Toward Clinically Rich English and Literacy Teacher Preparation: A Tale of Two Programs

Abstract

Teacher education in the United States has been widely criticized for its uneven and often poorly supported approach to preparing novices for clinical practice. In 2010, the Blue Ribbon Panel on Clinical Preparation and Partnerships for Improved Student Learning (commissioned by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education) released a report titled “Transforming Teacher Education Through Clinical Practice: A National Strategy to Prepare Effective Teachers.” The report called for teacher education to “be turned upside down,” a dramatic shift from traditional approaches to preparing teachers to “programs that are fully grounded in clinical practice and interwoven with academic content and professional courses” (p. ii). Many preparation programs in the United States are engaged in efforts to become more clinically rich in their approach to teacher preparation. This chapter will examine the call for more clinically rich approaches to English language arts teacher education, and will highlight how such a shift is integral to more socially just teacher preparation programs. Particular features of two clinically rich English language arts teacher preparation programs, one in California the other in New York, will be described and research focusing on the programs will be highlighted in an effort to share lessons learned.