Few studies have investigated how current events surrounding issues of racial profiling are understood by preservice teachers or how they affect their understandings and conceptions of race and racism in society and more importantly, in educational contexts. This qualitative case study explored how two White teacher candidates understood and conceptualized racial profiling in the wake of Trayvon Martin's murder. By interviewing teacher candidates about their own experiences with profiling, we hoped to prompt reflection and perspective-taking, especially in White teacher candidates who might hold beliefs that may not be adaptive for meeting the needs of students of color. In this study, one participant conceptualized racial profiling as intrinsic to her understanding of the educational experiences of students of color and articulated that profiling contributed to her broader understanding of racism. While the other participant regarded profiling as relevant to educational contexts, she implied that she found some truth in profiles and stereotypes of people of color and reported ‘colorblind’ approaches to teaching and learning. Implications for teacher education and future research are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdamsM., & BellL. A. (Eds.). (2016). Teaching for diversity and social justice.New York, NY: Routledge.
BanksC. A., & BanksJ. A. (Eds.). (2004). Handbook of research on multicultural education.San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
4.
BellD. (1980). Brown v. Board of Education and the interest-convergence dilemma.Harvard Law Review,93(3), 518–533.
5.
BellD. (1992). Racial Realism.Connecticut Law Review,24(2), 363–379.
6.
BergersonA. A. (2003). Critical race theory and white racism: Is there room for white scholars in fighting racism in education?Qualitative Studies in Education,16(1), 51–63.
7.
BodurY. (2012). Impact of course and fieldwork on multicultural beliefs and attitudes.Educational Forum, 76, 41–56.
8.
BraunV., & ClarkeV. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology.Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101.
9.
CastroA. J. (2010). Themes in the research on preservice teachers’ views of cultural diversity: Implications for researching millennial preservice teachers.Educational Researcher, 39(3), 198–210.
10.
CauseyV., ThomasC., & ArmentoB. (2000). Cultural diversity is basically a foreign term to me: The challenges of diversity for preservice teacher education.Teaching and Teacher Education16, 33–45.
11.
Cochran-SmithM., DavisD., & FriesK. (2004). Multicultural teacher education: Research, practice, and policy. In BanksJ. A., & BanksC. A. (Eds.), Handbook of research on multicultural education (pp. 931–975). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
12.
ConchasG. Q., LinA. R., OsegueraL., & DrakeS. J. (2015). Superstar or scholar? African American male youths’ perceptions of opportunity in a time of change.Urban Education, 50(6), 660–688.
13.
CrenshawK. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics.University of Chicago Legal Forum, 139–167.
Darling-HammondL., & BransfordJ. (2005). Preparing teachers for a changing world.San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
16.
DeCuirJ. T., & DixsonA. D. (2004). “So when it comes out, they aren't that surprised that it is there”: Using Critical Race Theory as a tool of analysis of race and racism in education.Educational Researcher,33(5), 26–31.
17.
DuncanG. A. (2002). Beyond love: A critical race ethnography of the schooling of adolescent Black males.Equity & Excellence in Education, 35(2), 131–143.
18.
EcclesJ. S., WongC. A., & PeckS. C. (2006). Ethnicity as a social context for the development of African-American adolescents.Journal of School Psychology, 44(5), 407–426.
19.
Evans-WintersV., & EspositoJ. (2010). Other people's daughters: Critical race feminism and Black girls’ education.Educational Foundations, 24(1–2), 11–24.
20.
FisherC. B., WallaceS. A., & FentonR. E. (2000). Discrimination distress during adolescence.Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 29(6), 679–695.
21.
FivesH., & BuehlM. M. (2012). Spring cleaning for the ‘messy’ construct of teachers’ beliefs: What are they? Which have been examined? What can they tell us? In HarrisK. R., GrahamS., UrdanT., RoyerJ. M., & ZeidnerM. (Eds.), APA educational psychology handbook, Vol. 2: Individual differences and cultural and contextual factors (pp. 471–499). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
22.
GayG. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching.Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2), 106–116.
23.
GershensonS., HoltS. B., & PapageorgeN. W. (2016). Who believes in me? The effect of student–teacher demographic match on teacher expectations.Economics of Education Review,52, 209–224.
24.
GregoryA., SkibaR. J., & NogueraP. A. (2010). The achievement gap and the discipline gap. Two sides of the same coin?Educational Researcher, 39(1), 59–68.
25.
HarrisC. (1993). Whiteness as property.Harvard Law Review,106(8), 1707–1791.
26.
HowardT. C. (2003). Culturally relevant pedagogy: Ingredients for critical teacher reflection.Theory into Practice, 42(3), 195–202.
27.
HowardT. C. (2008). Who really cares? The disenfranchisement of African American males in preK-12 schools: A critical race theory perspective.Teachers College Record,110(5), 954–985.
28.
JohnsonL. (2002). “My eyes have been opened”: White teachers and racial awareness.Journal of Teacher Education,53(20), 153–167.
29.
JohnsonT., BoydenJ. E., & PittzW. J. (2001). Racial profiling and punishment in U.S. public Schools: How zero tolerance policies and high stakes testing subvert academic excellence and racial equity.Oakland, CA: ERASE Initiative. Retrieved from http://fles.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED461921.pdf
30.
KingJ. E. (1991). Dysconscious racism: Ideology, identity, and the miseducation of teachers.Journal of Negro Education,60(2), 133–146.
31.
KumarR., & HamerL. (2012). Preservice teachers’ attitudes and beliefs toward student diversity and proposed instructional practices: A sequential design study.Journal of Teacher Education, 64(2), 162–177.
32.
KumarR., KarabenickS. A., & BurgoonJ. N. (2015). Teachers’ implicit attitudes, explicit beliefs, and the mediating role of respect and cultural responsibility on mastery and performance-focused instructional practices.Journal of Educational Psychology, 107(2), 533–545.
33.
KylesC. R., & OlafsonL. (2008). Uncovering preservice teachers’ beliefs about diversity through reflective writing.Urban Education,43(5), 500–518.
34.
Ladson-BillingsG. (1994). The Dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children.San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
35.
Ladson-BillingsG. (1998). Just what is critical race theory and what's it doing in a nice field like education?Qualitative Studies in Education, 11(1), 7–24.
36.
Ladson-BillingsG. (1999). Preparing teachers for diverse student populations: A critical race theory perspective.Review of Research in Education, 24, 211–247.
37.
Ladson-BillingsG. (2006). From the achievement gap to the education debt: Understanding achievement in U.S. schools.Educational Researcher,35(7), 3–12.
38.
Ladson-BillingsG., & TateW. F.IV (1995). Toward a critical race theory of education.Teachers College Record,97(1), 47–68.
39.
LawrenceS. (2010). Research, writing, and racial identity: Cross-disciplinary connections for multicultural education.The Teacher Educator,34(1), 41–53.
40.
LawrenceS., & BuncheT. (1996). Feeling and dealing: Teaching white students about racial privilege.Teaching and Teacher Education,12(5), 531–542.
41.
LewisA. E. (2001). There is no “race” in the schoolyard: Colorblind ideology in an (almost) all White school.American Education Research Journal,38(4), 781–811.
42.
LiG. (2005). Other people's success: Impact of the “model minority” myth on underachieving Asian students in North America.Journal of Educational Policy, 2(1), 69–86.
43.
LortieD. C. (1975). Schoolteacher: A sociological study.Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
44.
McIntyreA. (1997). Making meaning of whiteness: Exploring racial identity with white teachers.Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
45.
McWhorterJ. (2000). Losing the race: Self-sabotage in Black America.New York, NY: Free Press.
46.
MillerA., & FellowsK. (2007). Negotiating white racial identity in multicultural courses: A model. In CooksL., & SimpsonJ. (Eds.), Whiteness, pedagogy, performance: Dis/placing race (pp. 49–66). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
47.
MilnerH. R. (2003). Teacher reflection and race in cultural contexts: History, meanings, and methods in teaching.Theory into Practice, 42(3), 173–180.
48.
MilnerH. R. (2010). Start where you are, but don't stay there: Understanding diversity, opportunity gaps, and teaching in today's classrooms.Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
49.
NadelsonL. S., BohamM. D., Conlon-KhanL., FuentealbaM. J., HallC. J., & HoetkerG. A. (2012). A shifting paradigm: Preservice teachers’ multicultural attitudes and efficacy.Urban Education,47(6), 1183–1208.
50.
NeblettE. W., PhilipC. L., CogburnC. D., & SellersR. M. (2006). African American adolescents’ discrimination experiences and academic achievement: Racial socialization as a cultural compensatory and protective factor.Journal of Black Psychology, 32(2), 199–218.
51.
NietoS., & BodeP. (2012). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural education (6th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.
52.
OakesJ. (2005). Keeping track: How schools structure inequality.New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
53.
PajaresM. F. (1992). Teachers’ beliefs and educational research: Cleaning up a messy construct.Review of Educational Research,62(3), 307–332.
54.
PeshkinA. (1988). In search of subjectivity—one's own.Educational Researcher17(7), 17–21.
55.
PowellC. L., & ArriolaK. R. J. (2003). Relationship between psychosocial factors and academic achievement among African American students.The Journal of Educational Research, 96(3), 175–181.
56.
PowellR., ZehmS., & GarciaJ. (1996). Field experience: Strategies for exploring diversity in schools.Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
57.
RaibleJ., & IrizarryJ. G. (2010). Redirecting the teacher's gaze: Teacher education, youth surveillance and the school-to-prison pipeline.Teaching and Teacher Education, 26, 1196–1203.
58.
RoordaD. L., KoomenH. M., SpiltJ. L., & OortF. J. (2011). The influence of affective teacher–student relationships on students’ school engagement and achievement: A meta-analytic approach.Review of Educational Research, 81(4), 493–529.
59.
SimmonsC. G., BaggettH. C., & EggletonS. R. (2014). Hoodies in the classroom: An examination of racial profiling in the Trayvon Martin case and implications for education. In Fasching-VarnerK. J., DixsonA. D., ReynoldsR. E., & AlbertK. (Eds.). Trayvon Martin, race, and American justice: Writing wrong (pp. 167–172). Boston, MA: Sense.
60.
SiwatuK. (2011). Preservice teachers’ sense of preparedness and self-efficacy to teach in America's urban and suburban schools: Does context matter?Teaching and Teacher Education,27, 357–365.
61.
SkibaR. J., HornerR. H., ChungC. G., RauschM. K., MayS. L., & TobinT. (2011). Race is not neutral: A national investigation of African American and Latino disproportionality in school discipline.School Psychology Review, 40(1), 85–107.
62.
SleeterC. E. (2001). Preparing teachers for culturally diverse schools: Research and the overwhelming presence of whiteness.Journal of Teacher Education,52(2), 94–106.
63.
SleeterC. (2008). Preparing white teachers for diverse students. In Cochran-SmithM., Feiman-NemserS., McIntyreD. J., & DemersK. E. (Eds.), Handbook of research on teacher education: Enduring issues in changing contexts (3rd ed., pp. 559–582). New York, NY: Routledge.
64.
SolomonaR. P., PortelliJ. P., DanielB. J., & CampbellA. (2005). The discourse of denial: How White teacher candidates construct race, racism and ‘White privilege’.Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(2), 147–169.
65.
SolórzanoD. G., & YossoT. J. (2001). From racial stereotyping and deficit discourse.Multicultural Education, 9(1), 2–8.
66.
SueD. W., NadalK. L., CapodilupoC. M., LinA. I., TorinoG. C., & RiveraD. P. (2008). Racial microaggressions against Black Americans: Implications for counseling.Journal of Counseling & Development,86(3), 330–338.
67.
TatumB. D. (1997). “Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?”: And other conversations about race.New York, NY: Basic Books.
68.
TerryR. W. (1981). Diversity: Curse or blessing for the elimination of White racism? In BowserB. P., & HuntR. G. (Eds.), Impacts of racism on White Americans (pp. 119–151). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
69.
VillegasA. (2007). Dispositions in teacher education: A look at social justice.Journal of Teacher Education,58(5), 370–380.
70.
WaldJ., & LosenD. J. (2003). Defining and redirecting a school to prison pipeline.New directions for youth development, 99, 9–15.
71.
Woolfolk-HoyA., DavisH., & PapeS. J. (2006). Teacher knowledge and beliefs. In AlexanderP., & WinneP. (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology (pp. 715–737). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
72.
YossoT. J. (2002). Toward a critical race curriculum.Equity and Excellence,35(2), 93–107.
73.
ZeichnerK. (2005). Becoming a teacher educator: A personal perspective.Teaching and Teacher Education,21, 117–124.
74.
ZeichnerK. (2010). Rethinking the connections between campus courses and field experiences in college- and university-based teacher education.Journal of Teacher Education, 61(1–2), 89–99.
