Reconceptualizing Teacher Quality to Inform Preservice and Inservice Professional Development

Abstract

In the previous issue, Marilyn Cochran-Smith and Ana Maria Villegas provided Part One of two JTE articles based on their chapter in the upcoming fifth edition of the Handbook of Research on Teaching (Cochran-Smith et al., in press). Their handbook chapter presents the findings from the review of 1,500 teacher education research studies published between 2000 and 2012. Part One of the two articles described the procedures and theoretical framework used in the literature review, outlined three major trends that have influenced research in teacher education, and presented the findings for the first of three major research programs in teacher education identified through the search (Cochran-Smith & Villegas, 2014). Part included in this issue, Critiquing Teacher Preparation Research: An Overview of the Field, Part Two, by Cochran-Smith et al., presents the findings from portions of the remaining two programs of research: research on teacher preparation for the knowledge society and research on teacher preparation for diversity and equity. Studies outlined in the second research program examined the influence of school-based fieldwork opportunities in teacher preparation on student teacher and explored the traditional student teaching combination of university supervisor, mentor teacher, and student teacher, as well as alternatives to this triad. A number of studies also investigated how teacher candidate characteristics and factors related to school and fieldwork features shape teacher and experiences during the practicum/student teaching. Findings revealed the very different, often conflicting views of teaching and that universities espouse in contrast to teaching and implemented in schools and/or mandated by education policies. Studies in the third program of research referenced the changing demographics in public schools and examined the opportunities for to teach diverse student populations provided to preservice teachers in individual courses and fieldwork. In particular, research examined the influence of teacher preparation on altering teacher beliefs about diverse students and developing effective practices for teaching them. However, the studies about teacher preparation practice stopped short of informing effective practice for student because they simply ignored school students' learning, assuming that the goal of teacher preparation is teacher learning (p. 117). The two review articles by Cochran-Smith and colleagues provide a number of implications and directions for research and practice in teacher education. In particular, the findings of the review coupled with findings from other articles in this and previous issues of JTE suggest a reconceptualization of teacher quality that has the potential to influence our characterization of quality inservice and preservice teacher professional development. The following sections provide a brief overview of (a) the characterization of teacher quality from a policy research perspective that has dominated the past two decades and influenced the schism between university and school views of effective teaching and noted by Cochran-Smith et al. and (b) a set of considerations derived from articles in this and previous JTE issues that can be incorporated into new views of teacher quality to inform new views of teacher preservice and inservice professional development. From Teacher Quality to Teaching Quality Three areas have traditionally been considered in relation to teacher quality or effectiveness (Kennedy, 2008): cognitive resources that include knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and dispositions; performance in the classroom; and effect on students. Although these three categories provide a framework for viewing and assessing different facets of quality, their operationalization has often been problematic. Federal initiatives such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race to the Top (RttP) have driven the operationalization of these aspects of teacher quality over the past 10 years, influenced the research agenda related to teacher quality, and driven school-based determination of teacher effectiveness. …