Change(d) Agents: New Teachers of Color in Urban Schools

This book examines both the promise and complexity of diversifying today’s teaching profession. Drawing from a 5-year study of 21 new teachers of color working in urban, hard-to-staff schools, this book uncovers a systemic paradox that the teachers confront. They are committed to improving educational opportunities for students of color by acting as role models, culturally/linguistically responsive teachers, and change agents. The teaching profession encouraged such commitments and some teachers acted with support from individual, organizational, and community-based sponsors. However, many of these new teachers work in schools that are culturally subtractive and have restrictive accountability policies that challenge their ability to perform cultural/professional roles to which they are committed. Many teachers internalize the contradiction, resulting in their becoming changed agents within the educational system they sought to change. This book on educational diversity is essential reading for educators, leaders, and policymakers.

Book Features:

• Richly textured vignettes of new teachers of color committed to serving culturally and linguistically diverse youth in urban schools.
• Descriptions of school conditions that both support and inhibit new teachers of color in their attempt to enact cultural/professional roles.
• Analyses of culturally subtractive schooling and a systemic double-bind experienced by new teachers with implications for practice, policy, and research.