This study took place at the University of Wyoming, located in the rural mountain West. The University of Wyoming, with approximately 13,000 students, is the only four-year university in the state. The teacher education population of the College of Education is about 600, and demographically, this population is about 90% White, predominately…

Implicit theories of intelligence (i.e., individuals' beliefs about the nature of intelligence, such as whether it is fixed or changeable) are important because they are related to individuals' behaviors and their beliefs in other areas (Sternberg, 2000). Implicit theories of intelligence are especially important in educational settings because…

This article investigates how the goals of participants in a video club evolved and became more shared over time. A video club brings groups of teachers together to analyze video from one another's classrooms (Sherin, 2004). The purpose of the video club the author investigates was to bring teachers together to analyze student thinking, an…

Every year teacher preparation programs invest considerable time and energy in selecting and supporting cooperating teachers who serve as mentors for their student teachers. Given the weight and importance educators place on the student teaching experience and the powerful role it can play in shaping future teachers, it makes sense for teacher…

In this study, the researchers examined self-ratings from special and general education teacher candidates engaged in their culminating instructional activity prior to graduation: student teaching. Acquiring data at the end of the student teaching experience was targeted because student teaching is when teacher candidates apply the knowledge and…

The work and lives of teachers have always been subject to external influence as those who are nearing the end of their careers will attest, but it is arguable that what is new over the last two decades is the pace, complexity, and intensity of change as governments have responded to the shrinking world of economic competitiveness and social…

Lasting change in teacher practice is difficult because it expects that teachers challenge and reconstruct deeply embedded practices and beliefs. Less research has examined teachers' change process to better understand what professional spaces foster teachers as they construct their own transformation. This qualitative study examined the following…

To counteract disempowerment frequently experienced in education, in 2001 the authors initiated a "Problem Solution Project" (PSP) in the second year a two-year urban certification and Master's program. The PSP, designed to promote empowerment of first-year urban teachers and their students, involves both service learning. In 2004, the authors…

This article explores the ethical, methodological, and practical issues of translating critical theory and research into praxis through a case study analysis of a graduate capstone seminar that explored the familiar, and seemingly benign, concepts common to educational discourses: "Creativity, Collaboration, and Community." The author…

In the United States, there is a pressing need to bridge the divide between the higher education institutions where teachers are prepared and the school sites where they work with students. Linking the theoretical foundations of teacher education programs with practical experience in K-12 classrooms offers future teachers the fundamental…

In 2007, eleven diverse undergraduate students from Texas spent a month in Mexico on a study-abroad program sponsored by the School of Education at their university. A central goal of the program was to facilitate pre-service teachers' ability to articulate a critical understanding of the needs of second language (L2) learners in their future…

Differentiated Instruction (DI) is an approach that recognizes the strengths and weaknesses of diverse learners and requires the teacher to base instructional accommodations on student strengths and weaknesses. Specifically, teachers use DI strategies to adjust the content, process, or product of instruction depending on student needs. Given the…

Developing a culture of evidence to assess and improve teacher preparation programs is a critical issue in American education. Teacher education has been struggling with the challenge of preparing and retaining sufficient numbers of high-quality teachers who can work effectively with students from all cultural and racial backgrounds, raising the…

Teach for America (TFA), a non-profit organization designed to recruit recent college graduates to commit two years to teach in understaffed urban and rural schools across the country, has been heralded by private organizations and state agencies as a poster child for alternative pathways to teaching. However, at the same time, TFA has also been…

Despite persistent questions about the nature and purpose of social studies education in the United States, there exists general agreement that social studies should be about democratic citizenship. But much depends on how individuals view democracy, and the extent to which they think it has been, or could be, realized through education. This…