Scholar commentary

ABSTRACT

This commentary reflects upon the articles and purposes of this special issue, in the context of, growing numbers of students of color (SOCs) in K-12 schools who continue to be modally placed in classrooms with White teachers (e.g., Berry and Pour-Khorshid papers of this issue). Few institutional programs of Teacher Education seem able to effectually address this longstanding demographic challenge (e.g., Whitaker, et al. paper). Fewer still, impactfully retain SOCs for careers in K-12 settings (e.g., Morales paper). Nevertheless, second wave teacher identity studies are encouraging nuanced professional learning for White and other, K-12, candidates and teachers that encourages: critical consciousness about race and whiteness, metalogic talk about colorblindness, and closing the gap between rhetoric and genuinely antiracist actions in praxis with SOCs (e.g., Alvarez & Milner; Caldas; McManimon & Casey papers. Demonstrably, second-wave analyses are revealing much about evidentiary approaches for teacher education/learning that emphasize differential capacities for teaching SOCs. Nonetheless, further research is needed on strategies for addressing formidable challenges, such as those of defensiveness and White Fragility (e.g., Blaisedell paper). The papers of this special issue indicate that combining such research with ground-breaking approaches to race-visible education offers a promising path to the knowledge and praxis needed.

KEYWORDS:

• Whiteness
• teachers of color
• hogemony
• teacher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Socorro Herrera

Dr. Socorro Herrera is a professor in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction and is the Executive Director of the Center for Intercultural and Multilingual Advocacy (CIMA) in the College of Education at Kansas State University. Her K-12 teaching experience includes an emphasis on literacy development. Her research focuses on literacy opportunities with culturally and linguistically diverse students, reading strategies, and teacher preparation for diversity in the classroom. Dr. Herrera is a nationally recognized expert on biography-driven instruction (BDI) for CLD and other EL students. She conducts multi-state and international professional development on issues related to teacher preparation for pre-service teachers, BDI, and classroom accommodations for CLD students. Her recent research emphasizes BDI and globalization in education. She is the author of nine textbooks and has been widely published in the TESOL Journal, Bilingual Research Journal, Reading and Writing Quarterly, as well as the journal of Teacher Education and Practice.