XPress Papers

Authors
Jarod Kawasaki, Heather Clark and Annamarie Francois

Abstract
We report on eight novice science teachers’ efforts to enact a social justice framework of science teaching developed locally by university teacher education faculty. Enacting rigorous and equitable science teaching within urban schools serving low income families of color can be difficult for novice teachers. Our perspective on social justice science teaching relies on centering students’ lives, histories, and experiences where teachers use a subset of instructional practices that support students’ learning and participation in rigorous science instruction and create equitable access to science content for all students. We analyzed classroom observation ratings and video recordings of classroom teaching in order to understand novice teachers’ development as social justice science educators. We found evidence that teachers improved over time in their efforts to use specific instructional strategies to enact social justice science teaching. In addition, there remain a few learning challenges, especially around centering students’ lived experiences, histories, and assets.

Authors
Jarod Kawasaki, Karen Hunter Quartz and José Felipe Martínez

Abstract
We argue that teacher preparation programs considering approaches to assess teaching quality should choose measures that appropriately represent the complexity of teaching, have formative value in supporting teacher candidates develop as highly qualified teachers and consider the context, mission, and people that the program desires to serve. The authors are part of a research team working with an urban teacher residency program housed in a university’s teacher education program. The increased focus on clinical experience and mandated accountability that accompany federal grants created a fertile space to experiment with different types of measures and data collection approaches, well beyond what is typical in traditional teacher education programs. In this essay, we discuss the philosophy and considerations that informed the selection of these measures in the program, and the processes that were followed to use this data in ways that consider the complexity of teaching and honor the value of data as a tool for program improvement.

Authors
Imelda Nava, Jaime Park, Danny Dockterman, Jarod Kawasaki, Jon Schweig, Karen Hunter Quartz, and Jose Felipe Martinez

Abstract
This study assesses the reliability of two observation rubrics, one in math and the other in science, and documents how the rubric data were used to inform a teacher education program. Classroom observations are typically considered essential for assessing teaching practice, yet many popular observation frameworks, while comprehensive in aim, do not appropriately capture key features of teaching valued by teacher education programs. Many of these tools do not attend to issues of equity, humanizing pedagogy, and thus, social justice. We report on the development of two observation rubrics—secondary math and science—that embody the aims and values of our teacher education program, specifically, equity and humanizing pedagogy, and the results of our examination of the reliability of ratings of teaching practice generated using these rubrics. We discuss the various sources of measurement error and the implications for further developing and using the observation rubric in our program.

Authors
Heidi Harju‑Luukkainen, Jia Wang, Deborah La Torre

Abstract
In the United States, how to provide a high-quality education to all students has been a focal discussion, especially in urban settings. One potential solution that has emerged to confront this issue involves urban teacher residency (UTR) programs that provide innovations concerning the recruitment, preparation, and retention of teachers in high-need urban schools. In this study, we conducted a content analysis and compared steering documents of a UTR program in California with materials from a teacher-training program in Finland. Despite differences in both the legislative and local contexts under which the two programs operate, we found many similarities in both the steering documents and course offerings of these two teacher-training programs. For example, both promote aspects of social justice and are research-based. Furthermore, both offer a variety of types of courses, such as those emphasizing the pedagogical bases of education and research studies in education.

Author
Sarah Lillo

Abstract
When the research team began its qualitative exploration of what and how a cohort of preservice elementary/early childhood teachers in the University of California, Los Angeles’ IMPACT Urban Teacher Residency Program learned, the12-member team did not anticipate the degree to which preservice teachers would credit peers in their learning. On the urging of participants, the team began to systematically consider peer interactions. Curious about coherence in teacher education experiences, the team also attended to the program’s promotion of collaborative approaches. This article details ways that preservice teachers collaborated, inside the classroom and beyond, to support their learning and teaching. It also explores university features that supported collaboration including curricular inclusions, cohort models, student-centered seminars, mentor relationships, consistent modeling and feedback, and placement swaps.Findings suggest that peer relationships may be especially important to preservice teachers’ learning and also that university messages can reinforce the value and practices of collaboration.

Authors
Jarod Kawasaki, Kathryn M. Anderson-Levitt, Lindsey Nenadal, Nadine Tanio, Josephine Pham, Claudia Diera, and Annamarie Francois

Abstract
There is a movement within teacher education programs to prepare social justice educators equipped to disrupt systemic oppression and inequity. While studies have looked at how programs prepare teachers to teach for social justice, they tend to focus on teachers’ beliefs and few examine teacher education programs as a whole. Urban teacher residency programs have emerged as hybrid spaces addressing the disconnect between campus courses and field experiences, attempting to support teachers applying theory to practice. This study follows a cohort of pre-service science teachers in an urban teacher residency program over the course of their 18-month teacher preparation program. We analyzed written artifacts collected throughout the year to examine the evolution of their definitions of and practices related to social justice. We present two contrasting case studies to highlight their divergent learning pathways and the specific residency program experiences that influenced their learning.

Authors
Karen Hunter Quartz, Jose Felipe Martinez & Jarod Kawasaki

Abstract
Teaching is a complex construct, and there is near-universal consensus, in the literature in the United States and internationally, that capturing this complexity requires collecting multiple measures from multiple sources. Yet, what measures to use and how is a contentious area of education policy research. In practice, there is little specific guidance available to districts and states in the United States interested in using multiple indicators to gauge and improve teacher performance. Teacher education programs that combine field- and university-based training have many built-in opportunities for data collection and offer an ideal context for exploring the productive use of different methods and measurement tools for collecting information about teaching practice. This case presents the experiences of a team of researchers and teacher educators working in one teacher education program to develop measures and understand how these may be used in combination to monitor and improve the instructional practices of teacher candidates. The program drew complementary information from seven measures aligned to a framework that includes content rigor, discourse, classroom ecology, and equitable access. The measures developed included observation rubrics, teaching artifacts, instructional logs, standardized tests, surveys of teachers and mentors, and portfolios, along with teacher value-added estimates. The case outlines the challenges and benefits of using multiple measures within teacher preparation programs.

Authors
Kathryn Anderson-Levitt, Jenna van Draanen & Helen M. Davis

Abstract
Concern that practical realities in classrooms will ‘trump’ theories has led some universities to design residency teacher education programs that maximize coherence between university coursework and field experiences. Yet, some research suggests that student teachers can learn from dissonance. This qualitative case study of one cohort in an urban teacher residency program that sought to maximize coherence asks how the apprentice teachers experienced connections between the university and the field. Although apprentices experienced dissonance, they nonetheless expressed coherent philosophies aligned with university values. Coherence was something that individual apprentices constructed for themselves as they developed a personal ‘style’ or way of teaching in a program that welcomed their prior identities. Coherence was achieved through early development of a personal professional identity, not perfect alignment between field and university.

Conference Presentations

Authors
Jarod Kawasaki
Sandy Chang
Deborah La Torre
Annamarie Francois

Abstract
We draw on Murrell (2001)’s principles of community teacher framework for examining the qualities of productive university-community-school partnerships for educating effective community teachers. Developing community teachers relies on deep and supportive partnerships with local schools. Yet little is known about what qualities make a school a productive site for teacher learning and how the partnership influences each other. We interviewed 13 participants who were all connected to one local school partner in different capacities (e.g., student teacher, graduate hire, administrator) to better understand how this school exemplified qualities of a productive site for teacher learning. We share excerpts that support four common qualities discussed in the interviews and discuss implications for establishing these types of partnerships.

Author
Jarod N. Kawasaki, Deborah La Torre, Imelda Nava, Jamie Park, Annamarie Francois

Abstract
We report on eight novice science teachers’ efforts to understand and enact a social justice framework of science teaching developed locally by university teacher education faculty. Enacting rigorous and equitable science teaching within schools serving low income students from communities of color can be difficult for novice teachers. Our perspective on social justice science teaching relies on a subset of instructional practices that support students learning and participation in rigorous science instruction and creates equitable access to science content for all students in the classroom. We analyzed classroom observation ratings and video recordings of classroom teaching in order to understand novice teachers’ development as social justice science educators. We found evidence that teachers improved across the academic year in their efforts to enact social justice science teaching. In addition, there remain a few different challenges. In this session, we share our findings along with video excerpts to depict novice teachers’ classroom teaching and discuss the implications for science teacher educators that are supporting novice teacher learning and development around a social justice framework.

Authors
Imelda Nava, Jaime Park, and Jarod Kawasaki

OBJECTIVE
This study aims to learn how Pre-Service math and science teachers perceive Humanizing STEAM and how that might be translated into practice.

Research Question: What are pre-service secondary math and science teachers’ evolving conceptions of humanizing STEAM and their emerging translations into practice?

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Authors
Imelda Nava, Jaime Park, and Jarod Kawasaki

Author
Deborah Michele La Torre

Abstract
To evaluate teacher practice, teacher assignment checklists (TACs) were collected from two cohorts of participants in the Inspiring Minds through a Professional Alliance of Community (IMPACT) urban teacher residency program. Each submission, which included details of the lesson administered, student artifacts, and other supporting materials was evaluated by two raters using ten rubrics spanning three dimensions.
Overall, Cohort 1 participants tended to get higher ratings than did those in Cohort 2, with thedifferences most pronounced for those at the elementary level. In addition, when examining results aggregated across the two cohorts, means were higher for the majority of rubrics at the pre-service administration than at the resident administration.

Authors
Jarod Kawasaki, Nancy Burstein, Annamarie Francois, Kamal Hamdan, Sue Sears, and A.Dee Williams

Abstract
Recruiting, preparing, and retaining a diverse teacher workforce is becoming an imperative given the shifting demographics of the student population in the United States. We share the experiences of four university based residency programs, positioned to leverage its’ intellectual strengths and partnerships with community organizations and local school districts, to support teachers of color develop the commitment, capacity and resilience to work in the most underserved communities and schools.

Authors
Kathryn Anderson-Levitt, Claudia Diera, Lindsey Nenadal, Josephine Pham, and Nadine Tanio **Authors listed in alphabetical order

Objectives: In this qualitative study, we examine how participation in a social justice-oriented urban teacher residency program shapes the evolution of pre-service teachers’ complex definitions and practices related to social justice over the course of a school year. The findings from this study can help inform the broader literature of what it means to teach for social justice and, more specifically, inform how urban residency teacher education programs support pre-service teachers in their individual quests to become social justice educators.

Authors
Jarod Kawasaki, Imelda Nava-Landeros, Annamarie Francois

Abstract
Urban teacher residency programs have emerged as a promising hybrid between university-based and alternative teacher education programs. The combination of an increased clinical experience and university coursework focused on theories and pedagogies of social justice afford an opportunity for pre-service teachers to develop practical notions of how learning and social justice theories play out in science classrooms. We analyzed artifacts from secondary science pre-service teachers to understand how these teachers’ ideas about what it means to be a social justice educator evolved throughout the year. We present excerpts from these artifacts to describe pre-service teachers’ different learning trajectories and highlight specific field experiences that influenced these trajectories.

Authors
Deborah La Torre, Talia Stol, Jarod Kawasaki

Abstract
Researchers and policymakers have long recognized that the retention of new teachers is problematic (Charters, 1970; Mark and Anderson, 1978). As early as the 1980s, it was being noted that high turnover was problematic in both urban and rural schools in California (Olebe, 2001). In addition, much of the research on turnover in the 1990s found that it was highest in specialized teaching fields such as mathematics, and science (Grissmer& Kirby, 1992; Henke, Zahn, & Carroll, 2001; Ingersoll, 2001; Teacher Advisory Council & National Research Council, 2001). In reaction to this problem,as well as questions of teacher quality (Guha,Hyler, & Darling-Hammond, 2016), districts and universities began tocollaborateon the development of urban teacher residency (UTR) programs as systems ofpre-service teacher education. The IMPACT (Inspiring Minds through a Professional Alliance of Community Teachers) program, a partnership between UCLA, LAUSD and the Center for Powerful Public Schools, represents one such effort to develop high quality teachers with specializations in mathematics and science at both the elementary and secondary levels.

While UTRs are often required to develop evaluation plans as a component of their education grants, reports are often submitted to funders without significant effort to relay findings to program staff. Similarly, researchers who study teacher education may not offer timely feedback to programs. However, data collected for these two purposes can yield valuable insight into program structures and operations that may prove useful in informing programmatic decisions over the short, intermediate, and long terms.

UCLA’s IMPACT program has sought to deliberately integrate data discussions into monthly program-wide meetings. In addition to engaging UCLA’s National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) to conduct a comprehensive evaluation for the purpose of fulfilling grant requirements, IMPACT is also working with CRESST to look across data (e.g., observation rubrics, surveys, edTPA) in a way that more directly taps into its potential for program learning.

During the first half of our session, members of the CRESST and IMPACT teams will summarize findings from two of the program’s four dimensions of quality.

Classroom ecology is defined by teachers’ ability to successfully establish norms and routines that maximize instructional time, to build a supportive and respectful learning environment, and to cultivate a democratic classroom where student voice is valued.

Academic rigor emphasizes the use of high-level core practices to engage students in learning and the use of frequent and multiple forms of formative assessment.

During the second half of our presentation, we will discuss the significance of our findings concerning classroom ecology and academic rigor in the IMPACT context. We will also lead a discussion with participants concerning how to apply our approach to their teacher education programs in California, especially those focused on the development of mathematics and science teachers.

Authors
Jarod Kawasaki, Karen Hunter Quartz, and Annamarie Francois

Abstract
Urban teacher residency programs have emerged as a promising hybrid between university-based and alternative teacher education programs. Placing novice teachers in yearlong residencies in urban public schools re-defines the role of mentors that support these novice teachers. While researchers have identified essential characteristics of mentoring quality, limited attention has been paid to the role that a social justice perspective plays in mentoring, especially in urban schools. We interviewed eight secondary math and science mentors about their ideas about the role and importance of social justice in their mentoring practice with novice teachers.We present excerpts from interviews that highlight how mentors describe social justice in terms of the political, social, and academic contexts of mentoring novice teachers in urban schools.

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Authors
Jarod Kawasaki, Karen Hunter Quartz, and Annamarie Francois

Authors
Kate Riedell & Kathryn Anderson-Levitt

Abstract
In this qualitative case study of a cohort of elementary student teachers (apprentices), we sought to understand what skills for literacy instruction the apprentices learned within “messy,” fluctuating field placements. Some mentor teachers were transitioning between Reading/Writing Workshop (RWW) and Treasures while others used a combination of these methods. The findings indicated that without exposure to Treasures, apprentices would have had fewer chances to learn how to teach phonics and vocabulary, while without exposure to RWW, apprentices would have learned little about how to teach the writing process. The field experiences not only afforded the apprentices a richer literacy content skillset, but also aided them in developing their personal literacy teaching philosophies.

Authors
Imelda Nava, Jaime Park, and Jarod Kawasaki

Abstract
Understandings from inner city pre-service math and science teachers based on art and STEM are investigated. Pre-service teachers experienced art forms including drama, music, visual arts, dance and a creative lab where they made connections between the arts and their classroom context. While some emerging connections between art and content surfaced, they were not developed. Greater ties were made between the art experiences and creating a safe space for participation and language development. Scaffolded opportunities to enact some of the viable connections between art and STEM might facilitate more consistent practice and refinement of STEAM. Lastly, time and space for developing more concrete links between the arts and STEM by teachers might generate nascent understandings regarding a viable STEAM framework

Authors
Karen Quartz, Jarod Kawasaki, Nichole Rivera & Jia Wang

Abstract
Teacher residency programs have emerged as a promising innovation that combines field-based and university based learning in new ways, including heightened accountability for teacher effectiveness. Much of the policy debate surrounding teacher effectiveness centers on one measure: value-added student achievement data. This symposium brings diverse perspectives together to focus on measuring the effectiveness
of pre-service teachers in the context of three innovative urban teacher residency programs that serve high-poverty communities in metropolitan areas in the United States. This perspective is timely given the policy debate surrounding the value of university-based pre-service preparation, the new CAEP standards for the accreditation of teacher preparation programs, and the heightened scrutiny on the effects of these programs, particularly on the achievement of underserved students.

Authors
Imeda Nava, Jaime Park, Jarod Kawasaki

Abstract
This study provides insights into how a teacher education program has developed a professional learning community around equity focused teacher practice. Costa, Garmston & Zimmerman (2014) identify the need for educators to reflect personally and collaboratively as a path toward self-efficacy. The pre-service teacher education program has selected four core practices that are focused on equity and access. These core practices include: content rigor, content discourse, equitable access to content, and classroom ecology. The practices are implemented through various reflective contexts and structures. Preliminary findings suggest some convergence between reflective practice and enactment. Developing PLC’s that are structured around core practices may be a powerful means to transform educational practice and student learning.

Evaluation Reports

Author
Jia Wang, Noelle Griffin, Deborah La Torre, and Velette Bozeman, 2019

Introduction
UCLA’s National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) has been a nationally and internationally known force in educational assessment, research, and evaluation for over 50 years. CRESST projects focus on bringing innovation to the design, understanding, implementation, and use of assessments, evaluation, and related supports (see https://cresst.org). CRESST researchers have been engaged in the evaluation of Center X’s teacher training programs for the past 15 years, including the UCLA Inspiring Minds through a Professional Alliance of Community Teachers (IMPACT) residency program.

One of the unique aspects of the IMPACT project has been the collaborative nature of the ongoing evaluation activities.Both CRESST and the IMPACT project leadership viewed this evaluation as a collaborative endeavor from the outset, from developing the initial goals and methods of the evaluation to instrument development, data collection, reporting, and broader dissemination of findings.The collaborative nature of this work served to both enhance the quality of the evaluation and the work of the program team using the evaluation information.

In the field of program evaluation, over the last two decades the term collaborative evaluation has had a range of definitions and systems of classification, differentially emphasizing factors such as participations level, stakeholder empowerment, inquiry, and transformation (seeEarl, 1995; O’Sullivan, 2004; Rodriguez-Campos, Martz & Rincones-Gomez, 2010). Across these definitions, several key characteristics of a collaborative evaluation process emerge, including:

Some form of meaningful stakeholder engagement, with the evaluation drawing on both evaluators and key stakeholders as part of an iterative process;
Clear, structured communication practices to build a shared understanding of evaluation activities, their use and implications;
Adaptivity/responsivity, in terms of both using feedback for formative program improvement and to improve/refine evaluation practices; and
And maximizing usability of the evaluation findings in the context of program goals.

These hallmarks of collaboration were in evidence throughout the IMPACT evaluation process. For example, evaluators and program stakeholders not only collaborated on the initial evaluation plana and design, but also on the development of key evaluation measures, including a classroom observation instruments that served dual purposes as an evaluation measure and a program professional learning tool. The evaluation team and program team developed regular meeting processes and practices for communication, as well as mechanisms for sharing information with other program stakeholders. For example, we developed a template for sharing, as a formative professional development resources, results of classroom artifacts analyses with the teachers who submitted them as part of the evaluation process. This formative use of evaluation data process builds a deep relationship between program and evaluation staff/faculty to work together to solve problems of practice that emerge, influencing the processes in the program and the evaluation process itself.

While the program side utilized evaluation feedback for program refinement, the evaluators also adapted evaluation activities to meet the program needs as it evolved –for example, integrating data collection activities at the school-level to gauges school engagement and potential implementation barriers. In addition to meeting of funder summative documentation requirements, a key driver for the evaluation activities was the usability of the information provided for real formative purposes by the program, with checks for if and how this evaluation goal was being met embedded into the communication process. Ultimately, this collaborative evaluation approach maximized engagement, trust, and professional growth for both the program team and the evaluation team.

Author
Nichole Rivera, 2014

Introduction

The Instructional Quality Assessment (IQA) is an assessment of teacher practice through classroom artifact analysis. Using a set of rubrics, the IQA evaluates teacher instruction through everyday classroom documents: student work, teacher assignments, and teachers’ descriptions of the context of their specific lessons.

The first two dimensions of the current IQA, Academic Rigor (Dimension 1) and Clear Communications (Dimension 2), have been previously found to be reliable and valid (e.g., Matsumura et al., 2006; Silk, Silver, American, Nishimura, & Boscardin, 2009). Academic Rigor includes four rubrics: (1) Potential of the Task (2) Implementation ofthe task (3) Rigor in Student’s Responses and (4) Academic Rigor in Teacher’s Expectations. Clear Communications includes two rubrics (1) Clarity and Detail of Expectations and (2) Communications of Expectations.

The third dimension, Equitable Teaching, was piloted in Spring 2011. Based on this initial pilot, revisions were made to this dimension to align with program expectations and increase reliability. Equitable Teaching includes four rubrics (1) Participation Structures (2) Differentiation (3) Academic Language and (4) Relevance.

Author
Daniel Dockterman (2014)

Introduction
UCLA IMPACT, Inspiring Minds through a Professional Alliance of Community Teachers, is a teacher education program developed by UCLA’s Center X, in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), and the Los Angeles Small Schools Center. With the goal of preparing highly qualified community teachers and urban school teacher-leaders, IMPACT is an 18-month teacher education program in the high-need subject areas of math, science, and early childhood education (ECE) and multiple subjects. Participating students receive a $10,000 stipend through a U.S. Department of Education Teacher Quality Partnership grant plus field support for the first two years of teaching. During year one of the IMPACT programs tudents, called apprentices, engage in summer foundational coursework followed by a yearlong residency with mentor teachers in a school within LAUSD. The UCLA faculty also supports apprentices during the year. At the end of year one, apprentices earn their California Preliminary Teaching Credential and are ready to become full-time classroom teachers. In the fall of year two, apprentice teachers work independently in their own classrooms, while being supported by UCLA faculty, and work to develop a master’s residency portfolio project before their graduation in December.

For the purposes of program evaluation, research, and improvement based on data, Center X worked closely with its evaluation team at the UCLA’s National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST). Researchers at CRESST and practitioners at Center X formed a collaborative team to study IMPACT through the use of multiple measures of teaching practice. These measures include classroom observational data, classroom discourse analysis, performance assessments of apprentices, analysis of instructional artifacts, analysis of classroom logs, and student achievement data. Additional measures of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and teaching attitudes and beliefs (surveys) were collected during the apprentices’ 18-month university coursework.

This report focuses on the survey findings of cohorts 1-4 of math and science and ECE/multiple subject teacher apprentices and mentors. Cohort 1 apprentice teachers started their UCLA training in the summer of 2010 and became full-time classroom teachers in 2011-12—Cohort 2 started in the summer of 2011, Cohort 3 started in the summer of 2012, and Cohort 4 started in the summer of 2013. Cohort 4 apprentice teachers were the last cohort of apprentices trained under the IMPACT program, and became full-time classroom teachers in the fall of 2014.

Apprentices received three surveys during their 18-month training. Survey 1 was administered to apprentices in the summer of their residency year of teaching; Survey 2 was administered in the spring of their residency year; and Survey 3 was administered after their completion of the IMPACT program in the winter of their first full year of teaching.Mentors received two surveys during their yearlong commitment to IMPACT: Survey 1 was administered to mentors in the summer of their mentorship commitment and Survey 2 was administered at the end of the school year. Survey 1 for both apprentices and mentors collected demographic and background information and Survey 2 collected program-specific information.

Authors
Jia Wang, Jon Schweig, Noelle Griffin,Michelle Baldanza, Nichole M. Rivera, and Vivian Hsu (2013)

Abstract
This evaluation reports findings from a study of a UCLA teacher education program called IMPACT, Inspiring Minds through a Professional Alliance of Community Teachers. To measure program quality and goal attainment, the evaluation team used a comprehensive, multiple measures approach which included instructional artifacts, classroom logs, measures of pedagogical content knowledge, performance assessments, and teaching attitudes and beliefs. The evaluation team found that math and science teacher apprentices who completed the IMPACT program generally had a positive opinion of the program and applied what they learned in the classroom to their teaching. However, the team also found that the program did not significantly increase the pedagogical content knowledge of teachers nor contribute to substantial changes in teacher instructional strategies across lessons. Differences found in the experience and practices of math and science teacher apprentices suggest different support needs between the two groups. Study limitations and recommendations are discussed.

IMPACT Dissertations

Author
Jamie Gravell, 2020

Abstract

Working from a Critical Race Theory framework, in the article entitled “Educational Technology as Interest Convergence: Who is really served by technology in urban schools?”, I apply the theory of interest convergence (Bell, 1980) to understand the current educational technology landscape in urban schools serving majority Black and Latinx children. Educational technology policy is both morally unconscionable, practically inadequate, and undermining the democratic purpose of public schooling in the service of corporate interests to the detriment of students of color. I argue that technology, similar to the law, is built by fallible humans and cannot be understood or improved without a race conscious perspective (Benjamin, 2019; Nakamura & Chow-White, 2013), especially in urban schools. If teachers are going to attempt to use technology to further their social justice goals, then they need to be aware of the potential negative outcomes that come from relying on interest convergence to drive social transformation. This theoretical paper creates the basis upon which further work can be done to design teacher education contexts which counter the detrimental effects of policies made within the structure of interest convergence while also taking advantage of the historic moment in educational technology for the needs of students and their communities.

Article two entitled “Developing Teacher Candidate Critical Technology Identity in an Urban Teacher Residency” is an analysis of the written work of the teacher candidates involved in the residency program. To design for an educational context in which marginalized youth in urban schools are provided with the space and chance to utilize technologies to transform not only their learning, but also their communities and worlds for a more just future, we can start with understanding how teachers own experiences, identities, and ideologies mediate their learning and vision of technology use in the classroom.

To understand how teachers come to adapt their practices in the classroom which utilize technology, and any changes to that practice we might hope to encourage, we must understand the current identities teachers have already developed around technology use both in and outside of school. In the course of this paper, I focused on the educational histories, goals, and narratives of technological experience to build a framework for how teachers begin their process of learning to teach with technology. We must understand those historical narratives that make up the identities which have been both imposed upon new teachers (digital native, social media obsessed, technology reliant) and those to which they ascribe (gamer, skeptic, efficiency oriented). Those identities are deeply consequential for how they approach technology integration and support in their teacher education programs, in their field placements, and in their own classrooms in the early years of their teaching

Based on the theoretical framing of Article I and the findings of Article II, the third paper entitled “Designing for Complexity: Critical Technology Literacies in Teacher Education” describes four design principles that will be useful for other teacher education programs when designing for critical technology literacies. First, technology courses should encourage playful enactment with the goal of productive failure; meaning that our work should focus on getting teacher candidates comfortable enough with each other and their own histories with technology for them to engage with new digital tools in ‘badly structured’ (Kapur & Bielaczyc, 2012) manner with plenty of opportunities to have digital tools fail. The opportunity to have tools fail without catastrophic outcomes in front of their own students helps teachers see creative uses for digital tools rather than static steps to follow – similar to the power of productive failure for learning mathematics. Related to this is the design expectation that personal and professional technology identities mediate what teachers take up from readings and learning activities in the class. Because of the need for playful enactment and complex intersections between identity, classroom context, and digital tool availability, it is important to structure teacher learning around critical practices rather than some particular list of tools. And finally, most importantly, it is necessary to design structures in teacher learning contexts where they are expected to engage with one another in accountable talk to make connections between the digital and social justice realms.

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Author
Talia Stol (2018)

Abstract

There is a dearth of literature on the potential of evaluation in teacher education for program learning. Integrated, timely, and use-oriented evaluation processes are needed in order to improve programmatic decision-making and support the development of high quality teachers. At the same time, the emergence of developmental evaluation (DE) offers a critical space for teacher educators to think proactively about the educative value of evaluation, as it can facilitate program learning while simultaneously adding to the research base for promising practices in teacher education. This study’s empirical contribution to the literature on DE supports Patton’s (2011) contention that it constitutes an evaluation approach qualitatively different from formative and summative evaluation.

Drawing upon complexity science concepts and evaluation use theory, DE is “an effort to use elements of systematic evaluative inquiry in ways that support the efforts of program personnel whose work is situated in these less conventional planning and implementation contexts” (Lam & Shulha, 2015, p. 2). This case study explores the extent to which a DE effort informed how a social justice-focused teacher education program attempted to cultivate equity-driven relationships between preservice teachers and their experienced placement teachers, thereby highlighting potential benefits and challenges of the DE process. As such, the study addresses the following questions: What was the nature and extent of evaluation use that resulted from an Urban Teacher Residency’s developmental evaluation process? What factors promoted and/or inhibited use in this program context?

Applying the lens of evaluation use theory, this research identifies nuanced and overlapping forms of use evident from analysis of case study data. I argue that the interactive nature of reacting to, interpreting, and questioning data among colleagues inherent in the DE approach demonstrates the constructive potential of goals-aligned facilitation for responsive evaluation practice that supports program development in teacher education. After describing the forms of evaluation use detected, I consider factors that encouraged and inhibited use, paying particular attention to the credibility-dependent, facilitation-centered role of the developmental evaluator and to the challenges inherent in this evaluation context.

Author
Lynn Kim-John (2015)

Abstract
As our nation continues to transition into the Next Generation Science Standards, it will be important to take a closer look at teacher preparation programs. In particular, the language demands of the NGSS will require that teachers integrate approaches to open up opportunities for student to engage in productive, student-centered discourse. This study follows ten teachers into their first year of teaching to observe the impacts of a secondary science methods course focused on opening up student discourse through the a model-based pedagogical framework. Findings illustrate first-year teachers’ perspectives on the goal of student talk, as well as their perspectives on how models and modeling activities support student talk. The findings from this study offers recommendations on how teachers preparation programs might revise their programs to better align to the language demands of the Next Generation Science Standards.

Author
Elizabeth Redman (2014)

Abstract
This qualitative study examined new science teachers’ conceptualization of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP). The study followed six novice science teachers from their preservice teaching placements into their first jobs as instructors of record, observing in their classrooms and interviewing them about their use of CRP. The study sought to understand (1) how the participating teachers conceptualize CRP in science, and (2) what challenges the teachers faced in trying to implement CRP. Findings suggest that the teachers conceptualized CRP in ways that were consistent with Enyedy, Danish and Fields’ (2011) interpretations of relevance: relevance of authentic purpose, relevance of content and/or context, and relevance of practices. The teachers, however, translated those interpretations of relevance into their conceptualizations and classroom practice in a variety of ways. While they encountered difficulties in conceptualizing and practicing CRP, they also made productive moves in their practice and evidenced positive elements in their conceptualizations of CRP. In order to address the challenges these teachers faced in implementing CRP, I suggest an approach to teacher preparation in CRP that builds upon the understandings and productive moves the teachers evidenced in this study.