UC San Diego

There has been a significant shift in public school student demographics throughout the last twenty years. Most students enrolled in public schools are now students of color, yet the teaching force remains overwhelmingly comprised of white women. The racial and cultural mismatch between students and teachers has given way to various inequities in the classroom, disproportionately impacting students of color. In response to the shift in student demographics and widening opportunity gaps, teacher education programs (TEPs) have sought to improve teacher preparation by integrating social justice into their curriculum. While extensive research has focused on understanding these efforts, little research has focused on understanding the impact of these efforts once preservice teachers graduate and become fully certified, full-time teachers. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the way a teacher education program, with a social justice focus, prepares teachers to incorporate teaching for social justice into their pedagogy and practice. To accomplish this, the study explored alumni’s perceptions of what they learned about teaching for social justice and how these perceptions impacted their practice. Through a mixed-methods case study, the study explicitly addressed three research questions: (1) In what ways do alumni perceive that Sunvale University helped to prepare teachers to teach for social justice? (2) What components of social justice education did TEP alumni identify as being learned from the program? (3) What aspects of TEP alumni’s current classrooms reflect what they learned about social justice in their teacher education program? Analysis of the surveys, interviews, and classroom observations corroborated current research on teaching for social justice, while also highlighting key findings that strengthen the field’s understanding of what it means to prepare a teacher to teach for social justice.