Teacher Education Reform in the United States: Thrusts, Assumptions, and Implications.

Overview & Synopsis

This paper presents four major teacher education reform thrusts in the United States, touching on several important characteristics of the U.S. context for teacher education: the locus of control for education; both private and public control over teacher education; the loss of faith in education; disagreement over whether teacher education needs more or less regulation; and the absence of a master plan for the reform of U.S. teacher education. The four major reform thrusts are standards and accountability, alternative teacher certification, the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education, and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The paper concludes with a set of 11 assertions that grew out of an analysis of the four reform thrusts. Also presented are 12 questions which may help teacher educators address the policy issues that have grown out of the U.S. experience in teacher education reform. (Contains 33 references.) (SM)