Exploring Measures of Equity Competence: Can Equity-Focused Teacher Preparation Make a Difference?

• In Event: 79.033 - Curricular Models for Teaching Equity and Justice in Teacher Preparation

Abstract

Social justice teacher educators are preparing future teachers to take on the political enterprise of justice-based teaching to confront racism and inequities. To better understand how to prepare preservice teachers, we conducted an experimental study (N=105) to examine the effectiveness of an intervention designed to develop preservice teachers’ equity knowledge, skills, and beliefs using three pre/post instruments. Treatment participants (N=48) learned about recognizing inequities, responding to inequities, and enacting justice-based pedagogies. Using structural equation modeling to create an overall equity latent variable, quantitative results suggested the intervention significantly affected preservice teachers over time. Researchers used coding schemes to better understand teacher candidates’ development of a social justice identity. Implications for practice and research are provided.

Authors

• Nicholas Steven Bell, University of Delaware

• Elizabeth Gayle Soslau, University of Delaware

• Diane Codding, University of Delaware