Chapter 10: Equity-Focused Teacher Candidate Preparation

This chapter focuses on the boundary-spanning partnership created by Lindley Academy Charter School, Arcadia University, and Gwynedd Mercy University. The purpose of the partnership is to create a teacher candidate experience that develops the skills and mindsets that are required to build an equity-focused educational practice in which students’ success is grounded in teachers’ high expectations. The boundary-spanning structure employed by the three institutions focused primarily on expanding horizontal and stakeholder boundaries in which school leaders at each partner institution collaborate across institutional boundaries, through formal and informal channels for the purpose of connecting equity work in theory and in practice for teacher candidates. The university and school partners discussed in this chapter explicitly state—and regularly revisit through conversation, planning, and action—a commitment to the common purpose of developing an equity-focused teacher candidate experience.