Identifying Consensus in Teacher Education Reform Documents: A Proposed Framework and Action Implications

The Preservice Admissions Process: What Qualities Do Future Teachers Need and How Can They Be Identified in Applicants?

“…Darling-Hammond (1997) concludes that student teachers "need to understand subject matter thoroughly enough to organize it so students can create useful cognitive maps of the terrain they are studying" (p. 294). Valli and Rennert-Ariev (2000), in a review of major reform proposals on teacher education (e.g., Holmes Group, Center for Educational Renewal, Teacher Education Initiative, Carnegie Forum, National Commission on Excellence in Teacher Education, Project 30 Alliance, NCATE), found that the two features receiving the strongest consensus among all groups were "strong disciplinary preparation" and "multicultural competence in [the candidates'] subjects" (p. 6). Wilson, and colleagues (2002) note that "several studies showed a positive connection between teachers' subject matter preparation and both higher student achievement and higher ratings on teacher performance evaluations" (p. 191).…”

Critical Features of Special Education Teacher Preparation

“…Although the recommendations from these reports vary, each is focused on the importance of the quality of the teaching force and on the quality of the preparation of teachers. Valli and Rennert-Ariev (2000) reviewed nine of these proposals to look for areas of agreement and disagreement related to recommendations for teacher education reform. The strongest consensus was on the importance of content preparation in the discipline and multicultural emphasis.…”

A New Pathway for the Preparation of Highly Qualified Teachers: The Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT)

“…Our planning group had envisioned a program framed around three key components: (a) addressing teacher shortages in hard-to-staff disciplines such as mathematics and science; (b) recruiting and preparing talented secondary school teachers with strong content preparation; and (c) providing a yearlong internship in a public school classroom. Moreover, we tried to model other aspects of exemplary alternative teacher certification programs including rigorous screening, mentoring, and high performance standards for completion (Feistritzer & Chester, 2000) as well as increased disciplinary knowledge (Valli & Rennert-Ariev, 2000), a factor reform efforts agree is important.…”