Creating teachers of promise: Growth toward equity-mindedness in a landscape of practice Althier M. Lazar Department of Teacher Education, Saint Joseph's University, 5600 City Line Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19035, United States highlights  Teacher candidates (TCs) acquired complicated views of students in underserved schools.  TCs identified structures that undermined students' literacy learning opportunities.  Three TCs displayed varied levels of equity-mindedness.  Findings suggest the need for TCs to have more direct contact with the community. article info Article history: Received 14 June 2017 Received in revised form 22 December 2017 Accepted 17 January 2018 Available online 20 February 2018 1. Introduction Teachers who understand the structural, sociocultural contexts that shape students' lives and opportunities are best positioned to see students' capacities (Castro, 2010; Chubbuck, 2010). Questions remain about how teacher candidates construct these un- derstandings. Guided by the concept of landscape of practice (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2015) this study tracks the experiences of three teacher candidates as they participated in an equity-oriented teacher education program (TEP) that included field experiences in culturally nondominant, underserved urban communities (CNUs). Findings from this study reveal how the program helped broaden candidates' understandings about stu- dents and their schooling opportunities, but they also show the limitations of the TEP to cultivate the kinds of equity orientations needed to critically care for students. 2. Literature review 2.1. Equity-mindedness Most millennial teacher candidates welcome multiculturalism (Castro, 2010), but many have not acquired the mindsets to teach successfully in CNU communities (Sleeter, 2008). Most are unaware that the majority of those who live in underserved communities have been disadvantaged by schools and other institutions and that racism has worked historically and systematically to limit their opportunities (Castro, 2010). Most have not had opportunities to learn about the political, economic, and racial antecedents of un- equal schooling, nor have they been made aware that they may have benefitted from the structural advantage of high quality schools (Lazar, 2004). Lacking such awareness, they are likely to attribute academic failure to the intellectual, moral, or motivational shortcomings of students and their families, rather than to see academic failure in the context of multiple systems and structures (Castro, 2010). According to Castro, when teachers believe that students lack abilities and or home support, they may abandon the notion that all children can learn, and they may abdicate re- sponsibility for affecting students' growth. Understanding systems of advantage/disadvantage is also tied to notions of caring. Teachers who care critically understand the systemic disadvantages their students face as members of cultur- ally nondominant communities and strive to offset these inequities through their teaching and advocacy efforts (Roberts, 2010; Rol on- Dow, 2005; Valenzuela, 1999). Teaching critically means approaching “students with unconditional positive regard, knowing students and their cultures well, and insisting the stu- dents perform to a high standard” (Bondy & Ross, 2008, p. 58). In addition to understanding the macro-level ecologies that affect students, there is a need to develop teacher candidates' E-mail address: alazar@sju.edu. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Teaching and Teacher Education journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tate https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2018.01.005 0742-051X/© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Teaching and Teacher Education 71 (2018) 308e318