[DOWNLOAD] "Infusing Multicultural Principles in Urban Teacher Preparation." by Childhood Education # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Infusing Multicultural Principles in Urban Teacher Preparation.
- Author : Childhood Education
- Release Date : January 22, 2008
- Genre: Education,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 186 KB
Description
The achievement of students in urban schools across the United States lags behind that of their counterparts in rural and suburban schools, a disparity that is at the core of current public school reform. Although socioeconomic factors, such as poverty and its attendant variables, often hinder academic achievement, there is one critical factor--the teacher--that can positively impact students' performance, regardless of their socioeconomic background (Ediger, 2003; Thompson & Smith, 2005). This is the research-supported tenet around which the Urban Teacher Preparation program at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) began to develop over 10 years ago. The Professional Studies in Education (PSE) department coordinates the elementary and early childhood teacher preparation programs at IUP and has been assigning a small group of preservice teachers to work in schools in the city of Pittsburgh for many years. These teachers followed the traditional semester-long student teaching model and received no specialized preparation for teaching in urban schools. In the last decade, the PSE department has strengthened its partnerships with Pittsburgh city schools and its commitment to the preparation of teachers to educate children from backgrounds often vastly different than their own. Although IUP is a rural university located one and a half hours from Pittsburgh, PSE faculty believed that we needed to place more emphasis on addressing the shortage of teachers in urban schools throughout the United States. Urban students deserve high-quality teachers who want to be in those classrooms. Since most of our education majors are from non-urban areas, the majority would not even consider teaching in urban schools unless they were provided early, structured, and positive exposures to urban schools and children.