Drawing on his nearly 30 years as a university teacher educator, the author reflects about the future of college- and university-based teacher education in the United States in light of recent attacks on education schools. The author argues that university and college teacher educators should do four things: (a) work to redefine the debate about…

This article sketches out a comprehensive approach for preparing history teachers. It argues that grounding in historical content knowledge is necessary for success in the classroom, but such grounding is not enough to ensure that success. For beginning teachers, the problem is not merely acquiring content knowledge but acquiring it in ways that…

The author offers a brief critique of the cliches that rain down on beginning teachers as they struggle to find their ways in this most complex, slippery, and rewarding work and encourages a steady focus on the intellectual and ethical heart of teaching from the start. A sample of practical advice--little parachutes and safety nets--are put…

Do we prepare teachers for the schools we wish all children could attend or do we prepare teachers for the schools where they are most likely to find a position? The authors address the often-asked question What do beginning teachers need to know? by making the case that we must prepare teachers for the disparate conditions found on the…

Who should be accountable for what beginning teachers need to know? This article first explains and illustrates three sets of knowledge and skills beginning teachers should have acquired in their preparation programs: academic knowledge needed for teaching the field of their license, generic professional knowledge and skills needed for teaching…

Productive strategies for evaluating outcomes are becoming increasingly important for the improvement, and even the survival, of teacher education. This article describes a set of research and assessment strategies used to evaluate program outcomes in the Stanford Teacher Education Program during a period of program redesign over the past 5 years.…

A recent report of the American Educational Research Association Panel on Research and Teacher Education confirms beyond question earlier findings exposing the limited utility of our research base in answering questions pertaining to policy or practice concerning preparation and licensing of teachers. Conditions accounting for this perplexing…

The locus of control in teacher education has been outside the hands of those who educate our nation's teachers for more than a century. Essentialists have long controlled the agenda for public schooling in America, and it is evident as well that their influence has prevailed in both the form and function of teacher education. The authors suggest…

Advocacy for academically based teacher education informs this article, which stresses the need for persuasive evidence of its value. A summary of the current state of the evidence is presented, concluding that positive evidence is now very limited. What is needed to make the case for academically based teacher education is quantitative empirical…

New York City represents a microcosm of the changes that are shaking the very foundations of teacher education in this country. In their efforts to find teachers for hard-to-staff schools by creating multiple pathways into teaching, districts from New York City to Los Angeles are in the midst of what amounts to a national experiment in how best to…

Cook School District is a Web-based simulation designed to allow teacher candidates an opportunity to explore connections between their actions as teachers and the learning and engagement of simulated students. The simulation provides a setting in which to practice the processes inherent in teacher work sample methodology (TWSM). The outcomes of…

In light of a documented shortage of candidates for teacher education faculty positions, this article explores the academic labor market for teacher education faculty using job announcements from the Chronicle of Higher Education and a survey of search chairs to examine the qualifications sought. The authors conclude that the demand for teacher…

Many U.S. students speak nonstandard forms of English, yet dialect issues are slighted in teacher education programs and literacy courses. In this study, classroom teachers who spoke Standard American English (SE) were familiarized with seven syntactic features characterizing African American English (AAE). Three approaches to instruction based on…

Using published research studies, writings of experts in the literacy field, and anecdotes from the author's own experiences, this article examines the reading motivation and disposition of preservice teachers and suggests ways that children's literature courses positively affect both. Ideas of social modeling, constructivist course design, and…

Despite their interconnectedness, teacher education, teacher development, and teacher retention are often treated as discrete domains of inquiry. This article and the research on which it reports resist such compartmentalization and instead focus on relationships between teachers' pasts, presents, and futures. In particular, this qualitative study…