Crossing Borders without Leaving Town: The Impact of Cultural Immersion on the Perceptions of Teacher Education Candidates

The racial/ethnic populations in public schools have changed dramatically in recent years and will continue to shift to a majority non-White population. The National Center for Education Statistics (2010) reports 67.3% of the student population in urban districts is composed of students of color. Yet, the population of teachers in the United States is 83% White (National Center for Education Statistics, 2011), the majority of whom are from middle class English-only backgrounds. These differing life experiences can create borders between students and their teachers. Often, White teachers will interpret differences in life experiences, cultural frames of reference, race, class, and gender as a deficit on the part of students, which leads to inequitable educational opportunities for the nation's children. The changing demographics within schools create an immediate need for teacher preparation programs to better prepare all teachers for the diversity that exists within their schools. This article focuses on one elementary teacher education program that has responded to the call from the literature by redesigning teacher preparation specifically for urban schools. The author describes the programmatic features and results of a study that examined the impact of two courses, "Community Immersion" and "Working with Families and Communities," on candidates' perceptions of teaching in urban communities.