Stories of Teacher Candidates of Color in a Teacher Preparation Program: Using Community Cultural Wealth to Disrupt Majoritarian Narratives

Abstract

Society portrays a deficit perspective on teachers and communities of color. Our research serves as a tool to name these inequitable stereotypes and disrupt majoritarian narratives by highlighting the stories of former teacher candidates of color (TCoC). This qualitative research study utilized in-depth semi-structured interviews with each participant to capture their counter stories. This research focuses on the General Knowledge Test (GKT), a licensure examination, which must be passed to gain entrance to the College of Education. Although our participants continued to experience difficulties during their teacher preparation program, they resisted against gatekeeping mechanisms and refused to allow the GKT to dictate their goals of becoming educators. We came to this research with a critical lens to centralize the counter-stories of TCoC and to raise questions about equity and justice. Using Critical Race Theory and Community Cultural Wealth, we attempt to disrupt and dismantle majoritarian narratives regarding TCoC.