This study involved examining the beliefs of teachers at one urban elementary school regarding how professional development has helped them meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students. This study included a series of in-depth interviews with three teacher leaders. The goal was to obtain consent from them to participate in this…

Instructional technology use in United States preschool classrooms remains a limited and widely debated practice. In urban communities, preparing preschool students for academic, social, and economic success is further threatened by the well-documented digital divide. This qualitative phenomenological study included ten subjects and examined the…

Despite recruitment efforts, teachers of Color are underrepresented and leaving the teaching force at faster rates than their White counterparts. Using Critical Race Theory to analyze and present representative qualitative narratives from 218 racial justice-oriented, urban teachers of color, this article affirms that urban schools--despite serving…

Drawing on the literature related to classroom management, and culturally relevant critical teacher care, and effective teaching for students of color, this paper uses interview and observation data to explore the perspectives and practices of two exemplary fifth-grade teachers who refuse to rely on punitive discipline with their students of…

Research demonstrates that many teachers of Color enter schools committed to challenging injustice, yet often face barriers to accomplishing this goal. This article presents emergent themes from a qualitative study with 218 self-identified, racial justice-oriented teachers of Color. Using Wilson's (2008) indigenous cultural framework of…

This mixed-methods study explores the differences in 1st-year urban teachers' classroom management beliefs and actions. The teachers in this study were in their first year of teaching in an urban context concurrent with their participation in a teacher education program offered at a large public university. Using program-wide surveys of 89…

This paper addresses Lincoln's [2010. "'What a long, strange trip it's been …': Twenty-five years of qualitative and new paradigm research." "Qualitative Inquiry" 16, no. 1: 3-9] call for greater attention to the question of rapport in qualitative research through a reflexive examination of researcher-participant relationships…

Urban teacher residency (UTR) programs have been widely endorsed (National Education Association, 2014; Thorpe, 2014), yet the body of literature on these programs has not definitively identified the benefits of UTRs over and above traditional teacher education programs--if any exist. The current study explored how faculty and staff working in one…

In the last ten years, education reform in this country has led to keen emphasis on student achievement at every level. Since then, many research studies have been dedicated to closing the student achievement gap through the examination of teacher training & development. Research has also incited awareness in the value of "emotional…

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…

The focus on measuring student growth based on teacher effectiveness has presented new challenges for an urban school in Massachusetts. The purpose of this general interpretive qualitative study was to examine the instructional practices of a group of middle school teachers, the practices they perceived to be effective for ensuring student…

In our study, we chronicle the development of two novice urban teachers who developed in to mentors in the third year of their teaching. The two novice teachers were hired to serve as mentors to new teachers in or near their school. Interviews with the teachers about their experiences identified three areas of discussion as a result of their…

The detrimental effects of high-stakes testing and accountability mandates are experienced disproportionately in high-poverty urban schools, which African American and Hispanic students are more likely to attend. However, the literature does not fully address how teachers experience the inequitable working and learning conditions in these…

This qualitative study examined the question: How do African-born teachers in U.S. urban schools conceptualize the "teacher" and his/her role and characteristics in an African school context? The data resulted in the conceptualization of the teacher as "the community teacher" who is intimately invested and integrated into the community,…

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…