Diversifying Teacher Preparation: Lessons From Teacher Engagement in an Ethnic Studies Reform Initiative

• In Event: Recruitment for and From Diverse Communities and Contexts

Abstract

This paper centers the experiences of successful educators of color in the discourse on diversifying the teacher workforce. Findings and implications are presented from a case study of the sociocultural assets teachers of color brought to the design and implementation of a districtwide ethnic studies initiative. Four asset-based images surfaced: knowledge producers as cultural transmitters, humanizing agents and healers of generational trauma, community activists turned institutional advocates, and counter story tellers who resist Eurocentrism and white supremacy. We argue that these themes are a blueprint for reconceptualizing preparation programs to be more culturally relevant and sustaining for potential teachers of color.

Authors

• Sherilyn C. Shepard, University of San Diego

• James Fabionar, University of San Diego

• Kelly C. León, University of San Diego