Using the Critical Incident Technique to Understand the Effectiveness of Graduates From Our Urban Teacher Education Programs

• In Event: Preparing Culturally Responsive Teachers for Equity-Oriented Classrooms: How Do We Evaluate Their Effectiveness and Our Own?

Abstract

Objective
To explore factors which help or hinder new teachers’ ability to impact student learning and development in urban schools.
To examine the effectiveness of the Critical Incident Technique as a method for understanding our programs’ effectiveness at preparing culturally responsive teachers.
Perspective
Recent educational reforms emphasize a need for teacher educators to be accountable for their graduates’ ability to positively impact student learning and development (Cochran-Smith, Piazza, & Power, 2013). Traditional program evaluation measures such as content knowledge tests, value-added assessments, and high-stakes teacher performance assessments have been criticized, however, as not focusing on cultural responsiveness or as drawing attention away from adopting culturally responsive pedagogical practices (Henning et al., 2018; Ledwell & Oyler, 2016). To understand our effectiveness at preparing culturally responsive educators who impact student learning (Sleeter, 2011), we utilized the Critical Incident Technique to gather narratives of graduates’ effectiveness or struggles in supporting urban students’ development and the factors which shaped those experiences.
Methodology
The context for this study is an urban research institution preparing educators to teach using culturally responsive approaches guided by a conceptual framework emphasizing social justice and equity (Authors, 2016). We used a case study approach (Yin, 2014) bounded by the 2017 and 2018 graduates were hired in four districts in the metro area. The 20 participants had completed one to two years of teaching and represented eight different areas of certification. The primary data source focuses on descriptions of critical incidents gathered through interviews lasting 1 to 1 ½ hours. The interview protocol and data analysis were based on Butterfield, Borgen, Maglio, and Amundson’s (2009) description of the Critical Incident Technique first developed by Flanagan (1954).
Results and Significance
In preliminary findings, graduates pointed out that their preparation had an impact on their ability to be critically conscious and reflective, and to consider their own identities, ideologies and pedagogies (Behizadeh, Thomas, & Cross, 2019; Cross, Behizadeh, & Holihan, 2018). Also, graduates identified teacher preparation as a helping factor in their ability to be warm demanders, setting high expectations for all learners, and using engaging strategies to build relationships with their learners in responsive learning communities, resulting in improved academic outcomes (Kleinfeld, 1975; Monroe, 2013; Ware, 2006). In contrast, graduates revealed difficulties in their abilities to impact student learning and development when they referred to needed classroom management strategies (i.e., routines, procedures, transitions) and a lack of school support for addressing challenging student behaviors. Additionally, more program and school-level support was needed to teach in classrooms inclusive of predominantly English language learners (ELLs), especially where content areas were evaluated through high-stakes exams. Like previous research noting the effective use of the Critical Incident Technique in other disciplines (Butterfield, et al, 2009, Kain, 2004), including those who identified teacher behaviors (i.e., positive and negative) at the college level (Khandelwal, 2009), we, found the technique to be an effective tool for program evaluation for culturally responsive teacher education programs.

Authors

• Joyce E. Many, Georgia State University

• Carla Lynn Tanguay, Georgia State University

• Ruchi Bhatnagar, Georgia State University

• Katherine Samford, Georgia State University