Spark NH is New Hampshire's governor-appointed Early Childhood Advisory Council (hereafter called "Council"), a private-public partnership that works to create a comprehensive, coordinated system of programs and supports for young children and their families. Workforce development is an essential Council strategy for improving early…

Recent reports call for a structural transformation of teacher preparation programs with increased attention to quality field-based learning experiences for pre-service teachers. Ideally, this occurs in the context of robust university-school partnerships. The challenges lie in identifying such school sites and building meaningful, reciprocal…

For a quarter century, Kansas State University's College of Education has supported a Professional Development School (PDS) model involving professional collaboration with selected public school systems across Kansas. In that time, this relationship has proved to be an instrumental vehicle for educational change. The state of Kansas' adoption and…

Considering how long societies have been educating their youth, the history of teacher education is relatively brief. From the first teacher education innovation in the 17th century through those of the late 20th century--de la Salle, the American normal school, the flood of student teachers into public schools after World War II, the student…

The Academy for Educational Development (AED) sent a research team to Western Kentucky University (WKU) on June 19-20, 2008 to conduct interviews with individuals who play important roles in the university's teacher preparation program (see Appendix A). These interviews, along with additional documentation provided by WKU and identified by the AED…

Teacher preparation, historically, has involved learning experiences offered by personnel in four distinct settings--faculty in Colleges of Letters and Science, faculty in Colleges of Education, practicing teachers in clinical-based sites, and personnel in local school districts. The disparate nature of these settings often complicates the…

The Academy for Educational Development (AED) sent a research team to the University of Dayton (UD) on November 5-7, 2008, to conduct interviews with individuals who played significant roles in the university's teacher preparation program (see Appendix A). These interviews, along with additional materials provided by UD and identified by the AED…

In this article we describe the MentorBlog project, which facilitated the mentoring of trainee teachers in the postcompulsory education sector through the use of blogs. In an experimental design, the study compared their experiences with students who received traditional mentoring. Blogs were used by the trainees to communicate with their mentors…

The Teacher Assisting Program in NUSTEP has three major purposes: (a) blending theory and practice so that a prospective teacher can become acquainted with and instructed in a variety of important principles of learning and teaching and at the same time experience those same principles in learning/teaching situations; (b) providing prospective…

Reasons for and methods of establishing early field experience prior to the student teaching experience are discussed. Specific programs are described and predictions for future developments in early field experience are given. (JMF)

Preparing college supervisors/cooperating teachers to support teacher candidates' performance using standards is a challenge for teacher preparation programs. This paper will describe a professional development program collaboratively developed by representatives of the state department of education, institutions of higher education, and K-12…

The Academy for Educational Development (AED) sent a research team to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) on October 23-24, 2008, to conduct interviews with individuals who play important roles in the university's teacher preparation program. These interviews, along with additional documentation provided by UNCG and identified by…

Describes a student-teaching program for which responsibility is shared between the school district or day-care center and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. (SS)

The Academy for Educational Development (AED) sent a research team to Jackson State University (JSU) on October 13-14, 2008 to conduct interviews with individuals who play important roles in the university's teacher preparation program (see Appendix A). These interviews, along with additional documentation provided by JSU and identified by the AED…

This article describes collaborative efforts to frame university teacher preparation program activities within transfer of learning and transformative learning theories to promote teacher leadership. Specifically, we describe (a) a community sponsored, public school, campus-based experience during an introductory teacher preparation course; (b) a…