Context-Specific High-Leverage Practices: Findings From Two Urban-Focused Foundations Courses

• In Event: 75.039 - Social Foundations for Teaching Practice

Abstract

Objectives and Theoretical Framework
This paper draws upon a conceptual framework and multiple data sources from a multi-year longitudinal study of context-specific teacher preparation (Authors, in press). The research has been examining how faculty in teacher education programs conceptualize the work of preparing candidates for specific, targeted settings, and what teacher candidates are learning about teaching in that specific setting, with the ultimate intention of identifying context-specific core practices (Author & colleague, 2013; Author & colleague, 2013; Colleague & Author, 2013). While the scholarship on core practices thus far has worked to identify disciplinary-specific practices (Lampert et al., 2013; Ball & Forzani, 2009; Windschitl et al., 2012), building upon our conceptual framework and research findings, we propose a set of possible core practices for learning about contexts for teaching-- practices that cut across disciplinary boundaries.

Methods: Data Sources, Analysis and Initial Findings
This paper focuses upon the identification, development, and teaching of context-specific high-leverage teaching practices in foundations courses in two programs in two different cities; both of which are intended specifically to prepare teachers for a specific urban public school district. Data collected for the study include program syllabi, candidate and faculty interviews, yearly surveys of all graduating students, and in their first and second years of teaching, and classroom observations of graduates. Our analysis revealed that context-specific strategies for teaching reflect a multi-layered, nested set of layers of context including knowledge of the unique school, classrooms and students; the neighborhoods and community; the district; and the state/federal context.
In response to these research findings, the authors of this paper report on the practices developed in relationship to those ‘layers of context’ in their respective foundations courses. Specific pedagogical approaches include teaching classroom practices that support equitable dialogue with pupils; practices and strategies that foster and support discussion about race and culture in the classroom; and practices such as community walks and asset mapping. The authors share findings from data on the impact of these two courses (student-teacher work, interviews and observations) that has been collected throughout the year in both settings. We detail successes and challenges of identifying core practices for learning about in two different, specific contexts, and more broadly, for developing an initial understanding of social justice teaching in context.

Scholarly Significance
This research expands scholarship about high leverage practices into their enactment in foundations courses (Authors, 2013; Zeichner, 2012) by drawing upon research and a conceptual framework about context. This work counters concerns that high-leverage practices could become overly technical and one-size-fits-all, by illustrating an approach to core practices that reflects specific knowledge about individual students, schools, and unique contexts.

Authors

• Karen M. Hammerness, American Museum of Natural History

• Bill Kennedy, University of Chicago