New York City Early Childhood Teachers' Construction of Teaching Quality in a Time of High-Stakes Certification

• In Event: 51.051 - Examining Teacher "Quality" and Inequality in Teaching and Teacher Education

Abstract

This study explores the certification experiences of one NYC-based Pre-Kindergarten Woman of Color teacher who was certified during the course of the research study. Using three interviews of experience, I explore how this teacher counter-narrates official definitions of teaching quality in the context of fluctuating requirements and high-stakes certification tests. Using data from this teacher’s interview compared with responses from interviews with other participants, I demonstrate how teachers’ counter-narratives of quality deem official definitions of qualified teacher irrelevant. Thus, this paper draws attention to the particular harm of requirements, including high-stakes tests, on Women of Color teachers, because serve to sort teachers and yet fail to effectively predict teaching quality.

Author

• Gail Buffalo, City College of New York