This interview features insights on the article entitled, “Investigating the Third Space: A New Agenda for Teacher Education Research” by Dr. Jori S. Beck. The article was published in the September/October 2020 issue of the Journal of Teacher Education.
Article Abstract: The purpose of this article is to advocate for an expansion of third-space ideology to the research conducted in clinical teacher preparation programs including research designs and methods of data collection. Clinical teacher preparation has been advocated since the 1980s and is now being systematically realized in the early 21st century. Thus, it is time to revisit research designs and data collection related to this model. The author illustrates first-, second-, and third-space programs, including an overview of teacher residency programs, before advocating a mixed methods research paradigm that aims to create democratic spaces for teacher education research. Research and practice implications are discussed.
Question 1: What motivated you to pursue this particular research topic?
I have a master’s degree in English Literature and I studied post-colonialism and hybridity theory in my program at Seton Hall University. So I had those theories in the back of my head as I entered my doctoral program at George Mason University and had always thought there was an application to education but I just hadn’t found my access point. As a doctoral student and junior researcher, I quickly learned firsthand about the complex power dynamics in research relationships between universities and schools. I have been complicit in projects that have given very little to schools while benefiting a research team; at the same time, I have also witnessed instances in which school districts have dictated my own research agenda—either through denying me access or controlling what I was allowed to research. The latter situations were at least understandable to me because of how we have shamed schools in this country through unrealistic and untenable accountability measures. What administrator would want a researcher to come in and put yet another critical eye on their practices? However, I really struggled with how education research was being conducted by university researchers. To me, it seemed as though there had to be a better way to do research that would be beneficial to both parties as well as the clients whom we all serve: PK-12 students.
Through writing my dissertation, I began a line of work on teacher residency programs and research on these programs is often steeped in Third Space theory because of the integral role of school-university partnerships in this type of teacher preparation. I had seen Ken Zeichner speak about the application of Third Space to teacher preparation at the American Educational Research Association annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia in 2012 which also got me thinking about the application of Third Space theory to teacher preparation. I started to recognize the possibilities here for real change—particularly amid calls in the field for richer clinical experiences and tighter relationships between schools and universities (e.g., National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education Blue Ribbon Panel, 2010) and the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015 which called for closer relationships between PK-12 schools and universities in teacher preparation.I continued to develop this idea of Third Space research for the next year after completing my dissertation. I presented a draft of the manuscript at the 2015 European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction biannual conference in Lymassol, Cyprus. It was there that a researcher helped me to think through how mixed methods designs were really Third Space research methods. From there, the piece took off. It underwent several rounds of revisions at the Journal of Teacher Education and I was fortunate to have support from my mentor, Dr. Gary Galluzzo, and my colleague Dr. Jihea Maddamsetti to shape this up into the final product.
Question 2: Were there any specific external events (political, social, economic) that influenced your decision to engage in this research study?
Aside from my own experiences as a junior scholar working with PK-12 schools, the authorization of the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015) really got me thinking about new possibilities for school-university partnerships—including research. It seemed as though there was enormous opportunity there to create local accountability systems that were meaningful and valid for students that went beyond standardized assessments, and to use education research as a catalyst for change. There are isolated examples of research-practice partnerships (e.g., Kuriloff et al., 2009), but what if these partnerships were more systematic? And public school districts received practical support to develop and implement useful accountability measures? This seemed really promising to me. The use of data in schools has become incredibly narrow and focused almost solely on assessments. We need a more well-rounded and authentic conceptualization of the evidence teachers use to evaluate student learning—particularly in light of how standardized tests fall out disproportionately on students of color (Shahjahan, 2011). For me, teacher education is inherently tied to policy so those are always the parameters we are operating within. How do we make policy more useful to constituents? And how do we make assessments more meaningful? I think there is tremendous possibility in school-university partnerships that hasn’t been realized yet, and these opportunities go beyond teacher preparation alone.
Question 3: What current areas of research are you pursuing?
As a teacher education scholar, my research interests tend to be diverse and I’m unapologetic about that. I like to have the space to explore new topics and lines of research as they become relevant to what is needed for my local context. I have been developing a line of research on data literacy for teachers—specifically, with preservice teachers and how they conceptualize and use data. I think this is particularly important for reasons of equity and inclusion. I am currently working on a systematic review of research on data literacy for teachers and assessment literacy that conveys what we know about these constructs within the domain of teacher preparation.
This fall, I hope to get out a few pieces including a large-scale survey and interview study of teacher leadership in my home state of Virginia that I have been collaborating on with Dr. Kaa Hinton and Dr. Brandon Butler at Old Dominion University, my home institution. I also recently had a book chapter proposal accepted on anti-racist coaching practices with Dr. Kala Burrell-Craft, also at Old Dominion University.
Question 4: What new challenges do you see for the field of teacher education?
Over the past decade, alternative route to licensure programs have grown about 30-40% while teacher education programs based in colleges and universities have shrank by about the same amount (Partelow, 2019). As a field, I think we must learn more about what the effective elements of teacher preparation are rather than trying to prove whether alternative routes to licensure or traditional teacher preparation are more effective. For example, what makes a rich clinical experience? Extended hours are good, but what makes the process meaningful for teacher candidates so that they can apply it to their future work as teachers? And how can we meaningfully connect schools and colleges of education in this work?
We also have to be responsive to the artificial barriers that have prevented teacher candidates of color from entering the profession. Alternative routes to licensure often do a good job of ensuring these barriers are reduced or eliminated resulting in higher admission and graduation of candidates of color. In my home state of Virginia, we have now waived the math PRAXIS exam as an entry requirement for teacher preparation programs which I think is a great start to reducing these barriers. However, I think it will be critical to find a way to fund student teaching internships so that teacher candidates are not getting to their last semester and leaving without completing that internship due to financial barriers—or they are finishing on provisional licenses without robust support.
Question 5: What advice would you give to new scholars in teacher education?
Be persistent. As a junior scholar I have had to learn how to take feedback and adapt. I once had four manuscripts rejected in one week. It was almost physically painful to experience that amount of rejection all at once. However, each rejection is a learning opportunity and I eventually find homes for just about every manuscript. I know that there are some researchers who don’t pursue other outlets after three rejections. However, I just can’t let a manuscript go. Each one requires so much work. The very first study I did as a doctoral student was a longitudinal case study of a resident (teacher candidate) during his residency year. It was rejected 14 times before I found a home for it 7 years after I had completed the study. I had almost given up on it, but I had spent a year of my life and my participant’s life studying his development and that felt too important to me to let go. If your gut says there is a contribution, follow that feeling and don’t give up.