Critical teacher shortages in the U.S. drove the development of the Teacher Residency model to improve recruitment, preparation, and retention of highly qualified educators within public schools. Faculty and staff involved in the Teacher Quality Partnership project, a U.S. Department of Education funded teacher preparation program at the…

Many preservice teachers find parental involvement theories, strategies and concepts they learn in university classrooms too abstract to help address parental involvement issues they encounter in schools. Case study method is one of the many approaches that have been used in teacher education programs to connect theory and practice. This study…

In this article, the authors explain the need for clinically rich middle school STEM teacher preparation. They describe how one university and school district with an established partnership collaborated to meet this need. The result was the formation of a residency program that aims to prepare high quality middle school STEM teachers who can fill…

The University of South Florida has designed and initiated a two-year teacher residency program that intends to meld classroom preservice teacher instruction with work in classrooms with children from low-income and urban backgrounds. The Urban Teacher Residency Partnership Program is a joint effort between the University of South Florida and…

All educational stakeholders benefit when families and school staff have trusting partnerships as they work together to achieve mutual goals. Eleven focus groups were conducted with parents of children with and without disabilities in six schools, which had been selected as knowledge development sites by the Schoolwide Integrated Framework for…

This article reports the research findings of teacher educator inquiry using qualitative methods examining how incorporating the topic of culture into the field seminar component of a newly developed urban school-university partnership influenced preservice teachers' abilities to become critically conscious. After analyzing preservice teacher…

The PDS Partnership between the University of Central Florida and Friendship Elementary School, a Title 1 school in Volusia County, focused on the National Association for Professional Development Schools' (PDS) "Essentials" in order to establish a shared vision of success for pre-service teachers. Key leaders from both the school and…

Identifying a Signature Pedagogy that ensures high-quality teacher preparation is essential to the field of teacher education, as inconsistencies across programs throughout our country threaten our profession. Drawing on a comprehensive study of the professions, Lee Shulman (2005) provides a lens from which to identify Signature Pedagogy and the…

The 2009 Professional Development Schools National Conference recognized the North Florida Urban Professional Development School Partnership for its outstanding work in an urban education context and so named it one of the three recipients of the first-ever National Association for Professional Development Schools Award for Exemplary Professional…

Preservice teachers enrolled in the first portion of an undergraduate education program at the Florida State University were assigned to develop case studies based on their experience working in local elementary schools. The case studies were to include research from the scholarly literature of the field using a rubric developed by the instructor…

The Sun Coast Area Teacher Training Program is an honors program at the University of South Florida which complements the teacher education program. It maintains partnerships with local school districts, organizations, and educational agencies as well as the legislature, business community, and the University of South Florida Medical School. (MT)

Describes the requirements of the new Florida legislation concerning teacher certification. The legislation shifts the focus of recertification from colleges to local districts while removing state funding incentives for teachers to earn advanced degrees. (Author/IRT)

This article profiles Judy Bowers, a teacher-educator and part of the choral music education program at Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee. Bowers also directs one of FSU's oldest ensembles, the one-hundred-voice Women's Glee Club, which she helped expand from twenty-two members. Bowers' Adopt-a-Choir, Study-Buddy, and Partnership…

Describes the inception and progress of a university-public school collaboration in which preservice teachers, working toward endorsement in teaching English to speakers of other languages, volunteer to teach English as a second language students, providing academic support, homework help, language practice, and comprehensive explanations for…

The Chancellor and the Board of Regents of the State University System (SUS) of Florida initiated a comprehensive review of Florida's colleges of education and related programs during 1984-85. The following concerns were addressed: (1) strengths and effectiveness of teacher education programs in the SUS; (2) the impact of teacher certification…