Cultural competence in education is a vital part of running an effective classroom with cross-cultural relationships. However, there has been limited research addressing the supports classroom teachers receive from their instructional leaders in being culturally responsive to the students in their classroom. The purpose of this study was to…

This article presents 7 years of qualitative research into the emerging understandings of a population of 456 beginning 7 to 12 urban teachers who supplied 130 participants who were enrolled in a total of 26 MSEd English Language Arts courses over 7 years. These were interviewed while teaching in urban schools focused primarily on testing and…

Background/Context: Teach For America (TFA) affiliates with universities in most of its 40 regions nationally; however, few researchers intentionally study the content and processes of a partnership between TFA and a college of education. Purpose/Research Question/Focus of Study: To ensure that investments both organizations were making had a…

In this article the author describes a mixed-methods study of first-year urban teachers' social support networks. Social Network Analysis (SNA) data on the support networks of 24 first-year teachers provided a background context and framework for the case study analysis of 4 of the teachers. Findings of the analysis identified 2 important networks…

This book examines both the promise and complexity of diversifying today's teaching profession. Drawing from a 5-year study of 21 new teachers of color working in urban, hard-to-staff schools, this book uncovers a systemic paradox that the teachers confront. They are committed to improving educational opportunities for students of color by acting…

This article explores how exposure to aesthetic education approaches can help novice teachers reconsider their literature instruction in an age of mandated curricula and increased pressures to "teach to the test." The guiding questions were as follows: What similarities exist between transacting with a text on the page and aesthetically…

To counteract disempowerment frequently experienced in education, in 2001 the authors initiated a "Problem Solution Project" (PSP) in the second year a two-year urban certification and Master's program. The PSP, designed to promote empowerment of first-year urban teachers and their students, involves both service learning. In 2004, the authors…

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…

Approximately 80% of new teachers have mentors, yet mentoring typically fails to foster new teachers' professional learning--particularly in high-poverty schools. This qualitative study was situated within an urban teacher residency context and explored how six first-year urban teachers and the two induction mentors with whom they worked perceived…

This article addresses teacher retention in urban schools, focusing on high-need secondary science classrooms. As a longitudinal study, this research investigated how eight case study teachers conceived of their careers and career moves. The experiences and perspectives of three case study teachers indicated that they were situated along a…

An urgent goal for science teacher educators is to prepare teachers to teach science in meaningful ways to youth from nondominant backgrounds. This preparation is challenging, for it asks teachers to critically examine how their pedagogical practices might adaptively respond to students and to science. It asks, essentially, for new teachers to…

Despite alarming rates and negative consequences associated with urban teacher attrition, mentoring programs often fail to target the strongest predictors of attrition: "effectiveness" around classroom management and engaging learners; and "connectedness" to colleagues. Using a mixed-method iterative development framework, we…

While the challenge to retain highly competent teachers affects all schools, the crisis is critical in urban districts, which historically suffer from high teacher turnover (Ingersoll, 2004). This high turnover is especially problematic in the content areas of science (Ingersoll & Perda, 2010). Through ethnographic case studies the first year…

Despite alarming rates and negative consequences associated with urban teacher attrition, mentoring programs often fail to target the strongest predictors of attrition: effectiveness around classroom management and engaging learners Edution; and connectedness to colleagues. Using a mixed-method iterative development framework, we highlight the…

In this study, I explore the role of the "small schools" context on the development and learning of two first-year urban high school teachers with respect to equity-focused teaching. Analysis points to specific ways in which the small schools context fostered teaching for social justice: strong student-teacher relationships, interdisciplinary…