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This paper details a service-learning project involving thirty-two Ontario, White pre-service teachers in Buffalo, New York. We provided reflective activities to help future teachers develop an awareness and understanding of how unjust educational practices inhibit the educational performance of marginalized students. Although fourteen students did increase their awareness of urban school conditions and communities, we also learned that neither our teaching nor the service-project pushed eighteen participants to 'see' how educational practices work to perpetuate the racial and social class structure. Armed with this knowledge, we recognized that more time and energy must be expended to create research activities as well as authentic learning experiences to guide prospective teachers to recognize institutional practices that create social inequalities. Research Orientation Over the past three years, we have mentored and taught hundreds of Ontario pre-service teacher candidates in Buffalo, New York. The vast majority of our students (ninety-percent) are White, middle class women, who access our faculty of education due to quotas mandated in Ontario, which limit the number of candidates who can obtain teacher certification within the province. The expectations in our program focus upon encouraging an Anti-Racist and a multicultural approach to teaching and learning in elementary schools. Although the coursework is generally helpful in developing some awareness about cultural diversity as well as about institutional practices that generate inequity in school performance and student achievement, we were concerned that the experiences were merely at a theoretical level. After various conversations with faculty, teacher candidates, and in-service teachers, we believed our White middle class preservice teachers would benefit from being involved in a school-based program situated in a lowincome, racially and culturally diverse community. We felt this project would bridge theory and practice. Being situated in urban schools would reinforce many ideas generated in our graduate teaching seminars, as students would see first-hand how unjust practices in urban schools present challenges in meeting the social, educational, and emotional needs of at-risk, marginalized students. The following questions served as the framework for this action-research project: Question 1: What are some of the barriers that impoverished children face as they experience formal schooling? Question 2: How do community service projects help White pre-service teacher candidates increase their awareness and understanding of racism and diversity in elementary schools? Question 3: What educational initiatives in Buffalo, New York can help Ontario pre-service teacher candidates gain a better understanding of how unjust educational practices inhibit urban students' academic performance? We were well aware of the merits of practitioners engaging in action research projects. Rather than relying exclusively on researchers and government officials to guide us in what and how we teach, reflective practitioners learn the importance of raising their own questions and concerns about their teaching experiences. The self-reflective process has empowered many educators to find additional ways to improve students' learning (Vacca & Vacca, 2000). The reflective process often helps critical practitioners understand how their biases inhibit their growth as intellectuals and as teachers (Grant, 2002). Specifically, this form of research was meant to help us, two teacher educators, recognize our growing knowledge, skills and attitudes in relation to the complexities of helping White pre-service teacher candidates to understand systemic barriers that create inequity in schools and in the wider society. In addition, we wanted to explore new avenues that could help facilitate critical conversations with future teachers in relation to helping at-risk students achieve academically.

A School-Based Project: Increasing Ontario Pre-Service Teacher Candidates' Experiences With Cultural Diversity