The study-abroad internship option for students is one example of a transformational learning opportunity (TLO) that is becoming increasingly popular in programs offered by colleges and universities in the United States (Alfaro, 2008; Cushner & Mahon, 2002). These TLOs often have the potential to broaden, enrich, or augment student learning and…

Research indicates that historical and social backgrounds influence individuals' motivation to teach and their commitment to teaching (Gordon, 2000; Su, Hawkins, Huang & Zhao, 2001). This article reports on a comparative study exploring the motivation to teach and the commitment to teaching among non-local prospective student teachers from…

Like most teacher educators, the authors are aware that prospective teachers enter programs with many experiences in schools, and social studies classrooms in particular, that influence their beliefs about schooling, what it means to teach, their subject, and students. These experiences and beliefs inform how they then experience their program…

In 2006, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) made a controversial decision to remove the term "social justice" from its list of desirable teacher dispositions. Arthur Wise, NCATE president at the time, conceded that the term was "susceptible to a variety of definitions" (Johnson & Johnson, 2007) and argued that key…

In an earlier study, the author and her colleague explored the extent to which supervisors' perspectives about candidates' performance corresponded with outcomes from a summative performance assessment (Sandholtz & Shea, 2012). They specifically examined the relationship between university supervisors' predictions and candidates' performance on…

The promise of university-public school partnerships as contexts for mutually beneficial learning, or "simultaneous renewal," has been well established (Goodlad, 1994, 1999). However, difficulties in creating and sustaining these kinds of collaborative contexts for teacher education are also well known, including practical challenges such as time…

To date, research on admission processes has largely focused on either selection trends or on determining the predictive and concurrent validity of admission indicators. Unfortunately, comparatively little research has examined the subjective processes used in the selection of personal dispositions related to inclusivity and the impact of these…

Adults learn differently than children or adolescents (Brookfield, 1986; Dewey, 1938; Kegan, 1994; Kolb, 1984; Mezirow, 2000). A thorough understanding of how adults learn is imperative to the successful education of adults. It is only by understanding the unique ways in which adults learn that the academy can create environments where adults…

This article reports results of research on whether there are clinical and statistically significant differences in the effectiveness of three pathways to teacher preparation on a single campus, Yosemite State, a member of the California State University (CSU) System as rated by graduates and employment supervisors. The independent variable is the…

In teacher preparation programs across the United States, early field experiences are considered to be an effective method of providing teacher candidates with opportunities to observe and interact with children (National Council for Accreditation for Teacher Education (NCATE, 2010). These practicum arrangements assist candidates in developing…

With teacher turnover costing the U.S. as much as $7 billion per year (National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, 2007), and the continuing demand for qualified teachers, it is imperative for schools to increase retention rates among their faculty (Ingersoll & Smith, 2003). Retention efforts are especially important among novice…

In the spring of 2005, the author began collecting data for a three-year study investigating the effectiveness of preservice preparation as measured by the transfer of pedagogical practices from preservice settings into novice inservice settings. She was interested in whether or not what was being taught, modeled, and/or espoused in a given…

Teacher motivation long has been a topic of interest to researchers (Ames & Ames, 1984; Sylvia & Hutchison, 1985). It is widely recognized that the motivations residing behind teachers' actions profoundly shape the nature and quality of those actions and their effects on young people. Surprisingly, while often recognized especially by teachers as…

There is a growing recognition in teacher education that in order to work toward a more equitable and just society, programs of teacher education must explicitly engage with the political commitments of teachers and teacher educators (Cochran-Smith, 2005). They must prepare prospective teachers to address "societal structures that perpetuate…

"Critical social dialogue" (CSD) is the process of problem posing, facilitating personal stories through silence and multimodal assignments, and positioning them for students to re-examine and re-evaluate their understanding of systems of social difference, the beginnings of a multicultural and social justice intellectual frame for pre-service…