Preparing teachers for diverse classrooms: an evaluation of the Lehigh Valley Summerbridge program's influence in pre-service teacher training

Shannon Dietz

doi:10.17918/00010890

With the increasing diversity of the US student population, teacher education programs need to prepare teachers who are culturally competent and skilled with the use of culturally relevant and sustaining teaching practices. Preservice teachers (PSTs) require more experience working with racially and ethnically diverse students in order to be prepared to teach all populations of students. The Lehigh Valley Summerbridge program (LVS), which takes place at Moravian Academy in Bethlehem, PA, is specifically designed to expose preservice teachers (PSTs) to multiple aspects of the career of teaching in order to better prepare them to successfully work in schools with a diverse student body. The purpose of this program evaluation was to understand how Lehigh Valley Summerbridge (LVS) alumni teachers describe the program's influence on their preparation and efficacy to teach racially and ethnically diverse students. The overarching question guiding this program evaluation reads: How do alumni teachers describe LVS' influence on their preparation and efficacy as educators, particularly as it relates to teaching racially and ethnically diverse students? Four streams of the research literature help to frame this study: Teacher Workforce; Teacher Education Programs in Pennsylvania; Teacher Self-Efficacy; and Summer Bridge Programs. The participants, who taught at the LVS program between 2019-2024, found the LVS program to be essential to their development as teachers. The CIPP model informed the design of this evaluation, focusing on the product of the LVS program: the teachers. The researcher employed qualitative research methods including a background questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, and a member check focus group to best understand the perspectives and experiences of the participants. This evaluation illuminates the impact LVS has on teacher preparation by highlighting their framework of teacher development that leads teachers from exposure to preparation to confidence in the areas of building relationships with students, lesson planning, and classroom management. The findings of the evaluation revealed that the additional, targeted supports and experiences that LVS provides its teachers is unique, and that all teachers should be provided with an opportunity to learn from a program like LVS to better prepare them to be more confident, empathetic teachers. Keywords: LVS, TEPs, PSTs, exposure, preparation, confidence, building relationships, lesson planning, classroom management

Preparing teachers for diverse classrooms: an evaluation of the Lehigh Valley Summerbridge program's influence in pre-service teacher training

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Preparing teachers for diverse classrooms: an evaluation of the Lehigh Valley Summerbridge program's influence in pre-service teacher training

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