In our changing world, how can teachers be confident they are still effectively teaching and reaching their students?

Dr. Stefanie Livers, assistant professor of childhood education and family studies at Missouri State University, researches teacher preparation and professional development of those already in the field. Her goal: to improve access and equity for all students.

“Our teaching force is primarily white female,” she said.

So she poses the question, “How do we change our teaching force to better meet the needs of each student who looks different from us?”

When she first became an instructor, Livers thought the most important thing she could impress upon teacher candidates was the proper methods for teaching math. But that’s no longer the case.

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“The longer that I have taught, I’ve realized if teachers don’t have relationships with students and build connections with people different from them, the teaching’s not going to get through,” she said. “Because without those relationships, or the investment in that community of learners, student achievement is still going to suffer.”

Read the transcript