This study explored how secondary history teachers in different state contexts choose historical content for their classrooms in light of their student and community contexts. Interviews with history teachers from across the United States revealed complexity in teacher thinking, and revealed additional context-specific motivations (e.g., political), for instructional choices made in response to student and community characteristics. Implications for teacher education and curriculum development are emphasized.

Might teacher certification exams negatively impact experienced teachers over novices? Public and policy makers often assume exams are unbiased and empiric in nature. Understanding how the exams may be biased in terms of candidates situativity while faced with abstract exam questions has not been extensively studied. Secondarily, what measures can teacher education programs can take to help prepare their experienced teacher candidates for the exams? We report on preliminary successes in pass rates as we have applied sociocultural theory to exam preparation.

This paper focuses on two university professors fostering experiences for teacher candidates? knowledge of culturally sustaining pedagogy. Voices of pre-service teachers emerge as they construct a knowledge-base about literacy in their university classroom and urban Head Start field placement. We address the need for teacher-preparation programs to ground instruction in understandings around diversity, equity, and access. Pedagogy supporting urban teachers? capacity to influence young children?s literacy achievement is vital; however, Ginsberg (2015) reminds us that without fully addressing the ways that values and biases are culturally mediated, learning and implementing ?culturally responsive? practices face real obstacles.