Beyond Knowledge and Skills: Interrogating Admissions Interview Questions

• In Event: Using Self-Study to Ask Hard Questions About Being and Belonging

Abstract

We are junior faculty who teach courses that focus on how issues of race, diversity, and equity impact access to and opportunities for education. This paper describes our experiences as we conducted admissions interviews with prospective teacher candidates. We discuss how some candidates appeared to be highly qualified based on Eurocentric metrics such as grades, past experiences with students in schools and community settings, and written statements, yet expressed deficit views towards students in their interview responses. We also explore how our own experiences and personal biases impacted our interpretations of the questions and answers in the interview process and our own responsibility to revise the questions as well as the admissions process more broadly to be more equitable.

Authors

• Niralee Patel-Lye, University of Connecticut
  Presenting Author

• Kathryn Nagrotsky, University of Connecticut - Stamford
  Presenting Author