Practice-based teacher education has increasingly been adopted as an alternative to more traditional, conceptually-focused pedagogies, yet the field lacks causal evidence regarding the relative efficacy of these approaches. To address this issue, we randomly assigned 185 college students to one of three experimental conditions reflective of common…

This book combines theory and research from educational and organizational psychology to provide guidance on improving the teacher selection process and, subsequently, educational outcomes for all students. The book identifies the characteristics of effective teachers, analyzes research on selection practices, and examines new approaches to…

Every teacher seeks to be an "effective" teacher. Every teacher wants to have a positive, remarkable, and lasting influence on students' lives. But what makes for an effective teacher? What role does teacher preparation play in teacher effectiveness? What do effective teachers do during planning, instruction, and assessment? How do they…

The issue of diversity in U.S. K-12 schools requires significant training and experiences for preservice teachers to recognize the importance of students' socio-cultural, religious values, and the influence their cultural background have in their quest to succeed in their educational endeavors. This study provides significant information to…

The globalization of society and the dynamic role of education in it have given impetus to the development of this document. The globalization of society and economy are manifested in increasing mobility, introducing multicultural and multilingual diversity within national borders and consequently within the student and teacher population. Today's…

Professional development--formal in-service training to upgrade the content knowledge and pedagogical skills of teachers--is widely viewed as an important means of improving teaching and learning. While many interventions "include" professional development, professional development was the central intervention of the two recent research and…

In this report, the Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ), in collaboration with National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) from North Carolina, offer a set of TeacherSolutions on how to improve practices and policies for teaching and learning in 21st century schools. This cadre of classroom experts offer their best thinking on some of today's most…

This book should be read by anyone concerned about the future of education in the United States. It was written for students, parents, educators, administrators, and policy makers because it will require effort from all these individuals to create meaningful change in the education system. This book discusses why the education system needs to…

Forces which have influenced the shifting of moral foundations and their potential influence on the field of education are explained in this paper. Two categories of systems--soft and hard--are reviewed. A system 'hardens' when the emphasis on the application of a technique becomes more important than serving the purposes for which the technique…

This book is an action plan for improving education in the U.S, focusing on the key role of teachers in this improvement. It offers a detailed comparison of the educational methods of Germany, Japan, and the United States. The analysis begins with an international study of mathematics teaching in the three countries that was conducted as part of…

This publication explores the future of schooling and the role of teacher leaders. Several questions are examined: (1) why teachers must take primary responsibility for creating a new context for teaching and learning; (2) how "constructivist leaders" create meaning out of learning; (3) how the roles of leadership with adults and with…

The History Academy for Ohio Teachers provided 40 Ohio teachers with an intense 4-week summer immersion in world and U.S. history and in historical theory and methods that was followed by a year-long follow up program on teaching units. Working together with college based historians, a new model was developed to help educators improve the teaching…

This book provides an overview of the challenges involved in improving teacher education for faculty members, department chairs, administrators, and policymakers. The book includes the concrete experiences of 12 English and foreign language faculty members at different universities who studied their teacher preparation programs. It also offers an…

Accuracy in the scoring of writing is critical if standardized tasks are to be used in a national assessment scheme. Three approaches to establishing accuracy (i.e., consensus, consistency, and measurement) exist and commonly large-scale assessment programs of primary school writing demonstrate adjacent agreement consensus rates of between 80% and…

Part I of this brief document outlines seven opportunities provided for Pittsburgh secondary teachers by the Schenley High School Teacher Center. These opportunities include observing exemplary instructional activities in a real setting, practicing new skills and techniques, receiving feedback on that practice, and translating theory into…