This Reflection on Practice is based upon a change in the undergraduate course "Family and Community Relations." Historically, this course has been taught on campus in a lecture format, as well as small and large group activities. However, during a spring semester at a midsized Midwestern University, it was altered to provide more direct…

Ensuring a quality early field experience depends upon adequate supervision and training of preservice teachers in the schools where they are placed. Structured activities emphasizing important concepts and skills can serve as the basis for a viable early field experience program. Six guidelines for implementing structured activities are…

The article outlines the process used in Oregon to initiate a Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD) in special education. Factors contributing to the CSPD success include extensive involvement of a wide array of people in the process, clear responsibility outlines, and workable size of the cooperative personnel planning council. (CL)

This paper discusses an approach which used the development principles of competency based education as guidelines for the training of social studies teachers at the University of Houston. Competencies identified for training social studies teachers will be either generic or specialized. Generic competencies reflect those teaching behaviors…

This paper describes and analyzes five conceptual orientations that have dominated the thinking of teacher educators in this century: (1) academic; (2) personal; (3) technological; (4) practical; and (5) critical/social. Loosely connected to views of teaching, learning, and/or learning to teach, these conceptual orientations represent sets of…

This paper examines the presumption that larger teacher education programs are superior to smaller ones, suggesting that many of the persistent problems of preservice teacher education are rooted in the large, bureaucratic organization so prevalent in current programming. The paper suggests that small program size makes possible the development…

Offers suggestions for improving the relationship between teacher training institutes and the schools in which they place student teachers. (FL)

The efforts of a small group of teacher educators to develop a program emphasizing reflectivity is described. Grounding program development in a conceptual framework is emphasized. Lessons learned about the program development process are shared. (IAH)

This article proposes rules of thumb about the teacher education design process. The rules are grounded in the attempts at reforming teacher education at Washington University in the early 1970s, at a time during which a year-long, field-based alternative to the traditional elementary program was operated. (IAH)

Emphasizes the need for careful deliberation about teacher learning for both inservice and preservice teachers. Argues that without consideration of on-going teacher development, reflective practice cannot be expected to exist in schools. (GLR)

Options are discussed for the reauthorization of Title V of the Higher Education Act. The speaker expressed the collegial opinions of a number of higher education organizations. Four themes constituted the framework for recommendations on reauthorization of Title V: (1) Strengthening teacher preparation programs is most effeciently accomplished by…

Using contracted services to support costs of preparing vocational personnel has become fashionable in spite of its many flaws; however, a viable alternative is to apply the principle of excess costs to the support of vocational personnel development programs. This system puts the emphasis on quality and improvement. (CT)

Current reform efforts in early childhood teacher education have recommended movement toward a child-centered learning environment that incorporates nongraded classrooms, cooperative learning, and parent and teacher control of schools. However, several barriers exist in achieving an effective, coordinated delivery system of early childhood…

The Association for Children and Adults with Learning Disabilities (ACLD) position statement focuses on the development of a Regular Education/Special Education Initiative (RE/SEI). RE/SEI is defined as a system of integrated planning, delivery, and evaluation of the effects of services to all students. The program would incorporate management of…

The following questions are addressed in this paper: (1) What should be the goals for teacher education as we move into the twenty-first century? (2) Given the present organizational framework for teacher education, how is change which is responsive to the future needs of teachers and learners possible? How can such changes be planned and…