By Joanie Harmon
Emma Hipolito and Darlene Lee are co-authors of winning article on the well-being of teacher candidates of color.
Emma Hipolito, director of the UCLA Teacher Education Program (TEP) and Darlene Lee, TEP faculty advisor, have been honored with the 2023 Outstanding Journal of Teacher Education Article Award, for their co-authored examination of “Toward a Healthy Racial Climate: Systemically Centering the Well-being of Teacher Candidates of Color.” Co-sponsored by Sage Publications, the award recognizes exemplary scholarship published in the Journal of Teacher Education in the area of educator preparation or teaching and learning with implications for educator preparation. The article’s authors, which include colleagues from the University of California and the California State University, will be recognized during the 75th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), which will take place Feb. 24-26 in Indianapolis.
The article, which appears in the JTE’s January/February 2022 issue, builds from higher education scholarship on racial climate and “health” and teacher education research on race and racism to explore how multiple dimensions of a teacher education program—including historical, organizational, compositional, behavioral, and psychological factors—accumulate and shape the experiences and well-being of teacher candidates of Color. The co-authors offer a model and a series of questions for helping teacher education scholars, administrators, and practitioners reflect on their current structures to work toward a healthy racial climate responsive to the needs and experiences of a racially diverse teaching workforce.