WASHINGTON, D.C., January 10, 2011—The American Educational Research Association (AERA) announces release of its new volume Studying Diversity in Teacher Education, published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., on behalf of AERA. Although there is a considerable body of knowledge on diversity in education, research focusing on diversity in teacher education is sparse. This important book adds considerably to what we know and points to promising directions of future research.
AERA President-elect Arnetha F. Ball of Stanford University and Cynthia A. Tyson of Ohio State University are the volume's coeditors, and they, along with 31 contributing scholars, provide a solid research-based foundation on diversity in teacher education and how research can inform its consideration.
As coeditors, Ball and Tyson hope that the research and issues examined in this volume can add to considerations of how to "accelerate educational parity across sociocultural and sociopolitical barriers" and "overcome the legacy of academic failure that plagues so many diverse students."
The coeditors stress that some of the book's significant insights come from the contributing scholars who themselves represent diverse backgrounds and "who are anthropological members in the communities they study." These scholars "feel some sociological affiliation" with the communities in which they are working. The authors, with their institutional affiliations, and chapter titles are posted below.
The 436-page book features three main parts in 20 chapters that encompass historical, current, and future perspectives on diversity in teacher education research.
Research on diversity in teacher education has only emerged since the 1980s, with thoughtful literature being produced in these recent decades. This research shows that teacher educators need to be challenged to create a new, interdisciplinary model for multicultural teacher education—cultivated as a field with issues of equity at its core.
Current research on diversity in teacher education is wide ranging and illuminates strengths and limitations. Areas under study include attempts to erase LGBTQ subjects from teacher education programs; indigenous youth and how they learn in and outside rural public high schools through relationships with adults; and the relationships among Black language, Black literacy, and Black male identity.
Other current research concentrates on professional development topics, such as preparing teachers to work with students with disabilities and strategizing an approach that develops educators who are better equipped to respond to "socially toxic environments."
Ball and Tyson emphasize the value of the current state-of-the-knowledge yet also stress the need for more sustained and robust research in the future. They write that "the need for that research is made more evident by the continuing achievement gap…." They also note the importance of situating research on diversity in teacher education so that it is sensitive to the global context of 21st-century classrooms.
In the volume's foreword, Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University points out that the book frames a multitude of issues on student and teacher learning that will enable researchers and teacher educators to take up critical questions, including "How can new teachers transmit not only skills and knowledge but also self-awareness and respect for others? What do teachers need to know and be able to do to teach diverse learners effectively? And how can they learn this? What do teacher educators need to know and be able to do to take up this important work?"
To interview Ball or Tyson and to reach AERA Communications, call (202)238-3200; Helaine Patterson (hpatterson@aera.net) or Lucy Cunningham (lcunningham@aera.net).
The American Educational Research Association (AERA) is the national interdisciplinary research association for approximately 25,000 scholars who undertake research in education. Founded in 1916, AERA aims to advance knowledge about education, to encourage scholarly inquiry related to education, and to promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good.
Studying Diversity in Teacher Education
Edited by Arnetha F. Ball and Cynthia A. Tyson
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS
Published in partnership with the
American Educational Research Association
Contents
Foreword
Linda Darling-Hammond
Introduction and Overview
Cynthia A. Tyson, Ohio State University
Arnetha F. Ball, Stanford University
Part I: Historical Context and Persisting Challenges:
Preparing Teachers for Diversity
1 Diversity and Teacher Education: A Historical Perspective on Research and Policy
Carl Grant and Melissa Gibson, University of Wisconsin, Madison
2 Creating Interdisciplinary Multicultural Teacher Education:
Courageous Leadership Is Crucial
Valerie Ooka Pang and Cynthia D. Park, San Diego State University
3 Researching Successful Efforts in Teacher Education to Diversify Teachers
Christine E. Sleeter, California State University at Monterey Bay,
and H. Richard Milner IV, Vanderbilt University
4 The Meaning of Culture in Learning to Teach: The Power of Socialization and Identity Formation
Etta R. Hollins, University of Southern California
Part II: Current Trends and Innovations in Research on Diversity:
Implications for Teacher Education
A. Centering Research on Diverse Populations in Teacher Education
5 Teacher Education, Struggles for Social Justice, and the Historic Erasure of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Lives
Therese Quinn, University of Illinois, Chicago, and Erica R. Meiners, Northeastern Illinois University
6 Crossing Boundaries, Studying Diversity: Lessons from
Preservice Teachers and Urban Youth
Valerie Kinloch, Ohio State University
7 Power in Community Building: Learning from Indigenous Youth
How to Strengthen Adult-Youth Relationships in School Settings
Patricia D. Quijada Cerecer, University of Texas, San Antonio
8 "Something to Brag About": Black Males, Literacy, and
Diversity in Teacher Education
David E. Kirkland, New York University
9 Preparing Teacher Education Candidates to Work With Students With Disabilities and Gifts and Talents
Michelle Trotman Scott, West Georgia State University, and Donna Y. Ford, Vanderbilt University
10 Researching Speakers of Nondominant Languages in Teacher
Education Programs: Tapping Into Perceived Barriers to Promote Teaching and Learning in Diverse Contexts
Mandie Uys, Maryna Reyneke, and Kotie Kaiser, Northwest University
B. Frameworks, Perspectives, and Paradigms in Research on Diversity: Implications for Research in Teacher Education
11 A Critical Race Theory Analysis of Past and Present Institutional Processes and Policies in Teacher Education
Thandeka K. Chapman, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
12 "I Am Large, I Contain Multitudes": Teacher Identity as a Useful Frame for Research, Practice, and Diversity in Teacher Education
Brad Olsen, University of California, Santa Cruz
13 Teaching Native Youth, Teaching about Native Peoples:
Shifting the Paradigm to Socioculturally Responsive Education
Tiffany S. Lee, University of New Mexico
14 Worthy Witnessing: Collaborative Research in Urban Classrooms
Maisha T. Winn, Emory University, and Joseph R. Ubiles, Power Writing
15 The Principal Facts: New Directions for Teacher Education
Jeffrey M. R. Duncan-Andrade, San Francisco State University
Part III: Future Trends and Directions: An Agenda for the Work That Still Needs to be Done
16 Embracing Complexity and Community in Research on
Multicultural Teacher Education
Kenneth Zeichner, University of Washington
17 Teacher Education for Diversity: Policy and Politics
Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Boston College, and Kim Fries,
University of New Hampshire
18 "Placing Equity Front and Center" Revisited
Sonia Nieto and Kathy McDonough, University of Massachusetts
19 Asking the Right Questions: A Research Agenda for Studying Diversity in Teacher Education
Gloria Ladson-Billings, University of Wisconsin, Madison
20 Preparing Teachers for Diversity in the Twenty-first Century
Arnetha F. Ball, Stanford University, and Cynthia A. Tyson,
Ohio State University
About the Contributors