Inclusive education (IE) is widely adopted in Canadian educational systems. However, few Canadian universities require students in undergraduate teacher preparation programs to complete coursework on the topic of IE, and the few courses on this topic do not adequately prepare future teachers to work in inclusive classrooms with students with…

What relevance does John Dewey have for students and teachers of the 21st century? Can his educational philosophy be reconciled with "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) and its emphasis on accountability and high-stakes testing? In this article, the authors discuss Dewey's ideas about the child and the curriculum; delineate how teacher…

Teacher education as a field of study has steadily grown since the press for an identifiable knowledge base first appeared in the 1970s. Almost simultaneously, calls for teacher education reform abounded and have, for more than 40 years, existed alongside the development of research in teacher education. However, these longstanding teacher…

This article reports on a curricular approach to teacher education using the ideas in "Learning without Limits" to prepare teachers to enter a profession in which they take responsibility for the learning and achievement of all learners. Key aspects of Scotland's Inclusive Practice Project (IPP) are described and the role of…

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 "National Physical Activity Plan", as well as professional and government agencies (NASPE, 2008a; US Department of Health and Human Services, 2000) acknowledge pre-kindergarten (pre-K) children should be part of comprehensive school physical activity initiatives anchored in quality physical education programming. These…

The assumption behind movements to get alternatively certified teachers quickly into classrooms as full-time teachers is that high-performing college graduates with content knowledge can become good teachers through a summer of training and full-time, evening, teacher training courses. But when the authors asked new, precertified teachers who were…

Data-driven decision making has become increasingly important in education. Policymakers require educators to use data to inform practice. Although the policy emphasis is growing, what has not increased is attention to building human capacity around data use. Educators need to gain data literacy skills to inform practice. Although some…

This paper describes an urban teacher residency program, the Newark Montclair Urban Teacher Residency, a collaborative endeavor between the Newark, New Jersey Public Schools and Montclair State University, built on a decades-long partnership. The authors see the conceptual work of developing this program as creating a "third space" in…

Too often, early elementary teachers enter the classroom unprepared for the particular challenges of teaching children in grades 3 and under. Many were trained in programs that focused on older elementary grades, even though their license qualifies them to teach children as young as kindergarten. Teachers who obtained their certification through a…

In this article six mathematics teacher educators describe a collaborative self-study that examined personal beliefs about mathematics teacher education. We were striving to understand more fully our beliefs and belief structures, including how these beliefs influence our instructional practices. We describe four beliefs about mathematics teacher…

In this wide-ranging interview with Educational Leadership, Stanford University Professor of Education Linda Darling-Hammond discusses the kind of preparation and support new teachers need to survive their critical first years in the classroom. Among her central recommendations are more intensive mentoring that lasts through the first year of…

This report provides information on the preparation provided to teacher candidates from teacher training programs so that they can fully use assessment data to improve classroom instruction. It follows a similar shorter report the authors released in March 2012. In this newest report, the authors have significantly expanded their initial sampling…

This essay argues the importance of teacher preparation programs establishing holistic programs that have a solid intellectual, philosophic foundation that goes beyond a set of prescribed outcomes. In holistic programs, understanding "why" becomes as important as knowing "how." Teacher education students have a right to expect to go beyond…

Teacher preparation programs play an essential role in this nation's elementary and secondary education system, which relies on them to recruit, select, and prepare approximately 200,000 future teachers every year. Strong programs recruit, select, and prepare teachers who have or learn the skills and knowledge they need to be hired into teaching…