On Windows and Mirrors in Teacher Education Program Materials: A Content Analysis of Human Demographics in One Picture Book Collection

Abstract

This article reports on a content analysis of human demographics represented across the picture book collection in one university’s teacher education laboratory. Drawing from an established history of the representation of marginalized groups in children’s literature and prior scholarship on content analyses of similar collections, this study aims to identify gaps in the collection and suggest strategies for improving the collection and approaches to designing lab collections. We used a critical race methodology framework and windows and mirrors pedagogy to identify the limitations of a collection with primarily White titles and the possibilities of demographically diverse titles. The findings and subsequent discussion illustrate how one program’s gaps in resources informed structural and systemic changes within this teacher education program, including purchases in that fiscal year and subsequent years that address demographic gaps. Suggestions for steps to improve picture book collections are provided.

Notes

1 Data will be updated for 2017–18.