This dissertation is a qualitative narrative study of preservice teachers' construction of urban teaching identities. While studies of urban teacher preparation highlight the need for teacher education programs to foster certain requisite knowledge, dispositions, attitudes, beliefs and skills, more studies are required to illuminate ways in which…

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…

Providing preservice teachers in urban settings with authentic educational experiences may be an effective approach in preparing them to teach diverse students. Therefore, this investigation examined preservice teachers' perceptions of mentoring at-risk high school students. Data analysis reflected preservice teachers' positive experiences and…

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…

This study explores teachers' beliefs about urban students and urban teaching. The author discusses some cultural aspects of these teachers' definitions of urban and points out their highlighting of race as an essential component of urban teaching. Even though race is rarely named, it is often at play in the teachers' descriptions of urban…

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…

The relationship between Brighton High School (BHS) and Boston College (BC) spans several decades. Professors from multiple departments at the university--not only teacher educators but professors of psychology, measurement, and arts and sciences--have walked, as regular parts of the school community, the halls of the gothic-style high school…

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…

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.…

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,…

The purpose of this study was to examine the implementation of brain-based instructional strategies by teachers serving at Title I elementary, middle, and high schools within the Memphis City School District. This study was designed to determine: (a) the extent to which Title I teachers applied brain-based strategies, (b) the differences in…

This study tested how well Fishbein and Ajzen's Theory of Reasoned Action predicted the attitudes and morale of urban teachers in high poverty schools under the pressures of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). NCLB forced local administrators to target schools that had not made adequately yearly progress (AYP) for two or more consecutive years.…

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…

Teachers are leaders when they function in professional learning communities to affect student learning, contribute to school improvement, inspire excellence in practice, and empower stakeholders to participate in educational improvement. From an equity perspective, teachers also lead when they serve as change agents who collaborate to use…

In her new book, Valerie Kinloch, award-winning author of "Harlem on Our Minds", sheds light on the ways urban youth engage in "meaning-making" experiences as a way to assert critical, creative, and highly sophisticated perspectives on teaching, learning, and survival. Kinloch rejects deficit models that have traditionally…