Accreditation agencies and organizations calling for higher academic standards in the teaching profession have called for increasing minimum grade point averages and scores on standardized tests. However, it's not clear that these requirements actually improve teaching. Lisa Borden-King, Warren Gamas, Kathy Hintz, and Chelsie Hultz researched…

This author explains why he believes that teacher education is under attack. The same forces that are seeking to dismantle teachers' unions and de-professionalize teaching have their sights set on university-based teacher education programs. After all, logic decrees that if teachers are to blame for educational inequality--as corporate education…

As states across the country continue their implementation of the Teacher Performance Assessment Portfolio (edTPA), a complex and high-stakes certification requirement for teacher certification, there are important lessons for educators and education advocates to learn from New York State's implementation. As Linda Darling-Hammond, developer and…

In this article, we discuss how an interdisciplinary faculty team at a midsized public university created supports for the Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA), a high-stakes performance assessment for preservice candidates being adopted by many states. We provide a general description of our work in contending with the challenge of developing a…

This paper focuses on the assessment of student teachers during practicum. The study is contextualised in an Australian pre-service teacher education program in which practicum has been reconceptualised to help bridge the theory-practice gap commonly associated with "front-end loading" programs. Survey and interview data collected from…

With teacher shortages in both general and critical needs areas and constricting operating budgets, it is important for Colleges of Education to develop methods of providing alternative certification programs to reach larger segments of the population. One method of increasing the scope of potential preservice teachers is through the development…

This article explores innovations in assessment of student teaching practice employed in the University of Cincinnati, USA, online associate's degree in early childhood education, the Early Childhood Learning Community. The program's components are identified with a specific focus on assessment of teaching practicum. The use of a range of…