Highlighted in this paper are several hidden costs entailed by mandating that all teachers be prepared through 5 or 6 years of teacher education, with the professional part of that preparation occurring at the graduate level. Four areas where mandating extended preparation may lead to hidden costs are identified: (1) encouraging a focus on…

The integrated, undergraduate/graduate 5-year teacher education program at the University of New Hampshire continues to show increasing enrollments, while attracting academically superior students who, for the most part, are entering classroom teaching. The program features a full year internship in the fifth year, a semester of classroom…

Some recent education reform proposals call for two essential and interrelated structural changes: changes in the organization of teaching, and a change from undergraduate to graduate degree status for initial teacher preparation. This paper examines these arguments for professionalizing teaching, and raises doubts that the goals set forth in the…

A mandate to reform the teacher education program on the Columbia Campus of the University of South Carolina was enacted in December, 1982. The mandate was contained in a motion to eliminate the baccalaureate degrees in education, the traditional route to teacher certification then offered. This action did not eliminate teacher education at the…

Articles on improving preservice teacher education, with particular considerations on proposed five-year programs, are featured in this theme issue. In "Fifth Year Teacher Preparation: A Solution in Search Of a Problem," Alan R. Tom weighs the pros and cons of extending teacher preparation for a fifth year, noting the fact that…

The teacher education program at Doane College (Nebraska) was substantially overhauled to provide additional support for beginning teachers. Program changes include raising admission and graduate requirements, offering graduate courses and supervision for new teachers, and cooperative activities with the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. (PP)

In the first part of this presentation, a critique is made of teacher education in general, pointing out the fact that schools of education are resigned to accepting academically weak students and have a limited definition of good teaching. A narrow view of the teacher's role is also cited, as well as teacher educators' resistance to change. The…

Part of a series of position papers prepared by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), this pamphlet considers the need for extended teacher education programs. Seven alternative models of extended teacher preparation programs are described: (1) four-plus-one (B.A.); (2) four-plus-one (internship); (3) five-year (B.A.…