A Lethal Threat to U.S. Teacher Education

Overview & Synopsis

Dramatic changes are being made to teacher education internationally and in the United States. Some of the alterations have been recognized as threatening university-based teacher preparation, for instance, the growth of alternate route programs. Many other phenomena that have an impact on teacher education have not been analyzed as such, including for-profit corporations' development of professional development services linked to raising students' standardized test scores and the entry of private, for-profit institutions into the market for higher education. The challenge to teacher education's commitment to social justice has been debated, but its relationship to the other alterations being made to public education has not been explored. Moreover, the common origins of these phenomena and their synergistic impact have been inadequately studied, as have the implications of this synergy for university-based teacher education in the near future. (Contains 4 notes.)