Offers an inquiry-oriented approach based on the New Literacy Studies to help prospective teachers prepare for high-stakes standardized tests like the Communication and Literacy Skills (CLS) portion of the Massachusetts Educator Certification Tests. The paper describes a specific activity, inviting preservice teachers to explore the social nature…

Eight members of the education community (e.g., students, teachers, college faculty, and administrators) respond to a question about the impact of high-stakes testing of teachers and students on teaching and teacher education. Their responses focus on such issues as test bias, at-risk students, specific state responses, and testing of students…

High-stakes standardized testing cannot be considered a reform tool for increasing student achievement. Teaching quality is critical in student achievement. Teachers can become powerful agents in raising students' academic achievement levels, regardless of common barriers (e.g., poverty and bilingualism). The extreme focus on high-stakes testing…

Students with disabilities are required by law to participate in state and district assessments and performance reports. High-stakes testing is a significant part of standards-based reform and educational accountability. There are many potential negative and positive consequences of high-stakes testing for students with disabilities. Educators…

High-stakes testing creates a system that is unfair and destructive to learning. This paper critiques several common defenses of high-stakes testing, including claims that this strategy is necessary for addressing educational inequalities. The paper argues that an emphasis on tougher standards, accountability, and standardized testing is uniquely…

Despite criticisms of teacher education, recent evidence indicates that teachers with the most preparation are the most confident and successful. Teacher education reforms creating more tightly integrated programs with extended clinical preparation interwoven with coursework on learning and teaching produce more effective, resilient teachers.…

Educational reform networks are well-suited to utilizing new technology and institutional arrangements. They are flexible and innovative and can create collaborative environments and develop agendas that grow and change with their participants. Teacher educators participating in these learning networks help recreate the meaning of scholarship…

Introduces a series of articles on research in teacher education. The articles include both analytical reviews of earlier research and current scientific contributions. All of the studies seek to enhance the quality of teaching and learning and to overcome the gaps between theory and practice both at the teacher education level and the school…

Reviews research on teacher education published by the Association for Teacher Education in Europe, examining type of content, purpose, focus of study, and (when appropriate) authors' perspectives and the educational theory perspective chosen. The inquiry underscores the importance of relating teacher education research to general social and…

Using Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action and concept of communicative rationality, the paper proposes that narrative inquiry can be a rational enterprise, presenting narrative inquiry as a narrative discourse which has the dual function of being a method of inquiry and a means of personal and professional development in teacher education.…

Discusses myths regarding history and teacher education, arguing that research in educational history is important for teacher education and for professional educators. Two case studies of lessons in Swedish teacher training institutions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries show how yesterday's teaching practices and rationales influence…

This study of student teacher socialization in Norwegian primary and preschool teacher education, which involved classroom observations and interviews, showed how a visible pedagogic practice was reproduced in school teacher education and an invisible pedagogic practice was reproduced in preschool teacher education. Preservice student teachers…

Discusses new challenges for preservice and inservice teacher education connected with changing conceptions of the teaching profession in the Czech Republic, noting innovative approaches and strategies (e.g., constructivist approaches, reflective practice, and university-school cooperation) and examining training strategies to help students…

Examines efforts by one Norwegian university college to institutionalize research among the academic staff, describing different steps taken by the college's leadership and a group of teacher educators/researchers to establish a research environment at the institution and stimulate research among the staff. Hindrances to establishing a research…

Describes research conducted in a French teacher training college about the supervision of preservice teachers writing professional dissertations (which became compulsory in 1991). After describing elementary and secondary level preservice teachers' perspectives, researchers examined the perspectives of their supervisors to show discrepancies.…