With the need to prepare teacher candidates to work with an increasingly diverse student body in U.S. schools, a multi-institutional collaborative self-study group was formed to examine ways in which teacher educators could expand beyond practice-based literacy preparation to support candidates' understanding and implementation of critical…

Increasing awareness about screening and instructional interventions for students with dyslexia is a necessary component of P-12 teacher preparation. Disparities in reading achievement for students with disabilities, including those with dyslexia, is evidenced in lower literacy testing scores as well as lower high school graduation rates for those…

This study generated from our interest in learning about social justice events in the lives of teacher candidates in our programs of study. In many schools of education, including our own, social justice is a concept that is integrated into the curriculums, yet there is wide variation as to how this is actually done. A unique aspect of this study…

This study examines the self-reported critical experiences that undergraduate pre-service teachers (PSTs) choose to share when writing a letter directly to "Math" and creating a self-portrait of a math learning experience. The letters sought to initiate a personification of math and the self-portraits to further explore math learning…

This paper outlines instructional strategies and course projects that demonstrate multiple means of engagement, representation, action, and expression, the essential principles of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The authors first share specific practices and examples related to each of the essential principles of UDL. Next, three projects…

Measurement of pre-service teacher dispositions is an important part of teacher preparation programs. A strong correlation exists between dispositions of teachers and the quality of their students' learning. Teachers, in addition to sharing content knowledge, are responsible for demonstrating and sharing core values relating to virtues such as…

This study explored the lived experiences of eight pre-service teachers, specifically their understandings of teaching Common Core-aligned English language arts (ELA) and their feelings about becoming teachers of literacy amid the current era of accountability. Phenomenological methods were used to interview participants and analyze data for…

This study explores faculty perspectives of social justice in teacher education within one New York institution with a social justice focus. Grounded in the institution's self-study process for accreditation, the researchers were a part of a team that collected data from structured interviews, including a card sort, of 42 full time teacher…

For the continuing development of quality instructional practices, educators must have access to the findings of research and be in a position to explore applications of those findings. We think we may have found such a resource: A 2016 book titled "The ABCs of How We Learn: 26 Scientifically proven approaches, how they work, and when to use…

This study investigated the roles and responsibilities of University-Based Administrators (UBAs) in relation to their oversight of Professional Development Schools (PDSs). UBAs refer to college administrators such as department chairs, program coordinators, directors, assistant deans, associate deans, and deans. The participants were 36 UBAs…

Teacher preparation programs are facing an alarming drop in enrollments around the country. Our university, The State University of New York at Albany, has not been exempted from decreased enrollments. Low enrollments have led us to initiate direct attempts to recruit quality applicants to our master's programs. As part of our overall recruiting…