The Politics of Teacher Education Reform

This audacious goal is taken right from the opening pages of the report of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF)What Matters Most: Teaching for America's Future. The NCTAF findings are so powerful and unique that The Politics of Teacher Association (PTA) uses them as the basis for this 2000 Y=yearbook.

Editors Gallagher and Bailey, along with leading educators, explore the controversies and ramifications of the Commission's major recommendations:

• Get serious about standardsfor both students and teachers
• Reinvent teacher preparation and professional development
• Overhaul teacher recruitment and put qualified teachers in every classroom
• Encourage and reward teaching knowledge and skill
• Create schools that are organized for student and teacher success

The contributors to this book speak to the underlying assumptions, research bases, and values found in the recommendations. Long-time and persistent issues about teaching, teacher education programs, and public policy making are examined under the new light of the latest research. Real-life successes of the recommendations in action are shown in two state-level stories and an urban school partnership.

This PEA 2000 yearbook will prove a valuable resource for students, researchers, and all educators interested in teacher education reform in the 21st century.