In order to humanize and connect future educators across programs, this case study explains how a Northern California four-year university created a weekly professional development speaker series, Teachers, Eduleaders, Advocates, and Scholars (TEAS). TEAS aims to connect future educators to current practitioners to better meet the needs of PK-12…

This paper details a critical ethnography I conducted in my own classroom--an undergraduate children's literature course for pre-service elementary educators--in which I analyze white students' emotional responses to multicultural children's literature through the lens of a cultural politics of emotion (Ahmed, 2015; Zembylas, 2008). In my paper I…

This study investigated the effects of using teacher candidate-created observation protocols based on current research on classroom practices to connect research to practice. The study examined the extent to which mentor teachers modeled current research-based practices as measured by the protocols and explored the frequency with which the…

Accrediting organizations and regulations have compelled teacher preparation programs to establish partnerships with PK-12 schools to produce quality educators by utilizing effective teaching approaches such as co-teaching. The study examined co-teaching survey completed in the middle of student teaching. Data was collected from cooperating…

The focus of this research is to examine the impact of an instructional instrument to improve the quality of pre-service teachers' lesson plans. The HEAT instrument focuses on four components essential to high-quality lesson plans: "H"igher-Order Thinking, "E"ngaged Learning, "A"uthentic Learning, and…

A teacher preparation institution critically reviewed current programs and began moving toward a clinically based model. One focuses on Middle Grades/Secondary Math and Science, another focuses on Secondary English Language Arts, and a pilot project focuses on Elementary with a minor in either English/Language Arts or STEM (science, technology,…

With national and state regulatory changes related to clinical practice within teacher education programs a reality, one university examined the outcomes of co-teaching model trainings required for stakeholders, both higher education faculty and P-12 educators. The training participants indicated the co-teaching model could increase student…

Colleagues at a midwestern university implemented a multi-semester co-teaching pilot for student teaching, and based on the data collected, are moving toward full implementation in the spring of 2015 for all pre-service teachers in the College of Education (COE). Part of the study replicated work conducted by St. Cloud University (Bacharach &…

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the process used to examine the inter-rater reliability of the Teacher Work Sample (TWS) Scoring Rubric involved with the senior culminating experience for teacher candidates used at a large comprehensive university. The study compared holistic and analytic scores reported by Student Teacher…

With the implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS), K-12 teachers, counselors, and administrators will be held accountable for meeting the explicitly defined standards of college and career readiness for every high school graduate. An equivalent and reciprocal challenge is also placed upon universities to prepare future education…

The phrase "Are we there yet?" is used by travelers, often children who pose the question to gauge the distance and time remaining in a trip. How far have we traveled? How much longer will it be until we arrive at our destination? This article describes curriculum redesign for our early childhood and elementary education programs at…