Despite assessment-based accountability movements throughout educational systems in the United States, teacher assessment literacy continues to be an identified area of concern. Contributing to this concern is a dearth of research on preservice assessment education including both its curricular and pedagogical approaches. The purpose of this study…

Over the past several decades a growing amount of research has considered the role, challenges, and complexities of teaching reflective inquiry to preservice teachers. Generally accepted as a valuable component of a teacher education program, there are persistent levels of ambiguity regarding how reflective inquiry can be intentionally fostered…

This article presents reflections and guidance concerning assessment literacy in teacher education. Previous inadequacies in teacher training in educational assessment highlight the need for teachers to be assessment literate. Assessment literacy consists of an individual's understanding of the fundamental assessment concepts and procedures deemed…

How can teacher educators provide relevant and important content in an educational environment that is rapidly evolving? TED.com is a website that provides content that meets these criteria in its mission of promoting "ideas that are worth spreading." Rather than ignoring the incredible access to the world's most innovative and dynamic speakers,…

Preparation of new teachers to work effectively in inclusion settings has not kept pace with demands created by recent reforms. General-education candidates typically receive limited exposure to inclusion strategies at the preservice level, and often their only meaningful preparation comes in the practicum setting. The purpose of this article was…

This article describes one teacher preparation program's approach to designing and implementing a mentoring program to support clinically-based teacher education. The design for the program is based on an interview study that compared the mentoring experiences of 18 teachers across three different contexts: student teaching, early field…

Researchers have advocated building a knowledge base for teacher education based on practitioner knowledge. In this article, the authors, two teacher educators, present knowledge gained from their systematic study of two lessons to help prospective teachers learn to study teaching. They offer a detailed look at the lessons' successes and…

The goal is to provide highly qualified teachers to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse pool of students. The question is how to do that. Although there have been a number of variations in the path to a career in teaching, only a few paths typically exist at any point in time. The traditional route finds high school graduates attending four…

Personally, the authors have seen the evolution of teacher education for over 30 years. From "diagnostic/prescriptive teaching" through "reflective practice," the quality of the programs and students has improved greatly. Turning that subjective appraisal into a quantifiable evaluation is a tricky enterprise in education. However, the demand for…

Successfully implementing the practice of inclusion by differentiating instruction depends on both the skills and attitudes of general education teachers. New general education teachers who are entering the field are particularly vulnerable to the demands and stress of the profession, and teacher education programs must prepare preservice teachers…

In this self-study, the author focuses on ways of embracing and managing a central dilemma of student teaching supervision: balancing assistance with assessment. Drawing on his practice as a field supervisor, the author chronicles conversations with student teachers over a 2-year period in the context of two distinct teacher education programs.…

Despite issues of fragmentation, isolation, and disconnection from the university associated with the student teaching field experience, the field experience plays a critical role in teacher education. In this article, the authors provide an overview of eSupervision, a technology-based innovation to improve the student teaching field experience by…

Constructivism is a popular concept in contemporary teacher education programs. However, a genuine concern arises with the concept's application because many teachers and teacher educators claim that knowledge is constructed, without appreciating the epistemological and pedagogical implications such a claim entails. This article employs Phillips'…

The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES, 2010) continues to report substantial underachievement of diverse student populations in the nation's schools. After decades of focus on diversity and multicultural education, with integrating field and clinical practice, candidates continue to graduate without adequate knowledge, skills and…

In an era of dissatisfaction with the nation's prekindergarten through grade 12 schools and criticism of teacher education programs, professional development school (PDS) partnerships have emerged as one solution. Using quantitative and qualitative data obtained during the first two years of an urban PDS network that includes a large, private…