Building a Conceptual Framework for Culturally Inclusive Collaboration for Urban Practitioners

Special education teacher preparation is one of the most critical areas of teacher preparation in higher education. The field is even more complicated depending on the environment in which it takes shape given urban, high-needs, suburban, and rural school communities. Equally important in today's teacher preparation paradigm is supplying pre-service teachers with the pedagogical skills necessary to meet the needs of their 21st century learners, especially those students from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds and who attend urban schools. This chapter attempts to construct a practitioner friendly framework to examine inextricable linkages between teacher preparation and the role higher education institutions play in providing pre-service special education teachers the requisite skills necessary to become successful urban educators/practitioners. Teacher preparation programs can better support new teacher retention through CRT and family diversity training.

Challenges of Urban Educators in Implementing State Standards for Students with Disabilities

A lack of information, research, and teacher training exists on the effective implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) or other state standards for struggling learners. The pace and standardization of the curriculum are often at odds with the unique learning needs of students from diverse backgrounds. Researchers in one large urban school district conducted a series of focus groups with special educators to identify their perceptions of these standards and the training needs associated with effective implementation of the standards. The results revealed a pressing need for professional development to facilitate effective implementation of the standards for struggling learners in urban settings. Implications for teacher preparation and urban education are discussed.

Comparative analysis of didactic difficulties of Russian and foreign teachers

The need to solve the problem of improving the quality of education actualizes the comprehension of the problem of identifying, establishing the causes of occurrence, developing ways to overcome the didactic difficulties of teachers in the information society. However, no scientific studies based on the results of the works of foreign scientists on this issue, systematically reflecting the essence of the issue for Russian schools in a comparative way in modern conditions, have not been found. At the same time, comparative analysis can contribute to a deeper understanding of the educational situation in the context of the study of professional didactic difficulties of both Russian and foreign teachers. The hypothesis of the study is the assumption of the presence of invariant (regardless of historical time, country) and variable (determined by the socio-cultural conditions of a particular country, the territorial location of the educational organization (village-city), professional and personal characteristics of the teacher, etc.) difficulties of teachers. The purpose of the study is to formulate and characterize the current state of the problem of identifying, establishing the causes of its occurrence, developing ways to overcome the didactic difficulties of teachers in a comparative aspect. The methodological foundations are systematic, monitoring and praxeological approaches with leading methods of content analysis, "panel research", theoretical generalization of empirical data based on the results of the activities of 15 innovative regional sites in the Kirov region (a sample of 68 teachers from urban and rural schools). The results of the application of the methodology "Professional needs and difficulties of teachers" made it possible to confirm the theoretical conclusions on the difficulties of foreign teachers and to record the empirical facts of the didactic difficulties of teachers in Russia. Thus, significant similarities were revealed between the difficulties of teachers of the studied groups in 10 studied blocks (50 competencies) of a teacher: personal, legal, economic, managerial, general cultural, general educational, communicative, psychological, methodological, technological. The processing used qualitative methods of mathematical statistics. Urban educators show a higher level of professional hardship. Difficulties of varying degrees were identified for all studied competencies. 4 groups of difficulties were identified: 1st group: difficulties experienced by more than 50% of teachers (3 indicators each); 2nd – from 40 to 50% (5-6 indicators); 3rd group – from 30 to 40% (more than 10); 4th group – less than 30% (about 30). At the same time, it was found that more than half of the respondents experience difficulties due to the low level of proficiency in digital technologies; the presence of a professional deficit in pedagogical communication is confirmed by the choice of the indicator “contact with people” (43.24% of rural and 72.73% of urban teachers); makes it difficult for teachers to independently study didactic theories and achieve meta-subject results, etc. The classification of teachers' difficulties developed by the authors on the basis of "design, implementation and analysis of holistic learning", which allows to systematically identify similar and different elements of didactic difficulties of teachers in Russia and abroad; presented the author's interpretation of the term "didactic difficulties of teachers" in the context of determining the axes of the didactic triangle; generalized scientific and methodological options for overcoming the didactic difficulties of teachers of general education in Russia and abroad (organizing methodological work at school, conducting communication and creativity trainings for teachers on relevant topics) expand the theoretical understanding of the problem under study and can be useful in organizing the activities of school, municipal and regional methodological services in the implementation of scientific and methodological support for teachers of general education.

Preparing Urban Educators to Address Diversity and Equity through Field-Based Teacher Education

This chapter presents a case for field-based teacher preparation through mutually beneficial community partnerships in diverse urban contexts. Such models are a response to calls for change in teacher education, as well as to current policies and research on the central role of field experiences. Extant research is shared on partnerships as a key context for developing programs with depth, effectiveness, and sustainability. Next, information is presented about the development and implementation of one field-based teacher education program designed around mutually beneficial partnerships to prepare effective urban educators. Key themes and practices are demonstrated through data-based vignettes of collaborative field experiences with urban educators. These cases involve unique preparation experiences, stakeholders, and roles, but also serve as illustrations of the ways in which partnerships aimed at achieving mutual benefit must undergo continuous evaluation and redesign. Recommendations for iterative design and implementation of field-based models are offered.

Student Teaching and Urban Educator Aptness: The Significance of Similar Sociocultural Scenarios

Drawing from the experiences and reflections of new urban educators, this study examines how teachers undergo their first year of teaching on account of their student teaching. Using Situated Learning Theory—with an emphasis on legitimate peripheral participation—this study explores how sociocultural and contextual elements of schools contribute to teacher development. Findings suggest that teachers who complete student teaching in environments that mirror their first-year school placements feel more confident and competent in their ability to teach and serve students than teachers who complete student teaching in environments that do not match their first-year school placements. Implications for urban teacher preparation and student teaching placement are discussed.

The Intersections of Identities and Justice-Oriented Efforts of Urban Literacy Educators

This article draws from an ongoing longitudinal qualitative inquiry into the preparation and development of social justice–oriented urban English teachers. It examines the cases of three graduates of an urban education–focused teacher preparation program who claim different intersectional identities and have completed their fourth year as urban educators. The article explores two research questions. First, how do these teachers understand and enact critical education practices within their curriculum and instruction, socially situated relationships, and institutional structures? Second, how do they experience and understand their sociocultural identities as contributors to their practices as critical educators and the associated outcomes? Two findings are discussed. First, the teachers felt greatest agency and success within their classrooms (in comparison to other institutional spaces) to enact social justice–oriented curricula, instruction, and other educational practices, using relationship-building with students as the foundation of their work. Second, identity constructs of gender, age, and race significantly mediated the teachers’ relationship-building efforts with colleagues and administrators, the teachers’ feelings of agency, and their activities and outcomes related to justice-oriented change at institutional levels beyond the classroom. This study contributes a rare longitudinal example of how in-service critical educators’ sociocultural identities impact their literacy pedagogies and institutional efforts to advance educational justice.

Building a Conceptual Framework for Culturally Inclusive Collaboration for Urban Practitioners

Special education teacher preparation is one of the most critical areas of teacher preparation in higher education. The field is even more complicated depending on the environment in which it takes shape given urban, high-needs, suburban, and rural school communities. Equally important in today's teacher preparation paradigm is supplying pre-service teachers with the pedagogical skills necessary to meet the needs of their 21st century learners, especially those students from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds and who attend urban schools. This chapter attempts to construct a practitioner friendly framework to examine inextricable linkages between teacher preparation and the role higher education institutions play in providing pre-service special education teachers the requisite skills necessary to become successful urban educators/practitioners. Teacher preparation programs can better support new teacher retention through CRT and family diversity training.

Reclaiming Our Time: A 21st-Century Response to Banks’ “Afro-American Scholars in the University”

William Banks’ 1984 article “Afro-American Scholars in the University” situated Black faculty at predominantly White institutions in a milieu noting the uses and misuses of Black scholars, constituencies in conflict, the range of responses from Black scholars, and the standards and realities for their advancement in academia. Banks further discussed the stigma of affirmative action and the burden of symbolism for Black faculty. This article, written in the #BlackLivesMatter and Trump era, engages with the same questions that Banks raised 34 years prior. This response expands the context to the field of urban education, and Black urban educators in the academy particularly, through an analysis of community engagement experiences, the burdens of cultural taxation, and the impact of affirmative action in a post-Fisher political context. Incorporating events both inside and outside of academia, the author considers the centrality of creating spaces of resistance and leveraging the gains for Black academics over the past three decades to alter the standards of the academy to support Black scholars and their allies.