Universities and Teacher Education Centers in Florida.

Overview & Synopsis

This report focuses on the role of universities in teacher education centers in the state of Florida as well as on some of the issues and impacts related to that role. Research makes it clear that universities, almost entirely through colleges of education, have contributed substantially to the improvement of inservice education. Several factors have combined, however, to limit both that contribution and the potential role of colleges of education in Florida's teacher education centers. These factors include: (1) the focus on inservice education; (2) the weakness in collaborative relationships; (3) the lack of Teacher Education Center (TEC) program development in the universities; (4) policy instability; (5) shortage of resources; (6) the larger university system; and (7) the tenuous development of university organization for TEC activity. The institutionalization of TEC roles would help consolidate TEC goals as part of the university mission and lessen anxieties about the role of universities in teacher education centers. (DS)