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Descriptors:
Mentors; Student Diversity; Knowledge Base for Teaching; Beginning Teacher Induction; Beginning Teachers; Equal Education; Minority Group Teachers

Abstract:
The task of preparing and supporting new teachers for working with diverse youth has generated widespread interest in induction and mentoring programs (Wang & Odell, 2002). However, much of mentoring in practice falls short of equity- and diversity-focused work. It can be better characterized as "situational adjustment, technical advice, and emotional support" (Little, 1990). Part of the problem is the lack of an articulated knowledge base of mentoring for diversity and equity. Such an approach would address the cultural contexts of students, teachers, and schools in order to promote more equitable schooling. This chapter features findings from a program of research that the author and her colleagues have undertaken to develop a mentoring knowledge base with a focus on diversity and equity. To articulate such a knowledge base, they look to teaching and other professions in which a knowledge base is grounded in work of their practitioners (Shulman, 1992). Knowledge base refers to a "codifiable aggregation" of knowledge, understanding (thinking and reasoning), skill (ability to enact knowledge), and disposition (a propensity to act or not act on what one knows) (Shulman, 1987, p. 4). For practitioner knowledge to become a professional knowledge base, it must be public, represented in a form enabling its cumulative and shared nature, and continually verified and improved (Hiebert, Gallimore, & Stigler, 2002). This chapter seeks to expand understandings about diversity- and equity-focused mentoring to develop a more robust mentor knowledge base. The chapter concludes with implications for research, policy, and practice. (Contains 1 table and 1 note.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Social Justice; Teaching (Occupation); Figurative Language; Accountability; Educational Opportunities; Public Policy; Minority Group Teachers; Beginning Teachers; Scores; Teachers

Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to examine how and to what extent schools' responses to accountability policies in the United States influence the ability of new teachers of color to draw on their own and their students' cultural resources to engage in culturally responsive teaching. A 5-year study of 17 new teachers of color reveals that these teachers identified three principal tensions which correspond to the three dimensions of culturally responsive teaching: (a) cultural and linguistic relevance versus standardization, (b) community of learners versus teacher transmission, and (c) social justice versus enhanced test scores. The teachers also described two mechanisms by which accountability-based programs and policies were enforced: fear of monitoring and internalizing the link between testing and educational opportunity. We applied the metaphor of "double bind" to explain the tensions and enforcement mechanisms encountered by these teachers. The "double bind" forced the new teachers of color to enact contradictory systemic demands promoted by government policy and the teaching profession and exacted an individual toll. We conclude with implications for policy, practice, and research. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Urban Schools; Minority Group Teachers; Beginning Teachers; Urban Teaching; Role Models; Change Agents; Culturally Relevant Education; Educational Environment; Educational Change

Abstract:
This book examines both the promise and complexity of diversifying today's teaching profession. Drawing from a 5-year study of 21 new teachers of color working in urban, hard-to-staff schools, this book uncovers a systemic paradox that the teachers confront. They are committed to improving educational opportunities for students of color by acting as role models, culturally/linguistically responsive teachers, and change agents. The teaching profession encouraged such commitments and some teachers acted with support from individual, organizational, and community-based sponsors. However, many of these new teachers work in schools that are culturally subtractive and have restrictive accountability policies that challenge their ability to perform cultural/professional roles to which they are committed. Many teachers internalize the contradiction, resulting in their becoming changed agents within the educational system they sought to change. This book on educational diversity is essential reading for educators, leaders, and policymakers. This book features: (1) Richly textured vignettes of new teachers of color committed to serving culturally and linguistically diverse youth in urban schools; (2) Descriptions of school conditions that both support and inhibit new teachers of color in their attempt to enact cultural/professional roles; and (3) Analyses of culturally subtractive schooling and a systemic double-bind experienced by new teachers with implications for practice, policy, and research. [Foreword by Ana Maria Villegas.] Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Urban Schools; Diversity (Faculty); Teacher Persistence; Student Diversity; Minority Group Teachers; Labor Turnover; Beginning Teachers; School Policy; Teaching Conditions; At Risk Students; Disadvantaged Youth; Teacher Competencies; Teacher Qualifications; Teacher Supply and Demand; Literature Reviews; Student Characteristics; Institutional Characteristics; Teacher Background; Educational Environment; Human Capital; Social Capital; Educational Finance; Power Structure

Abstract:
Given calls to diversify the teaching workforce, this review examines research on retention and turnover of teachers of color, focusing on new teachers because they leave at disproportionately high rates. Reviewing 70 studies, the authors found that (a) recent national studies identify turnover rates for teachers of color are now higher than those for White teachers; (b) policy-amenable school-level conditions related to financial, human, social, and cultural capital can affect retention; (c) teachers of color are more likely than Whites to work and remain in "hard-to-staff" urban schools with high proportions of students from low-income and nondominant racial and cultural communities; and (d) factors affecting the retention of teachers of color can contribute to staffing urban schools with quality teachers, including teachers' humanistic commitments, innovative approaches in the professional preparation of teachers of color, and the presence of multicultural capital in schools. (Contains 5 notes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Focus Groups; Teaching Methods; Minority Group Teachers; Diversity (Faculty); Urban Schools; Secondary Schools; Case Studies; Sociocultural Patterns; Labor Force; Teacher Orientation; Multiracial Persons; Hispanic Americans; African Americans; Asian Americans; Filipino Americans

Abstract:
Background: The call to recruit and retain teachers of color in urban high-minority schools is based on an assumption of a cultural match with students. Yet new teachers of color may find themselves challenged by students with whom they are supposedly culturally matched. Although past research has examined recruitment, preservice, and veteran experiences of teachers of color, little research investigates the critical novice phase. Purpose: The study examines the induction experiences of new teachers of color in urban high-minority schools as they negotiate challenges about cultural identifications. The research questions ask: How, if at all, do new teachers of color experience sociocultural challenges from students? If they do experience such challenges, how do the teachers respond to them in practice? Participants: Fifteen new teachers of color working in urban high-minority secondary schools in different subject domains in California. The participants include Latino, African American, Asian, Filipino, and biracial new teachers. Research Design: This article draws from cross-case analysis of case studies of new teachers of color on the theme of responses to sociocultural challenges. Data Collection/Analysis: Data are from teacher interviews, classroom observations, and focus groups, reflecting 3 years in the teachers' lives. We coded the data on three levels: preliminary coding of sociocultural challenges, pattern coding of responses to challenges, and cross-case analysis. Findings: The study findings complicate the limited conception of cultural match currently dominating policy and research rhetoric about teachers of color. The authors highlight a surprising new form of "practice shock" that the novices of color experienced when students of color questioned the teachers' cultural identifications, finding them culturally suspect. The study also challenges the prevailing description of novices' response to practice shock as moving toward more control-focused teaching. Instead, most novices at times took up the challenges as teachable moments and opportunities to broaden student conceptions. Teachers drew on "emergent multicultural capital" to negotiate challenges in ways that shaped teaching practice. Conclusions: The literature on novices, drawn from a White-dominant sample, has not included a discussion of sociocultural conflicts or the supports needed in induction years for teachers of color. The study revealed the lack of support that many of the teachers felt in relation to negotiating sociocultural issues. The study raises issues about targeted induction support for teachers of color that educators and researchers should consider as they seek to diversify the workforce. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Mentors; Beginning Teachers; Beginning Teacher Induction; Politics of Education; Case Studies; Educational Environment; Teaching Conditions; Teacher Role; Barriers; Advocacy; Conflict Resolution; School Culture; Organizational Climate; Educational Policy; School Policy; Teaching Experience; Elementary School Teachers; Disadvantaged Schools

Abstract:
New teachers are unprepared for school politics and the conflicts they experience with administrators, colleagues and policies. Research and practice on mentoring often ignore organizational contexts. This article explores these under-examined contexts, asking: (1) What do mentors need to know and be able to do in relation to school and district contexts to advocate on behalf of their induction work?; (2) What are the challenges mentors face in their school and district contexts? Drawing on practitioner expertise and an intensive case study, this article highlights three critical domains of mentors' political literacy: reading, navigating and advocating. Analyses delineate challenges and promising practices in tapping this knowledge base in action. Mentors' political literacy offers novices a way to act in schools' political climates, to address conflicts and, ultimately, to define a professional identity. Rather than viewing politics as negative, this article reveals how knowledge of schooling politics enhances mentors' repertoires and supports novice development. (Contains 6 notes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Faculty Mobility; Professional Isolation; Literacy; Educational Change; Resistance to Change; Beginning Teachers; Educational Policy; Case Studies; Creativity; Ethics

Abstract:
In this article, Betty Achinstein and Rodney Ogawa examine the experiences of two new teachers who resisted mandated "fidelity" to Open Court literacy instruction in California. These two case studies challenge the portrayal of teacher resistance as driven by psychological deficiency and propose instead that teachers engage in "principled resistance" informed by professional principles. They document that within prescriptive instructional programs and control-oriented educational policies, teachers have a limited ability to implement professional principles, including diversified instruction, high expectations, and creativity. In this environment, teachers who resist experience professional isolation and schools experience teacher attrition. Through these two cases, Achinstein and Ogawa express concern about the negative impact of educational reforms that are guided by technical and moralistic control. (Contains 4 endnotes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Teacher Characteristics; Teacher Recruitment; Socialization; Academic Achievement; Teacher Attitudes; Educational Policy; Educational Change; Beginning Teachers; Inservice Teacher Education; Accountability

Abstract:
This article explores the possibility that state educational policies, involving accountability and instructional reform, and local district and school conditions interact with teachers' personal and professional backgrounds to shape two tracks of new teachers that reinforce existing educational inequities. The present 2-year study incorporated mixed methods and a multilevel design that included state policy, local conditions, and teachers' beliefs and practices, highlighting two cases from a larger database. The authors report how differences in district capital shape responses to state policy, influence teacher recruitment, interact with teacher characteristics, and create learning opportunities for new teachers that suggest the creation of two classes of teachers for two classes of students. While previous researchers have identified student tracking as reproducing inequities, this article examines the largely unexplored terrain of new teacher tracking: the sorting and socialization of novices. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Teaching Methods; Student Diversity; Mentors; Classroom Techniques; Beginning Teachers; Teacher Collaboration; Classroom Observation Techniques; Interviews; Student Needs; Professional Development

Abstract:
Research on new teachers identifies two critical challenges in relation to how novices view their students: practice shock that results in an over focus on controlling students and a cultural mismatch that causes novices to see diversity as a problem. This article explores how mentoring strategies intervene at this critical phase, influencing novices' beliefs about students and teaching practices. This study examined 15 new teacher-mentor pairs over 2 years in northern California through mentoring conversations, classroom observations, and interviews with mentors and novices working with culturally and linguistically diverse elementary students. Drawing on sociological, organizational, and new teacher educational literature, the study explores how novices and mentors come to frame and negotiate student diversity in the classroom. The authors describe three ways of viewing classroom relations that the new teachers and mentors used managerial, human relations, and political. This article challenges current thinking about novice development by revealing how mentors offer new teachers a repertoire of frames to diagnose challenges and develop alternative approaches to meet the needs of diverse students. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Academic Achievement; Beginning Teachers; Elementary Education; Knowledge Base for Teaching; Mentors; Pedagogical Content Knowledge; Student Evaluation; Teacher Knowledge; Teaching Skills

Abstract:
Examined the practice of experienced teacher induction leaders and mentor-new teacher pairs to determine what mentors needed to know and be able to do to sharpen new teachers' focus on individual student learning and growth. Results found that mentors were able to focus new teachers on individual student learning, particularly among underperforming students. Results suggest that mentors can benefit from knowledge, skills, and dispositions in several areas. (SM) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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