The Power of Community-Engaged Teacher Preparation

Discover how and why community-engaged teacher preparation is a powerful and vital approach to address an educational system that is historically deficient, discriminatory, and decidedly inequitable. In this edited volume, the authors argue that past practice is inadequate and issue a mandate for a new approach to educator preparation. Articulating a clear definition of community-engaged teacher preparation, they focus on national and international initiatives that have been sustained over time and are having a direct impact on student learning. Chapters are written by school, university, and community partners who speak to the innovation, creativity, commitment, and persistence required to reinvent teacher preparation. They also underscore the complexity of this work, the humility necessary to reflect and reconsider, and the true spirit of authentic solidarity among university, school, and community partners required to seek and secure equity for children in schools.

Book Features:

• Provides a critical examination of structural inequity in education and ways to address it through community-engaged teacher preparation.
• Describes a teacher preparation model that is enacted in solidarity with members of historically marginalized populations.
• Offers clear guidance on what is meant by culturally relevant and culturally sustaining pedagogies with examples of how these frameworks are being operationalized.
• Explores the obstacles and opportunities involved in the implementation process.

Patricia Clark is a professor of early childhood education in the Department of Early Childhood, Youth, and Family Studies at Ball State University. Eva Zygmunt is a professor of early childhood education in the Department of Early Childhood, Youth, and Family Studies at Ball State University. Susan Tancock is associate dean for undergraduate and graduate studies at Ball State University Teachers College and a professor in the Department of Elementary Education. Kristin Cipollone is an associate professor in the Department of Elementary Education at Ball State University.

“ The Power of Community-Engaged Teacher Preparation: Voices and Visions of Hope and Healing fills a gap in current research and conversation by providing a comprehensive overview of community-based teacher preparation. The book situates itself in the present moment of societal and racial upheaval and reckoning using the voices of participants, community members, and faculty to call readers to action on behalf of equity and social justice for all students. It will no doubt be an excellent source for all engaging in the pursuit of social justice and teacher preparation.”

—Teachers College Record

“Many of our students have experienced unprecedented levels of loss, anguish, anger, fear, and uncertainty. Hence, teachers cannot go back to business as usual, otherwise we will see a huge missed opportunity. . . . This timely and beautifully edited volume brings together a collection of powerful authors who offer theoretical considerations, evidence-based approaches, and practical considerations for not just teacher education as usual but community-engaged teacher education.”
—From the Foreword by Tyrone C. Howard, University of California, Los Angeles

“Equal parts inspiration and innovation, this must-read book is for all those who want to transform teacher preparation through the new paradigm of community engagement. Across its compelling chapters, the book offers deep insights and new questions about what it means—and why it’s so important—to share power with the families and communities who are the most affected by inequities and whose knowledge and resources are rarely recognized.”
—Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Cawthorne Professor of Teacher Education for Urban Schools, Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College

“This is a wonderful volume that discusses current work in eight teacher preparation programs that have developed genuinely reciprocal partnerships with local minoritized communities to prepare community-engaged teachers. It represents a needed revival of an underutilized tradition in teacher education of including local community members as experts and full partners in preparing teachers. The kind of work described here is essential in every teacher education program that claims to focus on equity and justice.”
—Ken Zeichner, Boeing Professor of Teacher Education Emeritus, University of Washington

Contents (Tentative)

Foreword Tyrone Howard

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Educator Preparation and the Rhetoric of “With Liberty and Justice for All”
Eva Zygmunt and Patricia Clark

Part I: Community Members as Colleagues: Privileging Funds of Knowledge and Community Cultural Wealth

1. I Am My Community: Privileging Funds of Knowledge and Community Cultural Wealth
Wilisha Scaife and Eva Zygmunt

2. Community Mentoring: Seeking Cultural Dexterity Through a Process Oriented Approach to Teaching
Candance Doerr-Stevens, Joëlle Worm, and Kelly R. Allen

3. Whose Voices Matter? Intentionality and Shared Vision Within Authentic Community-University Partnerships
April L. Mustian, Jennifer O’Malley, Gynger Garcia, Carlos Millan, and Maria Luisa Zamudio

Part I Reflection

Part II: Collaborative Relationships

4. Shared Power in Teacher Preparation: University, School, and Community
Nadine McHenry, Janet Baldwin, Hilda Campbell, Anonymous Contributor, Essence Allen-Presley, Bretton Alvaré, and Taylor Borgstrom

5. Designing A Community Engagement Strategy to Serve Historically Marginalized Urban Youth in Australia
Jo Lampert, Eric Dommers, Jaime de Loma-Osorio Ricon, and Stevie Lebhers-Browne

6. The Community as Textbook: Preparing Community-Engaged Teachers
Heather K. Olson Beal, Lauren E. Burrow, Linda Autrey, Crystal Hicks, and Amber Teal

Part II Reflection

Part III: Teaching for Equity and Social Justice

7. “We Still Have Work to Do:” Community-Engaged Experiences and Impact in an Urban Social Justice Program
Tasha Austin, Kisha Porcher, Mary Curran, Jaime DePaola, Jessica Pelaez, and Lauren Raffaelli

8. Successes and Challenges in Becoming an Equity Educator: Candidate Perspectives
Kristin Cipollone, Kaylie Johnston, Hailey Maupin, Kylie Kaminski, and Jacob Layton

Part III Reflection

Conclusion: Thoughts on Hope and Healing
Eva Zygmunt

About the Contributors

Index