Teacher Education: A Community College Perspective.

Overview & Synopsis

This document iscusses teacher education reform and how it has led to many changes in the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) approval process for colleges of education. The curricula of teacher education programs have since gone through changes in efforts to adapt to statewide initiatives. The paper outlines findings from research to develop the most appropriate curriculum for the teacher education program at Jefferson College, a Community College in Missouri. It also describes how the curriculum was developed by: (1) reviewing literature regarding teacher preparation, learning theories, and community colleges; (2) analyzing the relevant documents such as the Missouri Standards for Teacher Education Programs (MoSTEP), the Statewide Teacher Education Articulation Project (STEAP) guidelines, and the Credit Transfer: Guidelines for Student Transfer and Articulation Among Missouri Colleges and Universities; (3) the findings from the literature review and the document analyses were synthesized to produce the framework for an effective teacher education program; (4) areas of consonance and dissonance were noted between the developed program and the former program; and (5) a new program was designed for Jefferson College based on all of these findings. Contains the MoSTEP standards, the STEAP guidelines, the Credit Transfer: Guidelines for Student Transfer and Articulation Among Missouri Colleges and Universities, an outline of the data gathered, 17 tables, and 82 references. (JS)