Reforming U.S. Teacher Education in the 1990s.

Overview & Synopsis

In the spirit of educational reform efforts, public schools have national goals for the first time and are under pressure to adopt a national curriculum, national testing, and parental choice of schools. School reform depends on upgrading teacher education. Only a more carefully recruited, better prepared, and more professionally rewarded teaching force can transmit to students the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed for 21st century world leadership. Within this context, a framework is provided for examining: challenges facing teacher education reform; why teacher education is controversial; several routes into teaching; the Holmes Group contrasted with the Carnegie Forum's National Board for Professional Teaching Standards; John I. Goodlad's teacher education reform proposals; a comparison of the Holmes Group's Professional Development Schools and Goodlad's Centers of Pedagogy; pros and cons of the accreditation process of the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE); alternative teacher education programs (Teach for America and ex-military personnel); why teachers leave the profession; the extent of teacher education reform; and the future of teacher education reform. (Contains 25 endnotes.) (LL)