In searching for journals related to my topic, I found “Innovations and Impact in Teacher Education” in the peer reviewed journal Teachers College Record. This study recognizes the importance of improving educational opportunities for disadvantaged students, such has students of color, low-income students, and English language learners. The researchers specifically focus on teacher training programs, preparing teachers to work with diverse populations. The research question is: what is the implementation and impact of preservice teachers (a period of guided, supervised teaching) in community-based organizations (CBO) and what are the outcomes of preparing teachers to teach children whose backgrounds differ from that of the children served, specifically children at high-needs schools? The researchers followed two cohorts of preservice teachers, faculty teaching in the teacher education program, and staff who work in the CBO in which the preservice teachers are placed. These participants were  from the University of Washington’s Elementary Education Program. This was a 3-year longitudinal study, following the preservice teachers through their training and first year of teaching. I believe the type of data needed for this study was acts, behaviors, and events, and reports of acts, behaviors, and events. The authors clearly state the data-gathering method: “We employ qualitative methods of interviews, focus groups, observations, document review, and survey methods” (McDonald et al., 2011). The researchers state they used an iterative process as their data analysis method. An iterative process is arriving at a decision by repeating rounds of analysis, the goal is to get closer to discovering the result of the analysis through each repeated cycle. The researchers for this article coded individual and focus group interviews. The researchers looked for specific concepts out of these interviews that reflected the preservice teachers’ participation and outcomes of the program. The researchers found community experiences ended up being a resource for the teachers to pull from and provided the teachers with an understanding of the children served beyond the school setting. The researchers conclude CBO training for preservice teachers is a promising practice to prepare teachers to work with students from diverse backgrounds (McDonald et al., 2011).

McDonald, M.A., Tyson, K., Brayko, K., Bowman, M., Delport, J., & Shimomura, F. (2011). Innovation and impact in teacher education: Community-based organizations as field placements for preservice teachers. Teaching College Record, 113(8), 1668-1700.