Suggests that what is missing from the discourse on higher standards in teacher education is discussions of outcomes measures, which make teaching harder and more complicated for teacher candidates, noting that such measures would recognize the complexity and uncertainty of teaching and learning and acknowledge the often concurrent, competing…

Argues that the conscious originating motives for both market-oriented and uniform standards approaches to improving the quality of teacher education may not guarantee the effects of such policies in the real world of real schools, noting that such reforms may have dangerous consequences unless efforts are situated within an honest analysis of…

Discusses the need for preservice teachers to learn to critique and participate in the transformation of educational policies and practices, tracing the theoretical avenues that converge in Media Action Projects (MAPs) and looking at the transformative spaces afforded by MAPs for teaching future educators who can ethically respond to the needs of…

Argues that the legitimacy of accreditation in teacher education is rooted in political consensus, power, and scholarship. Because these roots are fragile, there is no accepted concept of educational malpractice. The legitimacy of accreditation should be rooted in scholarly evidence that the program has fulfilled the claim that its graduates are…

Considers whether National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification is as much an evaluation of teachers writing about their teaching as it is of the teaching itself, exploring two NBPTS certificate candidates' experiences, analyzing problems inherent in NBPTS standards and writing difficulties in NBPTS portfolio entries,…

The standards movement seeks to bridge the gap between universities and schools, smoothing the transition for student teachers from novice to professional. The imposition of standards and close monitoring of learning outcomes potentially violates the affective bond between student and teacher and the teacher's commitment to education. Resolving…

Discusses the role of multicultural education in American education, examining Geneva Gay's book on culturally responsive teaching (which argues for culturally responsive teaching, with teaching having the moral courage to help make education more multiculturally responsive) and Sandra Stotsky's book (which argues that multicultural education is a…

Reviewed research studies on preservice teacher preparation for multicultural schools, particularly schools serving historically underserved communities, examining the effects of such strategies as recruiting and selecting students, cross-cultural immersion experiences, multicultural coursework, and program restructuring. Very little research…

Problematizes two related aspects of educational inclusion reform and its implementation in practice: persistence of unexamined assumptions about disability and uninspired curriculum, reviewing humanities-based disability studies and describing a partnership between a secondary language arts teacher and a college professor when they cotaught a…

Presents a framework for unifying teacher educators based on what happens in the classroom. The framework identifies intellectual quality, relevance, supportive classroom environment, and recognition of difference, as four dimensions of classroom practice that are essential for student teachers' learning and for their subsequent success in…

Discusses teacher education reform from the context of critical pedagogy and global capitalism, maintaining that it remains largely in the thrall of postmodern theory and politics and presents fundamental perspectives for creating a revolutionary pedagogy designed to encourage the development of critical consciousness among students and teachers…

Suggests that teacher education must be grounded in intellectual studies and theoretical pursuits, discussing various theories and their characteristics and suggesting that critical theory is valuable in helping people see the connections between common sense practices in schools and institutions and ideologies in the wider society. An example of…

Applied the principals of cognitive dissonance theory to an instructional strategy used to reduce resistance to the idea of white privilege, comparing groups of college students in diversity education courses that did and did not receive supplemental instruction on cognitive dissonance. Incorporating cognitive dissonance theory created an…

In England and Wales, Teacher Training Agency-funded professional development for teachers must be evaluated for its impact on students. It is the responsibility of higher education institutions to provide evidence of impact. A case study illustrates the possibilities and difficulties of providing such evidence. This article concludes that,…

Based on findings from national and international evaluations, this article discusses the extent to which goals and reality meet in Finnish teacher education, noting that teacher research produces important information that supports teacher education and asserting that teacher education should be anchored not only in research but also in the…