Teacher education, preparation, and professional development form the bedrock of what occurs in U.S. classrooms. Nonetheless, we are facing a teacher crisis on multiple fronts: teacher employment and retention are diminishing as the profession becomes increasingly deprofessionalized. Simultaneously, the majority of U.S. teachers are white, receiving teacher education from predominantly white institutions (PWIs), and are ill-equipped to teach effectively and responsively in our increasingly diverse classrooms.

Since the standards movement took hold in the 1990s and gained momentum after the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, education for pre- and in-service teachers has resembled a game of whack-a-mole in which postsecondary educators, academic coaches, school leaders, and professional development companies have formulated teacher education to respond to evolving policy mandates, student performance metrics, support for and rejection of DEI initiatives, and a constant flow of scholarship touting “best practices.” As a result, teacher education that pushes boundaries and the status quo must instead emphasize transformation, liberation, equity, and authentic learning for all students.

In Moving from Limited to Liberated Teacher Education, we present nuanced approaches to transforming the education of pre- and in-service teachers, thus impacting PreK-12 at large. The enclosed chapters explore social justice instructional coaching, linguistically responsive academic coaching, transforming student and teacher assessment, preparing justice-oriented content-area teachers, teacher candidate identity and social justice mindset development, transformative action research in teacher preparation, critical professional development for justice, and transformative teacher mentorship.

Educators are doing great work that pushes the limits of what is considered “best practices,” be it through advocating for authentic project-based curriculum and assessment over standardized assessments, restorative justice over punitive classroom management, culturally and linguistically responsive teaching over standards-based lesson planning, or instructional coaching that liberates teacher creativity and emphasizes mental health over performance and results. Moving from Limited to Liberated Teacher Education celebrates such practices and provides a roadmap for readers to enact them.

Innovative and creative methodologies and practices that educators, educational leaders, and teacher preparation faculty can use right away are the primary focus of Moving from Limited to Liberated Teacher Education. As former or current PreK-12 practitioners, teacher educators, and/or education scholars, editors and contributors tailored the book for a broad educational audience. The editors and contributors provide practicing teachers, pre-service and practicing educational leaders (and mentors and coaches), and teacher educators entry points for transforming the PreK-20+ landscape in favor of liberatory, transformative practices in schools across grade levels, content areas, school types, and geographic regions. This book is ideal for teacher and leadership preparation programs and PreK-12 professional development, guiding readers through theoretical and empirical discussions supported by hands-on applications, and concluding with interactive features like case studies, extension activities, and discussion prompts.

Perfect for courses such as: Introduction to Cultivating Culturally Responsive Schools; Introduction to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Schools; Introduction to Supportive School Communities; Introduction To School Improvement; Instructional Coaching for Equity and Justice; Introduction to Transformative Professional Development and Professional Learning Communities; Instructional Leadership for Social Justice; Foundations of Social Justice School Leadership; Foundations of Transformative Leadership