There is an ongoing debate in the area of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) about what should constitute the knowledge base of language teachers. This article offers an analysis of the major opposing views in the debate and suggests an alternative critical approach to language teacher knowledge. While recognising various…

Teacher trainers/educators (the two terms will be used interchangeably) at the pre-service level are important agents and influential raw models for their trainee teachers. They can contribute positively to the student teacher's socialization process via the progressive training modes they adopt, the informed decisions they make, the critical…

In determining whether graduates of the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Program at Southern Oregon University were developing the necessary knowledge, skills, and dispositions to teach, faculty members found themselves examining their own practice. This is just what Goodlad (1988) suggested we do: clarify our own beliefs in order to better…

The purpose of this study is to strengthen teachers' knowledge of multicultural literature for use with high school students in a highly diverse, high needs urban school district through a university-schools partnership. A core English group of 15-20 members of a university-schools partnership met in monthly department-based and periodic…

Purpose: Policymakers and administrators are increasingly focusing on professional development as a means to improve teaching quality. In this study, the authors examine whether professional development in mathematics is primarily performing an educative function by addressing weak teacher preparation, or a catalytic function by serving mainly…

A job analysis was conducted to define the knowledge domain of general principles of teaching and learning necessary for newly licensed (certified) teachers, regardless of grade level or subject, to perform in a competent manner. The results of the study are being used to develop test specifications for The Praxis Series: Professional Assessments…

This paper discusses underlying beliefs about teaching that are related to the assessment of prospective teachers and elucidates some basic beliefs that are guiding the development of new types of assessments for new teachers. These new assessments are called "The Praxis Series: Professional Assessments for Beginning Teachers(TM)."…

In this paper a conceptual framework is presented which describes the various dimensions and factors that constitute the processes of a beginning teacher's professional development during preservice and the induction period. The frame in question is based on data resulting from earlier research and on a broad study of recent literature. The model…

This collection sheds light on current research on teacher thinking in cultural contexts and identifies promising practices in teacher education that take the most salient contextual variables into account. Teacher cognition as influenced by race, ethnicity, and culture is explored in: (1) "Teacher Thinking in Urban Schools: The Need for a…

This paper traces the origins of professional development schools (PDSs), describes their characteristics, examines a network of PDSs, considers the place of PDSs in developing the teaching profession, addresses problems and concerns associated with developing and sustaining PDSs, and draws implications for teacher preparation and the teaching…

This paper looks at issues subsumed by the phrase "learning to teach" that have implications for the design and conduct of teacher education. The first section lays out a temporal perspective by examining the times and places of learning to teach. The second section brings together disparate strands of research on the learners of…

In describing the Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Major at Muskingum College (Ohio), this paper presents a model for small liberal arts colleges to consider in providing training for future early childhood professionals. This interdisciplinary early childhood major draws from departments typically found in many small liberal arts colleges,…

The degree to which performance assessments developed for the classroom demonstrated the principles of quality assessment was explored. Performance assessments were studied in the schools of St. Charles Parish (Louisiana), a district that is implementing outcome based education (OBE). The sample consisted of 92 performance assessments submitted by…

This paper reports on returned surveys of 31 (74 percent) faculty members at the Louisiana Tech University College of Education. The survey was designed to provide data related to the faculty's use and integration of technology into teacher education classes. Subjects were asked to respond to three question sets on their intended use of technology…

This publication presents a process for developing a teaching perspective that embraces the centrality of culture in school learning. The six-part process presented in the book involves objectifying culture, personalizing culture, inquiring about students' cultures and communities, applying knowledge about culture to teaching, formulating theory…