During the spring semester 2007, 38 students in the Early Childhood Initial Teacher Certification Program at Arizona State University (Tempe) were the first cohort to complete the new requirement of preschool student teaching. Students were placed in Head Start and Block Grant Preschool Programs connected to elementary schools. All of these programs served lower income students. Most had a significant number of students from homes where English is not spoken. Some of the placements were in integrated: (special education full inclusion) classrooms. Placements were half-day for a duration of nine weeks totaling 200 hours.

An interpretive, case study design using ethnographic methods of focus group interviews, participant observation, and the collection and analysis of student teacher journal entries was used to make sense of their experiences. Analysis was ongoing, using an inductive approach; preliminary themes that emerged from journal entries and focus group interviews were explored in subsequent interviews.

Four major themes were identified: concerns with the program; a change in belief about the status of preschool teaching; teaching children with special needs, and negative assumptions, expectations; and judgmental thoughts about working in urban preschool settings. Case studies tell the stories of selected participants who best synthesize these themes. Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, field, and cultural capital and Louis Althusser's concept of interpellation are employed to analyze the students' experiences.

Major findings were that prior to their placements student teachers held negative perceptions about preschool, children with special needs, and urban school settings. The majority did not aspire to teach preschool upon graduation. As a result of their experiences many students changed their perception of preschool and are now considering teaching preschool after graduation. Others noted their initial preconceived judgments and assumptions about urban school settings and changed their beliefs. Students placed in integrated classrooms changed their beliefs about children with special needs and learned to look beyond the disability and see the child. This research suggests that compelling preservice early childhood ITC students to have a student teaching experience in preschool seems to pay dividends as a strategy to address the shortage of applicants for preschool teaching positions.