A challenge for teacher educators is providing preservice teachers with the opportunity to develop the confidence and efficacy required to address their future students' sociocultural, academic, and social-emotional needs in this era of standardization, accountability, and limited resources. This case study investigated this issue by examining how…

This paper describes the development, implementation, and follow up study of a program for undergraduate research in education, student teachers as action researchers (STAR). Students in a new urban education honors program at a large public university were given coursework in action research, developed a research plan in their practicums,…

This article describes the process undertaken by a teacher education sub-committee charged with identifying and defining dispositions, as well as development of an assessment instrument to be used by 30 different preservice educator preparation programs at a large Mid-Western university. Through a search of related literature, a content-analysis…

Despite assessment-based accountability movements throughout educational systems in the United States, teacher assessment literacy continues to be an identified area of concern. Contributing to this concern is a dearth of research on preservice assessment education including both its curricular and pedagogical approaches. The purpose of this study…

The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES, 2010) continues to report substantial underachievement of diverse student populations in the nation's schools. After decades of focus on diversity and multicultural education, with integrating field and clinical practice, candidates continue to graduate without adequate knowledge, skills and…

In this article the authors describe a collaboratively designed secondary teacher education program focused on the preparation of preservice general education teachers to work effectively with children who have diverse learning needs in inclusive classrooms. The focus of the article is on the collaborative development and initial evaluation of the…

This article describes a paid field experience designed to investigate teacher candidates' willingness to teach in urban schools. Seventy-three teacher candidates each participated in an urban field experience including 90 hours of tutoring and 12 hours of training. Data from pre and post surveys indicated no significant difference as the number…

Two tests are provided for those considering a teaching career: (1) a one-question, multiple-choice examination in which the respondent is informed of the status of public school education, and (2) an eight-question test that measures the effectiveness of teacher education programs that aspiring teachers may attend. (CJ)

Problems concerning the accreditation of teacher education programs include: (1) the differences in requirements at various institutions; (2) evaluating program substance instead of form; (3) determining actual qualifications of graduates; (4) the purpose of accreditation; and (5) the effectiveness of the evaluation. Various solutions are…

This article notes that there are more issues and problems than positive programmatic trends; it looks at eight major challenges that U.S. schools of education must overcome if they are to become professional schools, analyzing where teacher education currently is vis-a-vis the challenges. (SM)