Urban teachers’ beliefs on teaching, learning, and students: A pilot study in the United States of America

Less qualified urban teachers may contribute to the achievement gap between urban and nonurban students. A pilot study is conducted in an urban teacher education institution to examine teachers’ beliefs in teaching, learning, and students. The objectives are to describe teachers’ beliefs of the 28 pre-service and 26 in-service teachers in general and to investigate differences in their beliefs on a 26-item survey. Mean scores and standard deviations are used to describe teachers’ beliefs, and a  t  test is used to examine the differences. The results from the urban pre-service and in-service teachers in this study do not support characteristics of culturally relevant teachers to meet urban students’ needs.