The relationship between practice-based teacher education (PBTE) and teacher education oriented toward social justice (SJTE) has been debated by teacher educators and researchers for some time, and still today the contention persists. Many teacher educators have a goal of supporting preservice teachers (PSTs) enact instructional practices that are…

In the classroom and beyond, teachers are viewed as exemplars of ethical behavior, clearly and confidently discerning between right and wrong. Despite the availability of resources for ethics instruction, ethical uncertainty and public scrutiny continue to confuse and distress classroom teachers, novice and veteran alike, about their role in…

Place-Based education (PBE) is gaining rapid recognition across the United States. The authors of this article contend that there is an imperative need to re-structure and re-conceptualize teacher education such that it allows for a significant shift in thinking and practice around learning, teaching, and community. They advocate that the PBE…

This article describes the author's personal involvement in the California Council for the Education of Teachers (Cal Council), beginning in 1960 and spanning four decades, which involved associations with key people in California teacher education and credentialing. The Cal Council was organized for leaders in teacher education from the…

In this article, the authors describe how one group of California teacher educators has responded to the call for high school dropout rates with new thinking and action in regard to making teacher preparation a key strategy for reducing the dropout rates, raising student academic achievement, and eliminating the pervasive inequities in learning…

Learning to teach is a complex intellectual and adaptive performance act. Student engagement is the cornerstone of effective instruction. Current education reform policies, such as Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010) and Teacher Effectiveness…

In the context of rapidly changing classroom environments, it is crucial that teachers be able to make appropriate decisions. Those teachers who reflect on their practice, particularly while they are teaching (what Schon terms reflection-in-action), are best able to do so. It is the intent of this article to investigate the role of teacher…

This case study is an examination of one pre-service teacher's experience in a reading methods course, entitled Reading Models and Methods, and corresponding urban reading practicum. Jennifer (a pseudonym) participated in a program aimed to address varying dilemmas that persist in the field, including: pre-service teachers' discomfort with…

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…

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.…

As prior secondary teachers, the authors had served as cooperating teachers for student teachers and had worked with university supervisors from local colleges and universities, and during their graduate work at different universities, they had supervised the student teachers themselves. Consequently, the authors, as well as most participants in…

In response to a critical need in teacher preparation, study abroad programs aimed at developing multicultural competencies in pre-service teachers have proliferated across the United States. Multicultural competencies constitute the ability to challenge misconceptions that lead to discrimination based on cultural difference, reflect on one's…

In this article, the author explores how collaborative teacher research can reposition teachers to be powerful stakeholders and policymakers rather than skilled technicians and implementers. She begins with a brief review of the historical antecedents to collaborative teacher research in order to detail how teachers and their allies have fought…

The incorporation of the arts into any classroom can be a valuable way to go beyond traditional, linguistic-based instruction and to create multiple connections across academic disciplines. Artistic endeavors are critical for students to express learning and understandings of literacy. In that regard, it is essential that pre-service teachers…