In light of the issue related to consensus about the definition of dispositions and the larger issue pertaining to the absence of a model to predict the growth of pre-service teachers in their knowledge, skills, and dispositions that Teacher Performance Expectations (TPEs) specify, the purpose of this study is two-fold. First, the authors aim at…

Founded in 1997, the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) designed a system that balances three sources of evidence in a single accreditation system: (1) that the program's graduates are qualified, competent, and caring beginning teachers; (2) that the program faculty investigates the factors that improve program quality; and (3) that…

This paper focuses on what constitutes ethical-based practices in assessment and student evaluation. Pre-service teachers in education foundations classes responded to a survey in which they marked whether they perceived that the actions of an educator in evaluation scenario were ethical or unethical. Respondents had high agreement on the…

The Census 2000 Brief (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2004b) indicates that English is not the heritage language of approximately one in five Americans, and the number of limited English proficient (LEP) students, also known as English language learners (ELLs), grew about 50 percent in the last decade. It is estimated that nearly 400,000 ELL…

The call for reform of teacher preparation programs by Arne Duncan (2009), U.S. Secretary of Education, has the potential to be the catalyst for a re-emergence of co-teaching in higher education. Duncan argues for the need to implement innovative preservice teacher education strategies that will result in an increase in K-12 student achievement.…

Most school-university partnerships have consisted of pre-service teacher education partnerships, by which colleges of teacher education team up with schools to train future teachers. Proponents of these partnerships claim that they have the ability to transform education through networks of teachers and faculty who are passionate about…

Public education has worked to address the needs of all students with disabilities, although it has been a gradual process. The most pivotal change in public education for students with disabilities in general education classrooms dates to the implementation of the federal law, Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, which is now known…

In 2005, a group of faculty who work in the field of teacher education and are invested in social justice formed a group to examine how teacher preparation programs address (or often do not address) LGBTQ lives and issues. Concern about the invisibility of LGBTQ people, movements in education, and a commitment to changing the current state of…

Given the challenges of time and economics in education today, what are practical models for creating adult learning communities that improve teaching and learning in today's diverse classrooms? How do Americans foster and nurture adult learning communities once they are established? The authors have found that carefully crafted partnerships…

Historically, preservice teacher education programs have not adequately prepared teachers in parent involvement or family-centered practices. Because teachers do not routinely encourage family involvement, and parents do not always participate when they are encouraged to do so, the importance of preservice training to involve family members in…

PL 94-142 fundamentally changed the lives of children with disabilities, families, and professionals. The policy opened school doors for all children, regardless of the type or degree of their disability. This article examines the policy in its historical context with a framework grounded in social sciences. The historical analysis is helpful in…

Parent participation has been one of the key principles of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) since it was first authorized in 1975 as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) and has continued through the most recent reauthorization in 2004. Parents of children with disabilities have decision making…

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP) effectively prepares new teachers to meet the needs of language minority students in California. Specifically, the authors studied the extent to which the program prepares students to meet the criteria of the Crosscultural Language and…

In the past, evaluation of teacher performance often focused on generic behaviors related to common instructional strategies (Medley, Coker, & Soar, 1984). More recently, educational researchers and test developers have focused more on teachers' subject matter knowledge as tested through tools like the Praxis and California's Single Subject…

Reformed preparation of science teachers is indeed vital for the vision of science teaching reform to be accomplished. Typically, a critical component of a preservice science teacher preparation program is the science teaching methods course. The usual intent of this course is to help preservice science students develop an understanding of various…