Over the next decade, the United States will need 2.2 million new public school teachers, due to recent changes in class-size policies, increased student immigration, teacher retirements, and attrition. As the teacher shortage intensifies, policymakers, researchers, and practitioners are increasingly asking themselves: In what ways should we prepare teachers to be effective, particularly to work in urban communities that serve a population that includes predominately students of color?

Gloria Ladson-Billings addresses this question in her latest book, Crossing Over to Canaan: The Journey of New Teachers in Diverse Classrooms. She uses the biblical metaphor of Canaan, the promised land, as the vision of teacher education that provides the "sojourners" — a "new iteration of novice teachers" (p. 150) embarking on the journey of transforming themselves and their pedagogy — with the necessary knowledge and support to effectively educate racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse students in urban classrooms.

Relying on biblical images, Ladson-Billings looks ahead to the next millennium of teacher education, observes that teacher education "continues to languish in the practices of a bygone era" (p. 3), and proposes programs that pose "theoretical propositions about pedagogy" (p. 27) that will help novice teachers become reflective and improve their teaching. While Ladson-Billings insists that the book is not a "blueprint for building a teacher education program" (p. 31), she encourages readers to question the preparation of teachers and to "think differently" about preparing teachers to work with diverse groups of students. Further, she suggests that novice teachers have something to teach those who educate them, and that by listening carefully to their voices, teacher educators will gain new insight into novice teachers’ experiences — insight that might lead to "Canaan."

The book includes contextual information, autobiography, ethnography, narrative commentary about the state of teacher education in the United States, and suggestions for reaching the land of Canaan through culturally relevant pedagogy (a theory of pedagogy from her seminal work, The Dreamkeepers). The text resounds with Ladson-Billings’ three identities, which she describes as the voices of a "teacher, a teacher educator, and a researcher" (p. xii). We are given a rich description of Ladson-Billings’ personal journey in teacher education, a story whose timbre echoes in the stories of the eight novice teachers whose experiences she chronicles. Their challenges and joys are captured in this book, a "collective story of the novice teachers’ struggles to do the best job possible of teaching all of the students . . . a richly textured story of what it means to become a good teacher in a program devoted to preparing teachers for diverse classrooms" (p. 54).

Ladson-Billings begins with the arresting question, "Can anybody teach these children?"(p. 12), a reference to students who are racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse. She cites the high percentage (88%) of teacher education faculty who are White and questions whether a faculty that is so racially homogenous is prepared to "ensure that all of [the program’s] graduates are prepared to teach all students" (p. 12). She provides data about the teacher shortage, a discussion of diversity and its meaning today, and an analysis of what "teaching well" means in this changed schooling context. For Ladson-Billings, teaching well means ensuring that students achieve (though she only vaguely explains what this entails), gain a sense of self-confidence, and acquire a commitment to social justice and to serving their community. She recalls her theory, which her numerous previous articles address, of culturally relevant teaching and the propositions that support this theory: academic achievement, cultural competence, and sociopolitical consciousness.

Ladson-Billings then offers an in-depth case study of a novice teacher, Carter Forshay, whose experiences reminded me of my own first year of teaching and will likely remind other readers of their novice experiences. Forshay’s youthful enthusiasm is challenged by his students’ distaste for the subject (writing) and their continued complaints about his assignments. Ladson-Billings informs the reader that it is Forshay’s examination of his practice and his own passions that allows him to develop a pedagogy that reaches — and teaches — his students. Forshay considered the ways in which his lessons were applicable to his students’ lives and to issues that might be important to them. He incorporated these elements (such as music) into his teaching, hoping that by recognizing students’ interests and including them in the classroom he would inspire learning. The case study of Forshay is the catalyst for Ladson-Billings’ study of the eight novice teachers and for the initiation of this book.

Ladson-Billings continues by introducing the Teachers For Diversity (TFD) program, an initiative of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where Ladson-Billings is a faculty member. She and her colleagues created the TFD program, an elementary certification program with a master’s degree, which she loosely describes as being designed to "prepare teachers to teach effectively in multicultural, social-reconstructionist ways" (p. 31). She introduces us to eight TFD students whose experiences comprise the ethnography and tells us about their choices to become teachers, their demographics, and their past experiences.

The next three chapters explicate the propositions of culturally relevant teaching, supported by data from the novice teachers’ classrooms. In chapter three, "They’re Supposed to Learn Something," Ladson-Billings describes one of the three tenets of culturally relevant teaching — academic achievement — and the ways the novice teachers worked toward meeting this goal. In these accounts we view the classroom as though through a microscope: we learn of exchanges between teachers and parents, the curricular goals the new teachers are pursuing, the topics they choose to introduce, the challenges of cultural dissonance, and the new teachers’ experiences with specific students. The chapter concludes with indicators of academic achievement — Ladson-Billings’ view of the evidence of academic achievement in these classrooms with diverse learners. The evidence she lists focuses on teachers’ content knowledge and the observable relationship between the teacher and the student, such as, "The teacher knows the content, the learner, and how to teach content to the learner" (p. 74). In her description, academic achievement challenges the "single static measurement" (p. 76) of standardized test scores, and is instead measured by multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate their accomplishment using various media, including performances, samples of their work, and exhibitions (p. 76).

The fourth chapter describes the concept of cultural competence — the "ability of students to grow in understanding and respect for their own cultures" (p. 78). The author offers an indictment of the lack of attention to culture in many teacher education programs, then situates the discussion in a description of the TFD cohort’s understanding of culture, and describes each cohort member’s experiences of his or her own culture and the way that cultural background influences each teacher’s interactions with students. Although she does not specifically define culture, she refers to "home cultures" for students of color, which implies that culture includes experiences that are based on race. In an effort to improve teacher practice, she provides some "indicators of cultural competence" (p. 97) although they are a bit vague, such as teachers demonstrating an understanding of the role of culture in education, among other indicators.

Chapter five, "Apathy Is Not an Option," explores the element of citizenship embedded in teaching in public schools — that is, the role of schools as "teachers of social justice" (p. 102). Part of the mission adopted by the TFD program is to prepare teachers to be activists and to engage their students in social justice. Ladson-Billings reflects on why she includes this purpose in her teaching, then describes the novice teachers’ students and the way they engage in learning about the community in a meaningful way or conducting community service.

In the final chapter, Ladson-Billings returns to the biblical metaphor, offering "a vision of the promised land" (p. 123). She analyzes the TFD program and reflects on her learning as a teacher educator. She and her colleagues learned the importance of giving novice teachers opportunities to apprentice with master teachers, of encouraging questions about teachers and teaching, and of ensuring an opportunity to do serious intellectual work.

Ladson-Billings shares her vision of a teacher education program — the land of Canaan — or what she calls "The Urban Teacher Academy" (UTA), an academy that includes the foundations of the existing TFD program, along with other aspects of her concept of an ideal teacher education program. The UTA would include a cohort of participants from diverse backgrounds with a preference for bi- or trilingualism. The faculty would include those who speak several languages, come from diverse racial, ethnic, and class backgrounds, and have experience teaching in urban communities. The program would emphasize UTA-community collaboration through partnerships with community agencies and families. The participants would engage in field-based teacher practicums and accompanying coursework. They would be assessed based on a competency-based philosophy that requires a portfolio to demonstrate achievement. After completing the program, they would join school faculties that are UTA affiliates for their first year of teaching as provisional teachers, a position that would guarantee a reduced course load (or fewer students than more experienced teachers) and structured mentoring and observation opportunities with induction programs over time.

The appendices will be useful to researchers or to those interested in Ladson-Billings’ methodology. She explains the theoretical framework of culturally relevant pedagogy, describes research design and data analysis, and provides interview protocols. Ladson-Billings borrows the biblical metaphor of crossing over to Canaan and leaves readers with a hope for the sojourners — the novice teachers who will fill the classrooms and begin the process of pursuing and creating a pedagogy that successfully educates diverse learners.

H.G.P.