A common belief among teacher educators is that different academic backgrounds may influence student entry level and rates of matriculation through the curriculum. This report describes a study using a "pretest/posttest" method to evaluate student academic progression, and to determine variance in scores between two groups of graduate students…

A course inventory and a graduate student survey showed that while higher education has addressed violence and abuse issues in professional programs, efforts have not always kept up with changes in society. The inventory of postsecondary courses reported 925 courses dealing with issues of violence and abuse along with other aspects of professional…

Preservice teachers must see appropriate instruction in action; they must see content in conjunction with process. Content, process, and active student involvement are necessary for the creation of new cognitive structures that are congruent with the view that reading is an interactive-constructive process. Three types of literacy course…

This paper presents data from an ongoing project in several teacher education classes that required students to use reflective analyses in evaluating the implications of knowledge and selecting practices for use in their own future classrooms. The methodology looked at changing one aspect of the learning process--the quality of the responses…

This digest presents recommendations for a staff development program for a multilingual multicultural teaching staff that has been tested and shown to be effective. Effective instruction in bilingual and multicultural schools requires that teachers combine a sophisticated knowledge of subject matter with a wide repertoire of teaching strategies…

In the future, as societies become more technologically demanding and families find less time for socializing their young, the power of the early childhood educator (ECE) will grow. The role must be professionalized. First and foremost, child development knowledge must be the foundation of ECE expertise. Within the curriculum, the building of…

This study explored the dimensions of an initial teacher preparation program that revealed problems and ideals of preservice practices by focusing on the impressions and experiences of student teachers and those who work with them. Data were collected at four sites in the southern United States, a university and three elementary schools. Data…

From 1965 until the late 1980s, the education faculty in Alberta offered the same diverse set of programs to its students without substantial change in either form or content. By 1990, there were 13 B. Ed. programs with 9 majors and 10 minor programs at both the elementary and secondary levels, post graduate diplomas in 32 fields, plus M.Ed.,…

This report investigated the extent to which students in public secondary schools are taught by teachers without basic qualifications in their assigned teaching fields--i.e., at least a college minor in the fields they teach--focusing on core academic subjects (mathematics, English, social studies, science). Analysis of the study data revealed…

Chapters in this book, based on the efforts of the Urban Education National Network Task Force, define the nature of obstacles to the academic performance of urban students and identify, validate, and disseminate a knowledge base of theory and practice to inform decision making about urban schools. The chapters are: (1) "The Nature of the…

Most teacher educators agree that their students need to learn general pedagogical knowledge, the pedagogical knowledge specific to their content area, and general classroom management. Beginning teachers and student teacher supervisors were asked their perceptions of the importance of various educational competencies and the university's…

In the last 2 decades, federally-funded research has contributed much to the understanding of teaching and learning and the critical nature of teachers' subject-matter knowledge and ability to translate academic content into effective learning activities for students of different developmental levels and backgrounds. Research findings have…

This final report describes the federally-funded Transition Challenge-North Carolina Project (TRAC-NC), a project that prepared 45 newly qualified individuals to serve students with low-incidence disabilities over the last four years. The project provides: (1) add-on certification and/or master's degree training to persons preparing to teach…

This monograph describes the Curriculum Inquiry Cycle (CIC), a professional development process that supports educators in making curriculum and instruction decisions responsive to state standards, local needs, and student characteristics. It is designed to improve learning and teaching, with the classroom as the central focus. The CIC has four…

Working with in service science/mathematics teachers at the Aga Khan University Institute of Educational Development, Karachi, Pakistan we find that even though the teachers take aboard innovative ideas, they find it challenging to implement the newly acquired ideas primarily because of their inadequate subject matter knowledge. In this paper we…