Teacher Education for the Twenty-First Century. An Agenda for Improving Teacher Education.

Overview & Synopsis

Ideas that emerged from the "Teach America I": Teacher Preparation for the New American School conference (Washington, D.C., June 14-16, 1992) and a proposed program for teacher education are documented in this report. The conference was composed of teams of educators from 35 selected Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) institutions who met to consider reforms in teacher education that will better prepare K-12 teachers to meet the challenges of teaching in the 21st century. Twenty-first century learners are characterized, as are the kinds of schools and teachers needed to educate them. AASCU strategies for preparing teachers for the new environment focus on four components of change in teacher education: recruitment, initial professional education, lifelong development, and infrastructure. Proposed changes in recruitment include more rigorous admissions standards and adopting alternative forms of certification. The linchpin of the proposed teacher preparation program is the professional school of education which will reflect some of the characteristics of models used in the preparation of other professionals. An integral part of the professional school of education will be clinical schools. Continuing education for practicing teachers and an integrated approach to pre- and inservice education will be needed. Infrastructure changes include new higher education faculty roles, changes in faculty rewards, new funding models, and increased emphasis on collaboration. (IAH)