Taking Stock in 2014

Abstract

In preparation for JTE's Major Forum at the 2014 AACTE Annual Meeting, Taking Charge of Change, the editorial team engaged in a series of discussions about their perceptions of change in the teacher education knowledge base over the past 10-15 years. We noted that the intended goal of several major reports published during this time period was to impact the nature and quality of education research in general and teacher education research in particular. In 2002, Wilson, Floden, & Ferrini-Mundy provided the Office of Educational Research and Improvement and the U.S. Department of Education with a status report using a set of research criteria devised for the purpose of summarizing what we knew at that time about preparation of teachers, quality field experiences, alternative routes, and the effects of policies on teacher education (See Wilson, Floden, & Ferrini-Mundy, 2002). The National Research Council also published a report edited by Shavelson and Towne that same year on what constitutes rigorous scientific methods for conducting education research (National Research Council, 2002). The American Education Research Association followed three years later with a comprehensive volume of reviews of specific aspects of teacher education and an evaluation of the research findings and methods related to these topics (Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2005). Taking stock of our progress in teacher education research since these critical reports, the presenters at the JTE-sponsored AACTE Major Forum (three of whom had also been authors of the reports) noted that many of the research questions have changed in the past 10-15 years. For example, we have shifted to a focus on the features of teacher education programs, rather than their designation as either alternative or traditional, representing a more complex view of teacher preparation. The presenters also concluded that we have made progress in a number of areas of teacher education study, including measurement of teacher knowledge and skills, studies of program effects, data systems, and reporting of research and the decision rules associated with the published research studies (Knight, Floden, Wilson, & Zeichner, 2014). The articles in this issue provide evidence both for and against their conclusions. Highlights of the Current Issue The lead article by Robert Bullough, Toward Reconstructing the Narrative of Teacher Education: A Rhetorical Analysis of Preparing Teachers, argues against the kind of progress advocated in recent reports of the status of teacher education research. While the progress noted by AACTE Major Forum presenters may appear to be reason for celebration, Bullough presents a very different view. He takes issue with a characterization of teacher education research 'progress' as occurring through a tightly aligned system of accountability with large scale randomized control studies of program effects and assessment of teacher training in practices and skills. In fact, he suggests that the tightly aligned system and focus on large-scale studies may not be appropriate for such a complex system as teacher education and maintains that better knowledge does not resolve differences in values, opinions, or beliefs. Through the deconstruction and subsequent reconstruction of the narrative of yet another, more recent, report--the 2010 National Research Council report Preparing Teachers: Building Evidence for Sound Policy--Bullough reaches the conclusion that the rhetoric advocating this type of 'progress' is an example of 'scientism'--with the goal of quantifying performance and outcomes in order to rate and rank teachers, teacher education programs, and institutions. From this viewpoint, we should resist the recommendations of reports that lead to a simplistic view of teacher education. The other articles that comprise this issue represent the complexity that characterizes teacher education and the diversity that characterizes the JTE readership. …