Project Quest: A Journey of Discovery with Beginning Teachers in Urban Schools

Abstract

Seven higher education institutions in Massachusetts collaborated to develop and implement Project QUEST (Quality Urban Education and Support for Teachers), a support program for beginning urban teachers. Motivated by both the need to retain beginning teachers beyond the first few years of teaching and the desire to increase urban school children's achievement, Project QUEST teachers, mentors, and researchers concentrated on the question: What do teachers need to know and be able to do to provide an equitable and just education for culturally diverse students in urban schools? Project activities and findings regarding individuals' socialization experiences and perceptions of students from racial, cultural, and/or linguistic groups differing from their own, viewed from a “strengths” rather than a “deficits” perspective, are discussed.