Purpose: Co-teaching is a foundational mentoring model used in teacher residency programs in urban classrooms throughout the United States of America. Beyond the basic understanding of co-teaching in categorizing classroom models, the purpose of this qualitative case study is to investigate the dialectical tensions manifested in mentored…

The authors of this article are two teacher educators who worked collaboratively to co-teach an interdisciplinary English and US history class to eleventh-grade students in an urban high school. They wanted to ensure the methods they were teaching preservice teachers were current and effective. The article discusses the foundational beliefs that…

This research studies the leadership role in transitioning from a traditional service delivery model to a co-teaching service delivery model for students with disabilities. While there is an abundant amount of information on the service delivery model of co-teaching, sustaining co-teaching programs, and effective co-teaching programs for students…

Student teaching is a critical step in the process of becoming a teacher. Since its development over the past few decades, student teaching has become a requirement to attain a teaching credential in all fifty of the United States. Unfortunately, the relationship between student teachers and master teachers is frequently wrought with tension. This…

With the current teacher workforce in urban school districts diminishing in size, teacher preparation programs are being called to use creative ways to attract candidates to ensure that schools in urban districts keep their staff filled with highly qualified teachers. This article considers the factors for successful recruitment in an urban…

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) educators in higher education are constantly challenged to look for innovative ways to improve their pedagogical practices (i.e., facilitated learning, mentoring and assessment). Pair Teaching (PT) has many benefits allowing educators to design and present better learning experiences for students. The…

This study focuses on the learning of a small group of pre-service teachers in a literacy methods course and their instructor, Cindy, a literacy methods professor. The pre-service teachers in Cindy's literacy methods courses conduct literacy practicum experiences at a local city school that is populated by children from non-dominant backgrounds.…

Grand Valley State University (GVSU) in conjunction with the Grand Rapids Michigan Public Schools (GRPS) collaborated to implement a Wallace Foundation Grant Program designed to develop urban school leaders. The theoretical constructs of the program were evident in the research on leadership and change. This research formed a basis for the…

In this era of high-stakes testing, teachers are often required to follow a standards-based, standardized curriculum, which can be constraining for English to speakers of other languages (ESOL) and mainstream teachers who are trying to meet the needs of English language learners. Despite the challenges presented by such curricula, this study found…

School-university partnerships are promising collaborations for better preparing qualified and competent teachers for the realities of today's diverse American classrooms. Research has been conducted on many aspects of partnerships, but few studies have focused on partnered student teaching placements. In this article, a professor and five of her…

The context for this investigation was an undergraduate literacy methods course taught by Cindy, the first author of this manuscript. A central course goal was to prepare pre-service teachers to provide effective literacy instruction for children from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The focus of this study was an examination of the…

A mixed methodology approach was used to address the question: what are skills, knowledge and dispositions that co-teachers need to balance the seemingly competing mandates of NCLB and IDEIA in order to prepare teachers for the classrooms of today and tomorrow? Based on the results of two recent studies that focused on secondary co-teacher teams…

The limits inherent in field experiences are significant challenges to teacher educators in preservice teachers' preparation. One key challenge is having preservice teachers understand the complexities of what happens in the classroom. This article describes lessons we have learned through the creation of a multimedia case study that have given us…

Over the past 7 years the authors have been involved in the development of a new model for the education of science teachers that has the potential to address teacher education in challenging urban settings characterized by problems such as teacher turnover and retention, low job satisfaction, and contradictions arising from cultural and ethnic…