Enacting the Scholar-Citizen Commitment

• In Event: Disrupting Systemic Inequities: Why Teacher Residency Stipends Matter (and Are More Feasible Than You Think)

Abstract

Purpose and Perspective
In 1992, the nation experienced deep social upheaval when officers were acquitted in the Rodney King trial. Center X at UCLA was established as a direct result of institutional reflection following the uprisings protesting the verdict. Inspired to make the rhetoric of social justice real, UCLA faculty fundamentally changed how the university prepared and supported educators for urban schools. Almost thirty years later, Center X continues to be recognized for excellence in equity-driven, community-based teacher preparation grounded in anti-racist curriculum, pedagogies, and critical dispositions.

The nation again faces an awakening in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd—and so many others, as recent moment has made clear. The parallels with Rodney King call for renewed reflection on the obligations of higher education to critically dismantle injustice, requiring faculty, as scholars and citizens, to demand and create new systems for our work.

Methods and Data
Center X has prepared thousands of social justice teachers, focusing on preparing teachers of color. Since 2011, qualitative and quantitative measures of persistence, retention, performance, and effectiveness have been collected. School partners and faculty also document changes in candidates and mentors. State data on specific partner schools also inform analyses that answer two questions: What have been the strengths of the Center X teacher education model? In what ways will the Center require radical changes in order to disrupt injustice?

Findings
Impact data create a strong picture of the Center X model. Alumni have a 97% 3-year retention rate in high-needs urban schools. Students of alumni outperform their peers on standardized tests. Alumni stay in the profession, often being honored with teaching awards; their students appear prepared for their journeys through the educational system compared to their counterparts. Those impact data, while strong, are premised on individualistic outcomes, not necessarily related to broad themes of justice, equity, and democracy.

Graduates’ schools, and the communities they serve, still face incredible injustices. A single strong teacher does not necessarily protect a student from future underprepared educators—or undo the damage done by prior poor teaching. And a single school isolated from the broader society doesn’t protect a Black or Brown body from police violence or acts of hatred. To achieve the goal of the AERA theme, the many pockets of strong teacher preparation, in partnership with communities, schools, districts, and philanthropy, will need stronger networks that build shared understandings of both purposes and processes of schooling, aligning teacher preparation programs to reflect the broader, interconnected needs of the communities that educators serve.

Significance
Funded residencies are necessary if the nation is going to have strong teachers from diverse backgrounds ready to engage in the challenging teaching and learning needed for a just, healthy democracy. But, alone, residencies are not sufficient if the profession is going to take the AERA theme’s call, Accepting Educational Responsibility, to heart.

Author

• Annamarie Mahealani Francois, University of California - Los Angeles