Examining Urban Teacher Preparation

• In Event: The Answers We Seek Are Within Communities We Research: Reimagining Schooling Through Black Communal Knowledge

Abstract

While the imbalance of successful outcomes for Black students in urban schools stands as one of the most formidable challenges facing education today (Noguera & Alicea, 2020), Teacher Preparatory Programs (TPPs) play an integral role in equipping the next generation of educators with the dispositional, cultural, and pedagogical skills to effectively teach Black students in urban contexts. Scholars across the fields of teacher education and urban education contend that TPPs committed to addressing the inequities of the urban educational landscape must support preservice teachers by providing a professional acumen grounded by equity and social justice (Tindle et al., 2017; Donaldson, 2009; Warren & Venzant Chambers, 2020). To accomplish this, TPPs must provide preservice teachers with competencies that help them: a) build relationships with students, parents, and community b) understand and build on the historical context of the community and school, c) understand and negotiate the sociopolitical context of the school environment, and d) develop learning based on the interests and needs of the school and community (Milner, 2013). This presentation builds on the previous to highlight the importance of reimagining urban teacher preparation to support the academic success of Black youth.
An intentionally designed approach to teacher education, Urban Teacher Preparation (UTP) programs encompass programmatic, structural, and pedagogical methods aimed to adequately prepare teachers for the challenges and opportunities of urban schools. Critical scholars such as Arnetha Ball (2021), Peter Murrell (2000), and Richard Milner (2013) agree that teacher preparation for educating Black students in urban schools must draw on the collective wisdom and history of Black communities. Guided by this ethos, the purpose of this paper is to identify UTPs that uphold strong commitments to urban communities; we posit that such commitment is key to developing our understanding of the components that make UTPs a site of possibility for redressing the on-going inequities associated with urban education.
We conducted an investigation of national, university-based UTPs, to examine their approach to community-based teacher education. We utilized a systematic criteria process to ensure our review centered on programs with an urban focus and community focus. Programs included in our review were evaluated based on four inclusion criteria:
1. Contained “urban” in the title of the program
2. The program was currently active
3. University sponsored programs governed solely by a public university
4. Articulated a clear commitment to the urban community in the marketing materials and websites.
Upon completing our review, we were left with nine university programs. This paper provides a synthesis of the five overarching themes derived from our analysis and our crystallization of a vision of community-centered teacher preparation.
As teacher educators, we implicate ourselves in considering why race and racism continue to plague educational opportunities for students in urban schools; our attempt to elevate the urban community as the epicenter of learning is our collective responsibility, and the analysis we provide reflects an envisioning of what is possible when we honor the urban in urban education for Black students in urban schools.

Authors

• Bianca J. Nightengale-Lee, Western Michigan University

• Iesha Jackson, University of Nevada - Las Vegas