMT framework was developed to measure participating teachers’ mathematical and mathematics-related competences. The qualitative data source was from three in-service teachers’ observations and interviews. The interview and observation data were analyzed using open and axial coding and activity systems. Three themes emerged: 1) mathematics-related content teaching practices, 2) tools to support mathematics learning, and 3) teachers’ mindsets and attitudes towards English Learner (EL) teaching. The researchers then compared verbatim examples using activity systems to examine the following research question: How did participating urban in-service teachers apply linguistically and culturally responsive mathematics teaching competences for ELs learned at a university EL teacher training program to their actual mathematics teaching in the classroom? The results, in general, indicated that the urban in-service teachers demonstrated improvement of LCRMT strategies that they used in their actual mathematics teaching after they completed the university training. However, challenges in the areas of mathematical discourse competences and teachers’ sociocultural beliefs toward ELs revealed the need for ongoing professional support.

Developing Teacher Credibility in Urban Environments: A B.E.A.R. Necessity

Teacher credibility is a prerequisite of effective instruction. A credible teacher is honest, knowledgeable, and caring. Credible teachers do the right thing when no one is watching; they are in control of the learning environment, but they do this in an enthusiastic and engaging way. Credibility takes time to develop. This study investigated ways in which urban teachers develop and maintain credibility in their classrooms. Participants were 22 secondary mathematics and science teachers in their first year of teaching. The researcher used the B.E.A.R. framework developed by Riner in 2008 to interpret the results. In this framework, B stands for believability; E stands for expertise; A stands for attractive power, and R stands for relationships. Results show that the participants developed credibility by being believable, by possessing content and pedagogical content knowledge, by being in charge of the classroom in a positive way, and by developing relationships with their students. Credibility is a prerequisite of effective instruction, and, in some cases, it takes time to develop. A credible teacher is honest, knowledgeable, and caring. This study investigated ways in which urban teachers develop and maintain credibility in their classrooms. Participants were 22 secondary mathematics and science teachers in their first year of teaching. Results show that the participants developed credibility by being believable, by possessing content and pedagogical content knowledge, by being in charge of the classroom in a positive way, and by developing relationships with their students.

Are urban teachers culturally responsive?

Classroom management continues to be a great concern for novice teachers. Moreover, the cultural mismatch in the urban settings exacerbates classroom management issues. This cultural mismatch is the result of the demographic discrepancy between the teacher and the student population, as well as the teachers’ weak multicultural competence, reflected in the way they mitigate classroom conflict. One way to bridge this mismatch is to use Culturally Responsive Classroom Management, an approach that incorporates students’ culture into teaching. In the context of today’s schools, the need to help teachers develop a culturally responsive classroom management mindset is more relevant than ever. This study analyzed some classroom management strategies used by secondary mathematics and science novice teachers in their urban classrooms, as well as the extent to which these strategies were culturally responsive. The researcher interviewed the twenty-one teachers and conducted classroom observations with each of them. Results show that the participants successfully managed their classrooms by developing relationships with their students, by fostering collaboration among students, and by holding their students’ accountable in following the classroom rules. An implication of this study points to the need for teacher preparation programs to help future teachers develop a culturally responsive mindset. Likewise, in service teachers need to be supported in the field in order to become better culturally responsive classroom managers. This can be accomplished by providing them with continued mentoring by teachers who possess a culturally responsive mindset.

Contextualized Effects of Racial/Ethnic Matching Between Students and Teachers in Urban, Suburban, and Rural High Schools

Background/Context Policy makers and scholars have long called for the large-scale recruitment of teachers of color, partly based on evidence highlighting the positive effects of racial/ethnic matching between students and teachers of color on various student experiences and achievements. A more nuanced understanding of racial/ethnic matching effects moderated by contextual factors may help policy makers’ and administrators’ assignment decisions on how to consider student and teacher race/ethnicity. Purpose/Objective/Research Question This study examined the contextualized effects of racial/ethnic matching between high school students and teachers, focusing on the urbanicity of schools in the United States, by asking two main research questions: (1) What are the associations between the racial/ethnic matching of students and teachers, and students’ math achievement and self-efficacy in the United States overall? (2) What are the associations among racial/ethnic matching, math achievement, and math self-efficacy in urban schools, and do these patterns differ for suburban and rural schools? Research Design This study used restricted-use national longitudinal data provided by the NCES High School Longitudinal Study of 2009. A strategy of disaggregating data by schools’ urbanicity and three separate analyses with fixed-effect models for each urbanicity (urban, suburban, and rural) was followed to capture the variations across different schools’ urbanicity and to obtain unbiased estimates of racial/ethnic matching effects. Findings/Results Relatively lower percentages of Black, Hispanic, and Asian students were matched with their same-race/ethnicity math teachers compared with White students in all communities. This study found no supporting evidence for positive associations between racial/ethnic matching and math achievement scores and self-efficacy without considering urbanicity. Within the context of urbanicity, positive associations for math achievement were mainly found in the racial/ethnic matching of Black and Asian students taught by same-race/ethnicity teachers in suburban schools. Conversely, the racial/ethnic matching among Asian students and teachers in rural schools was significantly and negatively associated with both math achievement and self-efficacy. Conclusions/Recommendations By focusing specifically on schools’ urbanicity contexts, policy makers and education leaders should consider the relatively lower percentage of racial/ethnic matching between Black students and teachers in urban and suburban schools, and Hispanic students and teachers in urban and rural schools. As rural Asian populations grow and diversify, Asian teachers from diverse cultural backgrounds are urgently needed in these communities. Contextualized policy solutions that consider school environments and cultural differences and that challenge the one-size-fits-all approach will ultimately better address the specific and diverse needs of students of color living in different communities across the United States.

Theory-Practice Divides and the Persistent Challenges of Embedding Tools for Social Justice in a STEM Urban Teacher Residency Program

This study examined how the concept of social justice was operationalized in the university coursework of students enrolled in an urban teacher residency program that aims to diversify the teaching corps and prepare secondary STEM teachers for urban classroom environments. Based on analysis of 39 syllabi and interviews with nine faculty members, we found that challenges in embedding social justice theory with STEM content knowledge were attributable to the lack of a shared definition among program faculty, and external pressures imposed by state teacher credentialing requirements. We conclude with recommendations for practice by suggesting ways that rigorous STEM content knowledge can be combined with locally and historically contextualized social critique and tools for change in order to support teachers in enacting justice-oriented practice in communities.