A substantial body of literature demonstrates how within‐school patterns serve to maintain and perpetuate racial inequality in education. This occurs as well‐meaning teachers and administrators tend to hold lower academic expectations for students of color; engage in racially biased discipline patterns; employ alienating curricula; and fail to address racial issues in meaningful ways when they surface in classrooms. In this paper, I review literature on these and other inequitable patterns and subsequently summarize research exploring how these issues are confronted teacher training programs. While some pedagogical models show promise, many studies suggest that multicultural education and programs for pre‐service teachers fall short in promoting perspectives and practices to address inequity in schools. I apply tenets of critical race theory to scrutinize oppression within schools and the shortcomings of initiatives claimed to redress them, and moreover, to suggest how teacher education can be improved to encourage pedagogy for social justice ends.