Many urban districts in the United States have difficulty attracting and retaining quality teachers, yet they are often the most in need of them. In response, U.S. states and districts are experimenting with financial incentives to attract and retain high-quality teachers in high-need, low-achieving, or hard-to-staff urban schools. However, relatively little is known about how effective financial incentives are to recruit new teachers to high-need urban schools. This research explores factors that are important to the job choices of teachers in training. Focus groups were held with students at three universities, and a policy-capturing study was done using 64 job scenarios representing various levels of pay and working conditions. Focus group results suggested that: a) many pre-service teachers, even relatively late in their preparation, are not committed to a particular district and are willing to consider many possibilities, including high need schools; b) although pay and benefits were attractive to the students, loan forgiveness and subsidies for further education were also attractive; and c) small increments of additional salary did not appear as important or attractive as other job characteristics. The policy-capturing study showed that working conditions factors, especially principal support, had more influence on simulated job choice than pay level, implying that money might be better spent to attract, retain, or train better principals than to provide higher beginning salaries to teachers in schools with high-poverty or a high proportion of students of color.

Many teacher education programs have adopted a cohort structure which offers attractive administrative and organizational benefits while promoting classroom community. This study examines one urban teacher preparation program that employed a cohort model. Using focus groups and survey data, this mixed methods study compared results on the basis of race and gender. Findings suggest that while the cohort structure created a strong classroom community among the majority of students, specific minority populations in the program (men and students of color) were excluded from the social benefits associated with the cohort model. This study identified active social systems of silencing and exclusion and outlines implications for hiring practices, curriculum, and faculty development.

Research points to particular problems in the experiences of White teachers teaching students of color (Cochran-Smith et al., 2004). Despite good intentions, teaching students of diverse backgrounds and experiences can be challenging for teachers who are unfamiliar with their students' backgrounds and communities. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of notions about ''good urban teaching'' for three women in a preservice teacher preparation program. Reporting on two years of data, we show how the three women negotiated their beliefs and identities in light of program demands and classroom realities. The lack of synchronicity within the women's experiences highlights that the traditional (white, female, middle class) students in preservice teacher education programs are not homogeneous. The significance of this difference is highlighted through the concept of heterogeneity. We define heterogeneity as the differences that exist among traditional students in preservice teacher preparation programs. Our research suggests that heterogeneity is complicit in the progress or lack of progress of preservice teachers developing professional identities.

Disconnects between the demographics of teacher candidates and the students attending today's public urban schools are well documented. At the same time, research points to the educational value of linking students' lived experiences to their classroom learning. This article presents the researchbased findings of faculty who implemented a field-based "pedagogy lab" in an urban-focused, collaborative teacher education program. The lab offered teacher candidates deliberate opportunities to interrogate their ethnicity, gender, and social class then use that knowledge to enhance various disciplinary-based instructional activities for PK-12 pupils. The findings suggest new ways of preparing teachers for the children attending urban schools.

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