The growing minority student enrollment in public schools has increased the demand for commensurate minority teacher preparation. Yet there has been a decrease in the number of Black teacher education graduates. . . (p.73)
The need for increased black teacher education graduates---a need cited by many other educators and researchers (e.g. Cooper, 1986; Goertz, Ekstrom & Coley, 1984; Smith, 1989)---highlights the importance of developing and implementing successful black teacher preparation programs.
This study investigates a collaborative teacher preparation program. The investigation is important because without evaluative research on developed programs there is no way to determine whether they are meeting the objectives set for them. In addition, the investigation of the selected program should provide data which can be used by researchers evaluating similar programs. In other words, this study will provide a database for future, similar inquiries.
So that the proposed study may be placed in context, this section of the prospectus reviews the existing research on selection and retention of black teachers in teacher preparation programs. The reviewed material is divided into four broad categories: These are: (1) literature related to reasons for the black teacher shortage; (2) evaluative studies of teacher preparation programs; (3) literature on the retention/recruitment factor of standardized testing; and (4) literature proposing recommendations for correcting the minority teacher shortage problem.
The existing literature offers several reasons for the shortage of minority teachers. According to Darling-Hammond, Pittman & Ottinger (1987), the most frequently cited reasons are: (1) decreasing minority high school graduates;
(2) lack of preparation of minority high school graduates; (3) increased use of standardized testing as an admission criterion for college universities;
(4) less interest in the tea...