This qualitative case study examined exit-credential papers from a teacher preparation program to explore how pre-service teachers discussed racial positionality in relation to teaching for social justice. Framed by a Critical Whiteness perspective, the pre-service teachers' papers revealed that out of the cohort of twenty-four, only seven White…

It is critical that educators learn about the concept of implicit bias and contemplate any unconscious biases they may hold since Black students disproportionately experience punitive school disciplinary consequences and placement into programs for students with disabilities. Greenwald and colleagues' early (1998) research on implicit association…

Education is an act of love. One may argue however, that because it is such a personal act, it is difficult and nearly impossible to achieve it in an authentic manner beyond the face-to-face interaction of teacher and student. Yet, we now live in a time in which education has been transmitted to a virtual platform. This paper highlights how I…

A sociocultural context of interruption and instability illuminated our teacher candidates' funds of knowledge and identity (e.g., Esteban-Guitart & Moll, 2014) during the global pandemic of 2020. Their expertise, skills, and self-understandings strengthened both the mentor-teacher candidate relationship and student engagement. Teacher…

Contemporary societies, whether in the United States or the Pacific are overwhelmingly visual in character. Yet, schools at all levels continue to privilege written text as demonstrations of learning over any other form of communication. A visual curriculum has the potential to strengthen instruction across disciplines and offers students another…

The author was deeply honored to be asked to write something about his time of active involvement in the world of teacher education in California. In 2002, he left the field of education for a career that paid less and had a more uncertain future than teaching. Therefore he is not current with public policy or teacher education research issues.…

The complexity of teacher education is fascinating, illusive, and creative. While it is simultaneously difficult to grasp and conceptualize, complexity has real presence and effects, and needs to be managed and simplified for meanings to emerge. In this article the author uses a complexity-based approach to examine the multi-layered acts of…

As president of the California Council on Teacher Education from 1994-1996, teacher educator Grace Grant reflects on the first conference she attended of the then California Council on the Education of Teachers in 1976 at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park. The keynote speaker was Gary Fenstermacher, the then-director of teacher…

As the 70th California Council on Teacher Education (CCTE) anniversary approaches it is hard for the author to believe that he has been involved with this organization since 1993, twenty-one years. As he reflected on how he was introduced and what kept him involved in the organization in many capacities, the author realized he knows of no other…

It was a great honor and privilege for the author to have served as President of the California Council on Teacher Education (CCTE) between 2010 and 2012, as part of a six-year term of office. As an active member of CCTE for more than a decade before, during her early years as a tenure-line faculty member at Loyola Marymount University, she always…

The need for sophisticated and highly skilled educators in urban schools is painfully obvious, even to the most casual observer. National and local test data demonstrate that students in urban schools are generally not achieving at the same levels as are their suburban and more affluent peers. Teacher educators in urban areas struggle with how to…

One of the major hurdles in preparing preservice teachers to differentiate instruction has been that they tend not to see much differentiated instruction in actual classrooms (Benjamin, 2002; Tomlinson, 1999). There always may be a contradiction in wanting to promote change in instructional practices while, at the same time, relying on a teacher…

In this article, the authors describe how one group of California teacher educators has responded to the call for high school dropout rates with new thinking and action in regard to making teacher preparation a key strategy for reducing the dropout rates, raising student academic achievement, and eliminating the pervasive inequities in learning…

University-based teacher educators across the U.S. have become increasingly focused on making their practices relevant to the needs of teacher candidates. Teacher educators are engaged in a variety of approaches as a means to improve the preparation that they provide to teacher candidates, in order to continuously examine their expertise. These…

In the context of rapidly changing classroom environments, it is crucial that teachers be able to make appropriate decisions. Those teachers who reflect on their practice, particularly while they are teaching (what Schon terms reflection-in-action), are best able to do so. It is the intent of this article to investigate the role of teacher…