In this article, the author discusses some common themes found in her experiences as a Latina undergraduate student. During the summer of 2008, the author conducted fieldwork in a rural town in Mexico. The author discusses her experience as the only Latina student on this trip which were similar to those discussed by Latina scholars. The author considers the pros and cons of being an insider and an outsider to a rural town in Mexico, the use of Latinos as cultural brokers while denying their contributions as social scientists, and the blame she experienced for her lack of adjustment.

This study investigated preservice teachers' understanding of their goal of becoming teachers and their motivation for teaching. Participants were undergraduate students enrolled in a teacher education program at a major university in the southeast. Overall, findings from this study revealed that preservice teachers' understanding of their goal of becoming teachers and interpretations of their motivation for teaching were unique, yet the types of influences on their career choices were similar across participants' stories.

The purpose of this study was to investigate elementary teachers' attitudes toward the different subjects that they teach. The participants were 490 elementary school teachers from two rural school districts in the southeastern United States. Reading and language arts were consistently ranked among the favorite and most enjoyed subjects to teach, whereas science and writing were consistently ranked among the least favorite and least enjoyed subjects to teach. Implications for teacher preparation and policies related to elementary school teaching assignments are discussed.

This article describes the Boston Teacher Residency (BTR), a comprehensive teacher recruitment, preparation, and induction program created by and housed in an urban school district, the Boston Public Schools (BPS). The article argues for several core principles in the creation of such a program: a) the program serves the school district, b) the program is structured to blend theory and practice, c) the program emphasizes the selection, recruitment and support of the mentor teacher and treats the mentors as teacher educators, d) the program creates an aligned set of induction supports which extend for the first three years of the new teacher’s career, e) the program treats student achievement as its ultimate outcome.

This article discusses the questions of whether and how technologies have influenced teaching and learning, and what paths are open (and closed) for future impact. The authors argue that technologies have fundamentally transformed schools – but not in ways anticipated by classroom technology enthusiasts. The authors propose a contrast between technologies for learning and technologies for learners to explain how technologies influence teaching and learning in and out of schools. The article considers how these contrasting models of technology use will come to shape schools and learning in a pluralistic society.

Alignment is a means for understanding the degree to which different components of an educational system work together to support a common goal. Alignment research is one method to demonstrate that state organizations, districts, and schools send a consistent message to teachers and students about what is required. The authors (1) discuss the importance of alignment for facilitating proper assessment and instruction, (2) describe the three most common methods for evaluating the alignment between state content standards and assessments, (3) discuss the relative strengths and limitations of these methods, and (4) discuss examples of applications of each method.