Drawing on critical Whiteness studies (CWS) alongside theories of engagement and critical consciousness, we share the story of two student teachers (STs) who were identified as "fully engaged" during urban student teaching. At the program level, results indicate that the STs' teacher preparation program favored compliant engagement over…

The author draws from critical Whiteness studies and the sociological imagination to show how three White preservice teachers in an urban education program used personal experiences with racial privilege to understand structural racism. These stories depart from portrayals of race-evasive White teachers who struggle to engage with critical…

Although the ubiquitous nature of whiteness has been scrutinized in research on teacher preparation in the United States, scholarship on how this concept impinges upon the field's overall culture, as well as on pedagogy, is scarce. Thus, I perform a critical autoethnographic study on the relationships among whiteness, pedagogy, and urban teacher…

Dropout rates, suspensions, and expulsions have increased--among urban schools for quite some time. Yet, the number of unmotivated and disengaged culturally diverse students in urban learning environments is steadily increasing. There is a growing number of white female novice teachers who are entering the field of urban education and many…

This paper responds to the call for further inquiry into the experiences of graduates of urban focused teacher education programs. I present and analyze the experience of Mia, a White, monolingual English female who earned licensure in secondary social studies through a graduate-level, equity-focused teacher preparation program before accepting a…

Research points to particular problems in the experiences of White teachers teaching children of color and diverse backgrounds because often they are unfamiliar with their students' backgrounds and communities. Additionally, research points to the educational value of linking students' lived experiences to their classroom learning. This paper…

Within a two-year mixed method action research study, two cohorts of White senior preservice Art Educators reflected on anti-racist and anti-classist course materials and attended field experiences within urban schools. A majority of both cohorts identified systemic racism within social systems and language after engaging in course materials.…

Teacher turnover is a significant problem for many urban schools. Teachers who are committed to urban schools may be more likely to remain in urban schools and may provide a higher quality education for the students they teach. This article explores the changing urban commitment reported by four cohorts of teacher candidates enrolled in a…

In this article, the author describes her use of service-learning as a pedagogical strategy for developing preservice students' dispositions for urban teaching. Twenty-one students were enrolled in a multicultural education course with a service-learning requirement. This was the students' first teacher education course in a two-year,…

The current discourse in teacher preparation emphasizes the critical need for teachers to work in multicultural settings. The unique challenges inherent in preparing teachers at a predominantly White institution to teach in diverse classrooms include the critical examination of teacher candidates' White privilege, instructor readiness, and access…