The Daily Bulletin Archive

Three years ago, an African American teacher candidate asked her instructor, Pixita del Prado Hill, associate professor of elementary education and reading, “Why are there so few of us?” The question intrigued del Prado Hill. It was about that time that she learned about the CASTL Fellowship program. After successfully applying for a fellowship, she sought to investigate the aspects of methods courses that would help teacher candidates from underrepresented groups meet their goals and achieve success in elementary education.

Del Prado Hill also recognized the opportunity to combine CASTL with the Undergraduate Research Office. She worked with Felicia Scott, ’08, an elementary education and reading major andUndergraduate Summer Research fellow, from fall 2007 through spring 2009 to conduct in-depth interviews and a content analysis of a common assignment with 12 African American and Latina teacher candidates at Buffalo State, all of whom were female first-generation college students.

Del Prado Hill highly valued the experience of conducting her research with a student and said the collaboration produced a richer study. “It was beneficial to have a student’s voice on the project,” she said. “Felicia helped me craft the questions and played an integral role in gathering data.”

Del Prado Hill and Scott followed the same cohort of students during the two-year period, studying their feelings about and struggles with factors such as isolation, respect, language, biases, and personal challenges.

“We were particularly curious to learn what we might be able to change in our methods courses, because those classes are so critical in our department,” del Prado Hill said. “When students decide to leave the teacher-candidate track, it’s often during the methods courses. So besides exploring the challenges the students face, we also studied the reasons why some candidates decided not to quit after taking those courses.”

Among the common experiences shared by the cohort was the notion of respectful and nonjudgmental assessment as a key factor for motivation, del Prado Hill said. She also said that study participants discussed the importance of instructors’ acknowledging and exploring the political nature of Standard English in both the college and elementary classroom.

As a result of the study, del Prado Hill is now working with CEURE, the Exceptional Education Department, and the Elementary Education and Reading Department to develop a mentor program for teacher candidates from underrepresented groups who wish to work in high-need settings. She and Scott have presented their findingsacross campus and are currently working on a manuscript for publication. Del Prado Hill also presented their research during the 2009 American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) annual meeting in San Diego, California, in April.

Funding from CASTL provided materials, books, and supplies; incentives for participants; and travel costs associated with the 2009 AERA conference. The Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship allowed Scott to work on campus during summer 2008.

Del Prado Hill said the benefits of CASTL and the Undergraduate Research Office go well beyond monetary support. Both organizations offered support groups to compare and refine research projects, she said.

“CASTL and the Undergraduate Research Office made the work stronger, providing me with ideas about where to present, where to publish, and what literature to reference,” del Prado Hill said. “The support groups helped me look at my teaching methods in new ways.”

------------------------------------------------------------------

Two recent CASTL fellows—Lisa Hunter, associate professor of music, and Jill Norvilitis, associate professor of psychology—will present their research today during Bengal Pause (12:15–1:30 p.m.) in Bulger Communication Center 104. In addition, CASTL is now accepting applications for three fellowships during the 2010–2011 academic year and will present a series of proposal-writing workshops. The application deadline is April 1, 2010.