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Empathy, defined as both emotional and cognitive perspective-taking, is considered to be an important teacher disposition; however, limited research exists on the implementation of empathy alongside the experiential teaching practicum within alternative route to licensure (ARL) programs. The purpose of this study is to examine ARL teacher candidates' (TCs) beliefs about empathy, their empathetic actions, and the role of teacher preparation in developing empathy in candidates' teaching. Using constructivist grounded theory, we collected data over two cohorts of our preparation program. We analyzed observations, interviews, a survey, and pedagogy coursework from the second cohort to generate findings. Our findings highlight empathy in teaching as educating from the learner's standpoint and creating positive interactions through empathy. Our analysis suggests that explicitly focusing on empathy throughout a teaching practicum can help TCs develop student-centered understandings of empathy that extend notions of imaging oneself in the other's place.

1:1 laptop schools have increased over the past decade, yet minimal research exists that focuses on classroom observational practices within such schools. This study examines how teachers and school administrators from three 1:1 laptop Title 1 schools perceived standardized teacher evaluation systems and classroom observation practices. Findings revealed misaligned instructional expectations and the need to reconceptualize classroom observation supervision and evaluation tools for 1:1 laptop classrooms. Participants of this study agreed that teacher evaluation rubrics did not help identify effective instruction with technology. School administrators and policymakers must reconsider the standards and tools used to evaluate 1:1 laptop instruction.

As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many school administrators are forced to transform traditional schooling into an online distance learning environment. This commentary addresses how some of the challenges and implications of our research in leadership and instruction of one-to-one laptop schools are applicable to establishing a distance learning environment alongside current standards for instruction. School administrators are strongly encouraged to collaborate with teachers as soon as teachers report for the school year to help create a shared vision of effective online instruction and implement supplemental frameworks that will guide evaluation of teaching and learning online.

One segment of the student population that is regularly and systematically ignored is Black male students labeled "overage, under-credited" (OA/UC) based on their age and credits earned towards graduation. These young men are typically educated in alternative settings such as transfer high schools and adult learning centers. A critical race theory (CRT) analysis calls into question expanding alternative school options while limiting the exploration of how and to what extent Black male students benefit. The purpose of this study is to highlight how, if at all, OA/UC Black male students at an alternative school in New York City experience culturally relevant caring. We add to literature on culturally relevant caring by considering its importance in schooling experiences of three OA/UC Black male students in relation to tenets of CRT and examine two questions: (1) How, if at all, do OA/UC Black male students in a transfer high school experience culturally relevant care? (2) In what ways are students' experiences of culturally relevant care shaped by structural determinism and intersectionality? Our analysis indicates that the school itself is reflective of a structural determinism that prevents transformative alternatives from fully emerging, particularly in relation to culturally relevant caring.

This article provides analysis of and commentary on the Indigenous roots of oral history. Drawing from our experience with our institutional review board determining that our work was not research, we review literature to engage in a (re)vision of oral history research while asserting the legitimacy of our research process. From this, we argue that a racially-just approach to scholarship must acknowledge and redress the racist past of the development of methodologies and methods including, but not limited to, oral history. We align our research with Indigenous traditions that not only shaped our methodology but guided our ability to create a community in which we each learned to better understand ourselves. Through our analysis and storying of ourselves, we posit that connecting research practices to our Indigenous roots becomes a tool for establishing racially-just approaches to scholarship with/as Black and Latinx peoples.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) in 1:1 laptop classrooms. We evaluate how, if at all, teachers in these environments engage culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) with technology to meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Design/methodology/approach: Data for this multiple case study were collected across three middle schools with a 1:1 laptop initiative. Thirteen teachers participated in individual interviews and 77 teachers completed an online survey. Transcribed interviews and the open-ended survey question were analyzed using an inductive, iterative process of coding according to hallmarks of TPACK and CSP. Findings: This study reveals that while technology could be a powerful tool in fostering an equitable classroom environment, fully implementing equitable approaches in 1:1 laptop schools would require educators to develop knowledge and skills to integrate TPACK and CSP in their classroom. Originality/value: Our study indicates that obstacles to providing equitable education for CLD learners in 1:1 classrooms are not issues of technology access but issues of disparities perpetuated by missed opportunities to fully engage CSP as a means of challenging the status quo. Tackling this in 1:1 environments would require educators to develop knowledge and skills to engage culturally sustaining TPACK in their classroom.

A strengths-based approach to transition assessment and planning can ensure that special education services are person-centered. To better understand the strengths and needs of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), we compared the perceptions of students and their teachers from three public high schools. A convergent mixed-methods analysis of transition assessments, interviews, and educational documents revealed significant differences between perspectives. On the "Transition Planning Inventory-2," student ratings (n = 8) were higher than teacher ratings (n = 8) on 8 out of 11 domains. Interview transcripts and transition plan documents revealed differences in strengths and needs related to career-related skills, academic subjects and skills, and personal characteristics. Based on these findings, we provide suggestions for further research and implications for practice.

The "over-age, under-credited" (OA/UC) student population is defined as high school students who are at least two years behind their peers in terms of age and credits earned toward a high school diploma. To date, few studies have examined the schooling of OA/UC students. The purpose of this study is to use the insights of six African American OA/UC high school students to define strategies for improving educational outcomes at their school. The specific research question explored is: What recommendations, rooted in participants' race, gender, and age, do they offer for improving the educational experiences of OA/UC students? Data analysis for this case study incorporates critical race theory, adult learning theory, and culturally relevant pedagogy as a comprehensive theoretical and analytic framework. The findings serve to provide a foundation for realizing a radical praxis that leads to substantive changes in the education of OA/UC African American high school students.

This article explores the roles of potential transition team members as expressed by students via a social support survey and semi-structured interviews. The sample included eight male students with EBD served primarily in self-contained special education settings at three high schools. Results from the survey indicated that students received most support from teachers and close friends even though support from parents was rated as most important. Additional themes emerged from interviews, including the overarching theme that students tended to prefer support from individuals who were caring, motivational, and personal. In many cases, students had negative perceptions or limited interaction with potential transition team members. Implications for practice and future research related to student-centered planning and stakeholder coordination are discussed.

This article examines how 18 teachers, counselors, administrators, and support staff from seven New York City public high schools collaborated during the Black and Latino Male Professional Development Initiative (a pseudonym) to develop a "culturally relevant, schoolwide, college-going culture" supportive of Black and Latino males' college readiness and access. We draw from a mixed-methods empirical research study to discuss participants' changing understandings of the features of such a culture, and how participants' action plans illuminate steps for change in their schools. We provide recommendations for creating equitable educational opportunities for Black and Latino males supportive of access to postsecondary education.

This study is based on an initiative for increasing college and career readiness for Black and Latino male high school students in New York City. From data that include 58 total hours of participant observations from 24 educators of color, written documentation from culturally relevant education--professional development (CRE-PD) activities, and transcripts of six group interviews, we examine these educators' work to further their own sociopolitical consciousness in relation to increasing Black and Latino male students' college and career readiness. We explore how secondary educators of color utilize pedagogical tools and practices in attempting to support their Black and Latino male students' navigation of particular inequities related to college knowledge and access. Our findings highlight educators' experiential knowledge as a pedagogical tool, approaches to preparing students for postsecondary opportunities, and missed opportunities to enact a sociopolitical consciousness. Recommendations for inservice educator PD and future research are discussed.

This study presents findings from a case study of 18 second- and 1.5-generation West African immigrants. We draw upon notions of elusive culture and indigenous knowledges to highlight participants' complex cultural identities and respond to anti-immigration discourses through positioning West African immigrant students as assets in American classrooms. We extend culturally relevant theory in order to reflect the heterogeneity of Black immigrant experiences in challenging simultaneously invisible and stereotypical views of African values, knowledges, and ideologies. We call for practitioners and researchers to attend to Black immigrant youth's hybrid identities, indigenous knowledges, and enactments of cultural competence and socio-political consciousness within curriculum.

This study is based on an initiative for increasing college and career readiness for Black and Latino male high school students in New York City. From data that include 58 total hours of participant observations from 24 educators of color, written documentation from culturally relevant education-professional development (CRE-PD) activities, and transcripts of six group interviews, we examine these educators' work to further their own sociopolitical consciousness in relation to increasing Black and Latino male students' college and career readiness. We explore how secondary educators of color utilize pedagogical tools and practices in attempting to support their Black and Latino male students' navigation of particular inequities related to college knowledge and access. Our findings highlight educators' experiential knowledge as a pedagogical tool, approaches to preparing students for postsecondary opportunities, and missed opportunities to enact a sociopolitical consciousness. Recommendations for inservice educator PD and future research are discussed.Keywords professional development, inservice education, qualitative research, urban teacher education, IntroductionHistorically, educators of color have played an integral role in orienting students to issues of social injustice and the potential for education to ameliorate inequitable conditions for people of color [...]

In this study, we, both co-authors and Black teacher educators, explored our experiences imagining and practicing Black liberatory pedagogical praxes through the contours of anti-Black violence. Framed through engaged and healing-centered pedagogical conceptualizations, we use Black storytelling to present narratives of our storied experiences doing the work to do the work. In doing the work to do the work, we encourage other Black liberatory educators to both create and sustain individual and collective space(s) to build their sociopolitical analyses of oppression in their worlds, to remember Black movements and moments of the past that have transformed oppression, and to imagine more justice-centered pedagogical praxes that liberate themselves and their students. Doing the work to do the work is both theory and practice; we hope that Black educators and those supporting the liberation of Black peoples can contextualize our storied lives shared here in their own dreams and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to challenge the uni-dimensional way care in school is written about by highlighting an often overlooked aspect of care--the kind that students do for each other. Data is drawn from focus groups conducted with the youth participants and founder of Umoja Network for Young Men (UMOJA), an all-male, school-based mentoring program for over-aged and under-credited (OA/UC) high school students. The authors draw on theories of culturally relevant pedagogy, care, and critical pedagogy to present the findings and propose a form of culturally relevant care (CRC) that entails warm demanding and building mutual trust. This study highlights the humanizing experiences of the Black and Latino male transfer students and their mentor. This focus on the experiences of young Black and Latino male participants seeks to shift the discourse from one focused on deficits to one that recognizes their agency and capacities for social and academic success.

1:1 laptop schools have increased over the past decade, yet minimal research exists that focuses on classroom observational practices within such schools. This study examines how teachers and school administrators from three 1:1 laptop Title 1 schools perceived standardized teacher evaluation systems and classroom observation practices. Findings revealed misaligned instructional expectations and the need to reconceptualize classroom observation supervision and evaluation tools for 1:1 laptop classrooms. Participants of this study agreed that teacher evaluation rubrics did not help identify effective instruction with technology. School administrators and policymakers must reconsider the standards and tools used to evaluate 1:1 laptop instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although mentoring programs can produce positive outcomes for youth, more research is needed that offers an account of how Black and Latino male mentors and mentees experience mentoring. This phenomenological study highlights the voices of a mentor and 14 Black and Latino males who are part of the Umoja Network for Young Men (UMOJA) an all-male, in-school mentoring program at an alternative high school that serves overage, under-credited students. We extend the concept of culturally responsive caring by examining notions of reciprocal love and an ethos of care that characterize the mentor's and mentees' discussions of their mentoring experiences.

Background/Context: The disparity between the race and ethnicity of teachers and students is expected to increase as our nation and classrooms continue to become more racially, ethnically, linguistically, and economically diverse. It is extremely important to think about not only the educational needs of such a diverse student population within schools but also who will teach these students. However, when looking at subject-matter specificity for the retention of Teachers of Color, such as science teachers, the picture becomes extremely serious when we understand teachers' paths into and out of science and teaching. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to analyze the experiences of preservice Teachers of Color (PTOC) enrolled in an elementary science methods course as they gain access to science as White property. Our analysis provides evidence that PTOC can break the perpetual cycle of alienation, exclusion, and inequity in science when they are given opportunities to engage in science as learners and teachers. In addition, we also offer insights regarding the role science teacher educators may play in preparing teachers and especially TOC for urban schools. Setting/Research Design: The context of this study was a graduate-level preservice elementary science methods course at a large urban university in New York City. Multiple data sources included pre-post surveys, semester observation journals, final course papers, and a post-course questionnaire. Utilizing constructivist grounded during the initial phase of analysis and themes from critical race theory (CRT), our unique voices of color and positionalities allowed us to interpret the data from a CRT perspective and arrive at findings relevant to making science inclusive to PTOC. Conclusions/Recommendations: In order to push the field of science teacher education toward social justice issues of access, opportunity, and enjoyment, efforts must focus on increasing representation of Teachers of Color in science education. The transformation of science teacher education to grant equitable learning experiences for Teachers of Color is needed. Further research on the experiences of science Teachers of Color, as well as Faculty of Color and their relationship with students, is highly encouraged. Both teacher preparation and science education must be open to interrogate and reveal structural forms of race, racism, and power that manifest through curriculum, structure, and pedagogy that cause alienation and exclusion for Teachers of Color. Therefore, we encourage science teacher educators to examine their own course curriculum, structure, and pedagogy through self-study and reflection. Overall practices in teacher preparation must empower rather than impede progress toward important goals of CRT, and this may be achieved through building stronger relationships with PTOC and Faculty of Color across teacher preparation courses in support of these goals.

Given limited scholarship examining gender dynamics in interactions between Black female students with Black male teachers, it is important to interrogate how Black girls experience teaching and learning in classrooms with Black male teachers in order to create culturally relevant caring (CRC) environments that nurture this student population. By centering the students' perspectives, this study examines perceptions of care when a race-match but gender-mismatch is present in the classroom. Using CRC as a conceptual framework and analytic tool, this qualitative case study investigates the significance of gender and race in establishing CRC in classrooms. Findings suggest that a lack of attention to gender fluidity and diversity within the Black female population can hinder the establishment of CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how 18 teachers, counselors, administrators, and support staff from seven New York City public high schools collaborated during the Black and Latino Male Professional Development Initiative (a pseudonym) to develop a "culturally relevant, schoolwide, college-going culture" supportive of Black and Latino males' college readiness and access. We draw from a mixed-methods empirical research study to discuss participants' changing understandings of the features of such a culture, and how participants' action plans illuminate steps for change in their schools. We provide recommendations for creating equitable educational opportunities for Black and Latino males supportive of access to postsecondary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to challenge the uni-dimensional way care in school is written about by highlighting an often overlooked aspect of care – the kind that students do for each other. Data is drawn from focus groups conducted with the youth participants and founder of Umoja Network for Young Men (UMOJA), an all-male, school-based mentoring program for over-aged and under-credited (OA/UC) high school students. The authors draw on theories of culturally relevant pedagogy, care, and critical pedagogy to present the findings and propose a form of culturally relevant care (CRC) that entails warm demanding and building mutual trust. This study highlights the humanizing experiences of the Black and Latino male transfer students and their mentor. This focus on the experiences of young Black and Latino male participants seeks to shift the discourse from one focused on deficits to one that recognizes their agency and capacities for social and academic success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]