"Tell me your story" is a phrase popularly being promoted in the business setting during recent years. The power of storytelling can be utilized in student teacher reflection as a strategy for making connections between theory and practice in authentic classroom environments and enabling preservice teachers to actively develop plans for growth. A…

As the population of the United States becomes more diverse, both challenges and opportunities are created for the educational system. The gap that currently exists between a predominantly White, middle class, female teaching workforce and an increasingly heterogeneous population of students is one of the key factors that shapes these challenges.…

Given the need for high quality teachers in every classroom, it is important to understand what might contribute to the preparation and persistence of teachers. Two lines of literature in teacher education relate to such an understanding. One line of literature follows the circumstances of how people decide to become teachers. The other line…

In the last decade, educational reform efforts have focussed primarily on "technical fixes--changes in structures and practices" such as mandated curriculum and standardized tests. The imposition of these accountability measures has led to the deprofessionalization of teachers as mediators between the curriculum and the students in the classrooms.…

A teacher's sense of self-efficacy has been consistently recognized as an important attribute of effective teaching and has been positively correlated to teacher and student outcomes. A number of studies show the impact of teachers with high levels of efficacy. Students of these teachers have outperformed students who had teachers with lower…

The report of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Panel on Research and Teacher Education recommended that teacher educators need to systematically and empirically study their own practice. The premise of the report was that teacher educators need to carry out quality research in order to better inform those inside and outside the…

This article reports the results of a case study about elementary school teachers' induction experiences. Four teachers began the three-year study, but only two remained in the profession after their second year. This development was consistent with estimates that 40-50% of novices leave the profession within five years. Bandura's (1977) construct…

Teaching must be recognized "as a socially constructed activity that requires the interpretation and negotiation of meanings embedded within the context of the classroom." As part and parcel of this interpretation and negotiation, there is a continual redefinition of teacher identity. "Teaching and teacher identity are socially constructed through…

In this age of heightened accountability, academia is increasingly being asked to link assessment to candidate performance outcomes in multiple ways. Research demonstrates the importance of aligning assessment with content standards but cautions that it is critical that assessments match the content, cover a wide range of knowledge, are…

The increasing importance of technology in today's world challenges teacher educators to create technology-proficient teachers, practitioners who can utilize existing technology, learn to work with emerging technology and adapt as needed when confronted with technological issues. Acknowledging the need for technologically proficient teachers,…

Training and investing teachers at all career levels in student-centered practices is widely recognized as a significant challenge. Various studies document the failure of student-centered teaching practices to take hold in K-12 mathematics classrooms in significant ways, including collaborative work; problems that are cognitively demanding or…

"Alternative teacher certification program" (ATCP) is widely used as a term for a variety of programs designed to train and credential teachers in expedited fashion. In practice, however, ATCPs consist of a loose confederation of programs and practices ranging from "emergency certification to very sophisticated and well-designed programs that…

Paraprofessionals represent a growing segment of district employees seeking professional licensure. National preparation programs through the American Federation of Teachers, national testing programs, and state initiated portfolio programs offer a variety of options for meeting the stipulations set under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation…

This article operates under the assumption that social studies teachers must teach for democracy, as democracy is not something that occurs or maintains without citizens who have the capacities and demeanors for democratic renewal and growth. In an effort to argue for a democratic ethos towards schooling in general, and for social studies teachers…

The polarized political mood engendered by the most sharply partisan Presidential election campaigns in recent memory has had an especially deleterious effect on the image of public education. This increased scrutiny has largely fallen on the shoulders of rank and file teachers who now face the most precarious moment in terms of job security since…