The negative impacts of high teacher turnover are widely documented, with particular impact on low-income, high-minority schools. Turnover can be especially widespread in science education, where teachers are in high demand. Although teacher retention is predicated on job satisfaction, which is in turn fostered by opportunities for professional…

This article reports on urban elementary teachers' understandings of cultural relevancy and the practices they enacted after a professional development on culturally relevant education (CRE) and cognitive apprenticeship. Focus group interviews support that participating teachers understood some principles of CRE but did not always match the theory…

This article examines how three urban elementary school teachers adapted pedagogical strategies from a school district--adopted core reading program to increase their students' access to the curriculum. Using teacher interviews and classroom observations to construct a descriptive case study of teacher adaptation, analysis reveals that the…

In the Urban Teacher Fellows (UTF) program, Student Support Specialists are responsible for recruiting, advising, and supporting students on the teacher pathway, beginning at the community college and continuing through the four-year university degree and credential programs. This is a program designed specifically to address serious concerns…

Our self-study has two main purposes: (1) to understand the value of self-study for credential program graduates to confront in transformative ways the pedagogical challenges of urban schools, and (2) to add to an exploration of self-study for non-teacher educators and strengthen our preparation of candidates to enact such inquiry. To answer these…

This study examined the effects of using the Model-Strategy-Application with Reasoning Approach (MSAR) in teaching and learning mathematics in linguistically and culturally diverse elementary classrooms. Through learning mathematics via the MSAR, students from different language ability groups gained an understanding of mathematics from creating…

The goal of this study was to examine the impact of the integration of global experiences on in-service teachers' international perspectives in mathematics classroom teaching through offering a graduate course "Global Perspectives in Mathematics Teaching" in the form of the East Meets West Program. This program engages teachers in an…

The objective of this study was to document teachers' and administrators' perceptions of how, if at all, LAUSD's new Teacher Growth and Development Cycle (TGDC) changed their practice in ways that can be expected to lead to improved student learning. Specific emphasis was placed on how the TGDC, the comprehensive observational system (teacher…

This evaluation reports findings from a study of a UCLA teacher education program called IMPACT, Inspiring Minds through a Professional Alliance of Community Teachers. To measure program quality and goal attainment, the evaluation team used a comprehensive, multiple measures approach which included instructional artifacts, classroom logs, measures…

This article presents an urban teacher education center as a process model of how a university can cultivate authentic community engagement. Tree essential steps of the process model are identified: (1) being physically located at the school or community site in order to build trust and become integrated into the life of the school or community,…

This article argues that economic exclusion, standardized testing, and racially biased definitions of teacher quality continue the exclusion of teachers of color from the urban teaching force. The authors highlight two urban programs designed to address such barriers and situate such efforts within a critical race theory framework that identifies…

A complex view of the socioeconomic digital divide in urban schools requires us to address not only the gaps in access to technology, but also inequities in access to human support, digital content, and "effective pedagogical" approaches to technology integration. This study explored the use of social networking site (SNS) as a platform…

The 2007 film "Freedom Writers" portrays the real-life experiences of Erin Gruwell, a teacher at an inner-city high school in Long Beach, California. This article discusses the educational theories underpinning Gruwell's pedagogical practice, as seen in "Freedom Writers", and identifies four themes--rewriting curriculum,…

Using a social justice orientation to teacher education and a sociocultural approach to learning, this exploratory study presents data from twenty pre-service urban teachers about their perceptions of and visions for teaching in urban schools. Findings reveal candidates' desires to care for and build relationships with urban youth as a foundation…

This study explored how graduate coursework can impact urban teachers' knowledge, skills, and dispositions regarding family and community involvement. (Note: California requires graduate work for teacher certification.) Specifically, the research investigated how teacher attitudes toward family and community involvement changed after taking a…