This article describes the first phase of a longitudinal study that examines the impact of teacher preparation programs on the literacy instructional practices of teacher candidates. Case summaries and cross-case analysis by 12 researchers of 10 teacher preparation universities across the United States determined (1) the signature aspects of…

Teacher candidates benefit from dynamic clinical practices embedded in teacher preparation programs. In this article, we discuss Clinical Urban Plunge (CUP), a clinically-based approach to integrating social justice and equity education in our Middle Level Teaching and Learning Program at Northern Illinois University. More specifically, we explain…

The literature on preparing teachers for urban schools provides a rationale for helping candidates understand the particular cultures of students. However, research has not sufficiently "unpacked" features of the setting that programs can address; nor has it discussed how programs tailor teaching approaches to their specific contexts.…

This research was conducted as a qualitative study of African American college students' racialized and academic experiences while completing the teacher preparation program at their respective universities. This study was carried out at three predominantly White institutions (PWIs) of varying sizes in rural, urban, and suburban cities in the…

Faculty (N = 156) at regional public universities (RPUs) in the United States were surveyed for self-reports of their primary academic identity (teacher, researcher) along with alignment of that identity with perceived departmental expectations and how their time is spent. Well-being and job satisfaction were examined as outcome measures of…

Project Midstate Student Support for Teaching (MSS) (http://www.uis.edu/projectmss/) is an initiative at University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) designed to increase the number of first generation and diverse teacher candidates in area school districts. Students accepted into MSS receive full tuition waivers, a $200 book stipend per semester, and…

In this project, co-investigators explored how college and university curriculum centers are addressing challenges with K-12 electronic textbooks (particularly acquisition, cataloging, and access) and implementing technology-focused services for pre-service teachers. The results of this research have provided guidance for planning the future of…

To assess the relationship between the training/preparation of physical education teachers and their perceived instructional confidence levels across major topic areas established by the Illinois State Board of Education as critical content areas. In total, 283 individuals participated and were included in the data analysis. The participants…

School, parent and community partnerships have become an educational priority at both the state and federal levels. If teacher education programs are to meet the goals of the Illinois Professional Standards, the objectives of the federal Goals 2000, and the accreditation standards of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education…

A pre- and postcourse survey was used to collect quantitative data on university students' perceptions and experiences of one hybrid course within a middle level education program. In addition, the survey contained questions addressing the possible impact the hybrid course had on students' perceptions of feeling prepared for urban education and…

In 2001, National Louis University and the Academy for Urban School Leadership partnered to create the country's first Urban Teacher Residency (UTR) program. Ten years later, with the assistance of Teacher Quality Partnership funding, the program quadrupled in size. As the UTR expanded, an increasing theory-practice gap became apparent, reflecting…

COVID-19 shuttered schools across the United States, upending traditional approaches to education. We examine teachers' experiences during emergency remote teaching in the spring of 2020 using responses to a working conditions survey from a sample of 7,841 teachers across 206 schools and 9 states. Teachers reported a range of challenges related to…

In the recent decades, the United States has attracted the highest numbers of international students to obtain an education with the majority of students sojourning from China, India, and South Korea (Valenzuela, Palacios, & Intindola, 2015). It is important that the particular needs of this population are understood and met by the…

The purpose of this study was to examine music education majors' perceptions of lesson planning in the university curricula. Specifically, the author was interested in which classes the respondents were taught to construct and use lesson plans, their perceptions about the importance of lesson planning, and how prepared they felt to use lesson…

This paper reports the results of a pilot project conducted Spring 2021 in which Milner Library licensed seventy-five assigned texts to fifty-two courses at Illinois State University. The authors used the pilot as a springboard to explore faculty perspectives on textbook selection, textbook affordability, and the role of the academic library in…