Universal teacher residency would benefit the teaching profession and ultimately the education of our children. We have yet to work out the fine details, but there is nothing more important than developing robust residency schools where young educators go between their undergraduate preparation and their arrival in the classroom as autonomous…

A vision statement and call to action from Deans for Impact--a group of deans committing themselves to a set of principles intended to elevate the performance of educator preparation programs and the status of teachers. Their objectives include: Develop a consensus around a professional knowledge base for teachers; create a tighter connection…

The past year has seen the emergence of a broad consensus on raising the standards for entering the teaching profession. The NEA, AFT, and Council of Chief State School Officers all have said they want higher entry standards. Such an exam would be modeled after other professions and is a potential game changer. If sufficiently rigorous, the exam…

In this article, the author talks about a system of special schools in Colombia which introduces students to teaching careers as early as the 8th grade. The Colombian system is based on a simple idea: Every student is a potential teacher. Principals talk about molding "ciudadano-pedagogos"--citizen-educators who view teaching as a way of…

Shows how certain aspects of notions about profession, professionalization, and professional education have proved useful in structuring the Study of the Education of Educators (SEE) research project. Highlights the preoccupation with professional status, commenting on 15 additional features shared by education and other professions. Includes 25…

Outlines results and implications from two studies of level of high school students' interest in teaching career. Small percentage of seniors were "very interested." Sex differences exist in preferences for grade levels and subject areas for teaching, and salary levels continue to be a factor in discouraging academically gifted students from…

In this first of several articles studying the education of educators and the status of teaching as a profession, the assumptions and postulates underlying this research effort are explained. Assumptions involve the relevancy of knowledge, institutions conceived as reform units, and teaching viewed as value-driven. Includes 23 references. (MLH)

Over the past century, liberal arts faculty members have attacked education by maintaining that there is no such subject and by charging that education study as defined by education faculty has unsavory consequences. Recent quotations from the Holmes Group Report and John Goodlad's work seem to perpetuate these hostile perceptions. Includes 23…

The best teachers succeed in developing student creativity while maintaining orderly classrooms, being taskmasters liked by their students, balancing expectations and frustrations, and helping students develop skills in real-life learning situations. Resolving such teaching dilemmas is like balancing round stones. Classroom life requires…

Lists 10 premises affecting the future of teaching, including trends toward teacher shortages, declining entry standards, unattractive salaries and working conditions, and standardized curricula. Presents three scenarios: business-as-usual, two-tiered (permanent senior teacher cadres instructing temporary teachers), and a professional scenario…

The drive to eliminate undergraduate teacher education programs raises problems. Discusses the hostile climate of opinion expressed about teacher education in many colleges and universities. (MD)

Presidential candidate Walter Mondale outlines his strategy for improving education. He proposes closing the skill gaps through the development of better curricula, upgrading teachers' skills, reduction of paperwork, and bolstering the teaching profession. (MD)

This North Carolina-based study argues that a reexamination is needed of the competitive position of teaching in the larger occupational structure of society and that the quality of the teaching force will not be raised merely by raising entrance or exit standards in teacher education. (JBM)

Reviews the motives behind four Iowa university presidents' decision to drop NCATE (the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education), including budgetary shortfalls, declining program quality, NCATE's "intrusion" into liberal arts domains, antipathy toward accountability, and negative attitudes toward teaching. By acting…

Without governors' support, the emerging teaching reform agenda will go nowhere. States should eschew their "deja vu" attitudes and embrace quality of education as a major determinant of state and national economic survival. The governors' action agenda includes 10 recommendations addressing teacher education and standards, work…