Carnegie Task Force Research Articles

Relationship of Self-Efficacy and Technological, Pedagogical, Content Area Knowledge (TPACK) of National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs)

Elementary through twelve grade (K-12) teacher knowledge has changed significantly over the past 100 years. The pendulum has swung from focusing mainly on content-area knowledge to mainly on pedagogical strategies (Shulman, 1987). This dichotomy between these two distinct knowledge constructs influenced Shulman’s (1986) research on pedagogical content-area knowledge (PCK). Shulman’s PCK framework describes the intersection of both pedagogy and content area knowledge as a unique knowledge to the teaching profession. At the same time PCK was established, the Carnegie Forum on Education and Economy recommended creating a National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) to demonstrate Shulman’s PCK framework. Furthermore, these new standards embraced Mezirow’s (1991) transformative learning theory. They predicted that the 21st-century teacher would “not come to the school knowing all they have to know but knowing how to figure out what they need to know” (Carnegie Task Force, 1986, p. 25). Consequently, it was determined that what the 21st-century teacher needed to know was technology integration (Gentry et al., 2014; Ismaeel & Al Mulhim, 2022).

Changing Times Require a Changing Middle Grades Research Agenda

Research Vincent A. Anfara, Jr. As I reflected upon theme this issue, Level Education in Changing Times, I reviewed many of topics that have been covered in What Research Says column. This column first appeared in Middle School Journal in May 1979. The list of topics includes, among others, teacher behavior; classroom management; parent involvement; advisory programs; single-sex education; courageous, collaborative leadership; core curriculum; lesson studies; grade configuration; and professional learning communities. As we focus on changing times, we likewise need to look at changing landscape of educational research as relates to middle schools and young adolescents. As part of this examination of middle grades research and its changing nature, history of National Middle School Association's efforts to promote middle grades research and to facilitate generation of knowledge needed to inform practice and policy are reviewed. This history will start in 1997 with publication of A 21st Century Research Agenda: Issues, Topics 8c Questions Guiding Inquiry into Middle Level Theory 8c Practice (National Middle School Association, 1997), travel through publications Research and Resources in Support of This We Believe (Anfara, et al., 2003) and R^sup 3^: Research, Rhetoric, and Reality: A Study of Studies (Hough, 2003), and conclude with an in-depth look at a current publication edited by Mertens, Anfara, and Roney (2009). A brief history of development of a middle grades research agenda In 1997, Blue Ribbon Research Agenda Task Force and Research Committee of National Middle School Association published A 21st Century Research Agenda: Issues, Topics & (Questions Guiding Inquiry into Middle Level Theory & Practice. The recommendations research contained in A 21st Century Research Agenda (NMSA, 1997) centered on 12 characteristics of developmentally responsive middle level schools, which were, at that point in time, delineated in 1995 edition of NMSA's This We Believe. It is essential to recognize that these same characteristics were identified by Association Supervision and Curriculum Development (1975) in its publication of The Middle School We Need, by National Association of Secondary School Principals (1985) with publication of An Agenda Excellence at Middle Level, and by Carnegie Task Force on Education of Young Adolescents' Turning Points: Preparing American Youth 21st Century (Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, 1989) as essential to creating exemplary middle schools. The authors of A 21st Century Research Agenda (NMSA, 1997) noted that research yet been fully addressed (p. 3) and that for some time there has been a need substantive discussion among interested parties regarding vigorous and continued research that is based on a thorough and thoughtful research agenda middle level (p. 3). By stating that research yet been fully addressed, authors acknowledged that research foundation middle school movement was relatively new, since history of middle schools dates back only to 1960s. In years since inception of middle schools, middle level researchers and practitioners have been busy seeking answers to questions regarding effects of programs, policies, and pedagogical changes in middle schools across nation. The authors of A 21st Century Research Agenda (NMSA, 1997) commented that the most common questions relative to middle level education are unlike most common questions now being posed of all reform initiatives: Does work, and how do you know? (p. 5). They were careful to note that it is not a single construct but a complex set of interwoven, interconnected variables (p. 5), which we commonly refer to as middle school concept. …

Improving the Life Chances of Children in Poverty: Assumptions and What We Have Learned

©1998 Society for Research in Child Development. All rights reserved. In spite of more than three decades of antipoverty programs, the number of children living in poverty has increased in recent years (Carnegie Task Force, 1994; National Center for Children in Poverty, 1996). Reasons for this include an increase in the number of single-parent families, a declining labor market for low-skilled workers, and reduced welfare benefits to poor families (Duncan, 1991). For children and families, the correlates of living in poverty are many. Mothers in poverty may suffer a variety of psychological consequences, including low self-esteem, depression, lack of hope for the future, lack of sense of personal empowerment, low aspirations, and social isolation. They may have health problems such as untreated chronic illness, anemia stemming from poor nutrition, and are increased risk of substance abuse. The combination of unfinished education, absence of parental role models, and social supports often leaves them with inadequate life management skills; they may have difficulty making decisions, be unable to manage limited budgets, and have little understanding of what it takes to be a good parent. Facing difficulties, both practical and motivational, in completing their education or acquiring job skills, they may remain dependent on welfare and unable to achieve even limited economic self-sufficiency (McLoyd, Jayaratne, Ceballo, & Borquez, 1994). Poverty places severe strains on family relationships, including conflict with a spouse, spousal abuse, and marital dissolution. Frequently, if the child’s father lacks job prospects, marriage is deferred or not entered into. The family faces constrained resources in terms of income, housing, food, and transportation, as well as inadequate or totally absent social supports. Dangerous neighborhoods place additional stress on the family, and poor schools fail to offer needed support (Huston, McLoyd, & Garcia Coll, 1994). The economic, social, physical, or psychological stresses associated with poverty affect parent-child relationships. Parents who them-

Teaching in Dangerous Times: Culturally Relevant Approaches to Teacher Assessment

New teacher assessment tools claim to provide more evaluation of teacher competency. However, some aspects of these new assessment tools may actually serve to reinscribe a narrow set of teaching practices that fail to serve all well-particularly of color and living in poverty. This article looks at some of the debate surrounding teacher assessment and raises questions about what is missing in so-called authentic assessments of teachers. INTRODUCTION In the popular book, Dangerous Minds (initially released as My Posse Don't Do Homework in 1992) former-Marine-turned-teacher LouAnne Johnson is credited with turning around the class from hell-a group of urban African American and Latino students on the road to failure in school and in life. This book (and subsequent motion picture) was just one more of what Strop (1996) identifies as among the teacher-as-savior genre of filmsmovies that construct an image of teachers, particularly White teachers, as rescuing urban students of color from themselves, families, and communities (Baker, 1996). Closer examination of these celluloid pedagogies reveals characters who, with missionary-like zeal, struggle to give otherwise hopeless students hope, raise these students' abysmally low levels of self-esteem, and steer them away from the path of wanton self-destruction. Unfortunately, most of the teachers in this film genre pay little or no attention to the academic achievement of students. Thus, while many audiences applaud the Hollywood teacher-images' amazing social work, interpersonal, and cross-cultural communication skills, few real-life educators and/or educational researchers would point to any of these histrionic teachers as exemplary classroom instructors. Nonetheless, what the actors teaching on the silver screen do with students Delpit 1995) dubs other people's children is seen as just fine-as long as no one in the real world tries to do the same things with the whom most of the nation's educators view as their own. Given the changing demographics of the student body in the United States and the bifurcation of public school student populations into groups of haves and have-nots, it is important to understand that, rather than confronting dangerous minds, teachers of urban students of color are teaching in dangerous times. One of the most urgent issues facing this perilous era and the cadre of teachers who serve in it is that of being able to more accurately measure what students know and are able to do. Much attention has been paid to new forms of student assessment that purportedly do just that (Newmann & Associates, 1996). However, communities of color, which historically have raised questions about the potential biases built into traditional test measures, have challenged the purpose and design of many of the new assessments (The College Board, 1985; Educational Testing Service, 1991). The scrutiny of student assessment has been accompanied by a focus in the educational community at large on teacher assessment (Darling-Hammond, 1988; Wise, DarlingHammond, & Berry, 1987). Within three years after the publication of the U.S. Commission on Excellence in Education's (1983) A Nation at Risk report, two national studies focusing on the need to improve the nation's teaching force emerged: the Holmes Group's (1986) Teachers for Tomorrow's Schools and the Carnegie Task Force on Teaching as a Profession's (1986) A Nation Prepared: Teachers for the 21st Century. Among the suggestions offered by these bodies in the mid-1980s were: (a) higher standards for admission into the teaching profession, (b) elimination of the undergraduate degree in education, and (c) improved assessment measures for both preservice and inservice teachers. This era also saw the creation of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) and the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC). …

Poverty History, Marital History, and Quality of Children's Home Environments

Analyses of the consequences of poverty often treat poor children as a single, homogeneous group. We study relations among depth or timing of poverty, mother's marital history, and quality of the home environment for children aged 6-9, using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. HOME scores increased markedly with income up to three times the poverty line, particularly for cognitive stimulation. The benefits of having a married mother were larger among children who were not poor than among poor children, particularly for emotional support. Recent poverty was associated with deficits nearly as largely as long-term poverty. However, poverty early in life had no effect on HOME scores at assessment. Key Words: children, cognitive development, family structure, home environment, poverty. Many studies have documented the health and developmental disadvantages experienced by poor children in the United States (Carnegie Task Force, 1994; Duncan & Brooks-Gunn, 1997; Klerman, 1991; Sherman, 1994). For example, developmental outcomes such as children's aptitude test scores (Baker & Mott, 1992; Korenman, Miller, & Sjaastad, 1995; Luster & Dubow, 1992; Smith, Brooks-Gunn, & Klebanov, 1997), elementary school performance (e.g., Bradley & Caldwell, 1984; Bradley, Caldwell, & Rock, 1988), and socioemotional development (Baker & Mott, 1992) are all notably lower among poor children than among children who are not poor. Aspects of the child's home environment, such as parenting practices and the availability of learning resources, are highly correlated with both poverty status (Baker & Mott, 1992; Garrett, Ng'andu, & Ferron, 1994) and developmental outcomes (Korenman et al., 1995; Miller, 1996; Smith et al., 1997). Hence the quality of the child's home environment may act as an important mediating factor between poverty and measures of child wellbeing. In addition, there are large differences in the extent of poverty according to mother's marital history (Hogan & Lichter, 1995; McLanahan & Casper, 1995; Miller, 1996). Several studies have shown that the mother's marital status is also an important determinant of the quality of the home environment (MacKinnon, Brody, & Stoneman, 1982; Menaghan & Parcel, 1995). Children whose mothers are divorced or have never been married are worse off than those whose mothers are married. Because marital history affects both the risk of poverty and the quality of children's home environments, it is important to disentangle the respective contributions of poverty and marital history to the quality of children's home environments in order to design appropriate interventions to improve the well-being of children. The consequences of poverty for the wellbeing of American children are of considerable concern because annual child poverty rates in the early 1990s were as high as 25% (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1993). Between 40% and 50% of American children born in recent years are expected to be poor at some point before reaching adulthood (Ashworth, Hill, & Walker, 1994; Miller, 1996). Children whose mothers remain married throughout their early childhood have a lower risk of experiencing poverty than do children with other types of family histories. According to estimates from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), only one third of the children whose mothers were married both at the time of the child's birth and when the child was in early elementary school were poor at some time during childhood, compared with more than 90% of children with never-married mothers and 80% of children whose mothers became divorced during that interval (Miller, 1996). The high poverty rates for children of never-married mothers are a consequence of both relatively low rates of laborforce participation and lower average wages due to lower rates of school completion among these mothers (McLanahan & Casper, 1995). …

Giving voice to young children

SUMMARY This article summarises the major findings of the report of the Carnegie Task Force on Meeting the Needs of Young Children, Starting Points: Meeting the needs of our Youngest Children (1994). Major advancements in knowledge about infant and toddler development have met with a decline in public resources and in parental time available to these youngest children in the United States. In this context, the Task Force makes recommendations in the areas promoting responsible parenthood, guaranteeing quality child care, and ensuring good health and protection. Quality child care includes the guarantee of paid family leave, the allocation of major new funds into child care to ensure quality and affordability, and improving child care training and compensation.

Addressing at-risk pregnant women's issues through community, individual and corporate grassroots efforts.

Prenatal care is crucial to the health and well-being of our youngest children. Yet millions of children are coming into the world without the benefit of this care, and their numbers are increasing. About one-fourth of pregnant women do not receive the recommended level of prenatal care. The percentage of pregnant women who receive virtually no prenatal care (no more than a visit or two in the last few weeks of pregnancy) has increased in recent years. Mothers are less likely to obtain adequate or prompt prenatal care if they are young, poor, unmarried, relatively uneducated, uninsured, or living in inner cities or rural areas (Carnegie Task Force on Meeting the Needs of Young Children, 1994). Pregnant women, new mothers, and families are often ill informed or misinformed about the need for preventive health care and the process of actually getting care. Even if people have the necessary information, they may lack the motivation, friendly guidance, ability to pay, or means of transportation necessary to get to care. Services are provided in different places, and eligibility forms are varied, complex, and designed to frustrate (National Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality, 1989). Mothers who do not receive prenatal care are more likely to have low-birthweight infants (2,500 grams or less). These babies are significantly more likely to have neurodevelopmental handicaps, congenital anomalies, and more frequent respiratory tract infections. Over 40 percent of these infants are rehospitalized more than once in their first year of life (Carnegie Task Force on Meeting the Needs of Young Children, 1994). Consequently, pregnant women who do not receive prenatal care and thus have less chance of delivering healthy, full-term, normal-weight babies are referred to in this article as risk. In spite of considerable investment of resources and the highly skilled and well-equipped medical system, by most measures the overall health status of Americans lags behind that of many other nations' citizens. Among the nations of the world, the United States ranks 19th in infant mortality, 21st in deaths of children under five, and 29th in the percentage of low-birthweight babies. The low childhood immunization rates in the United States are a national disgrace (Children's Defense Fund, cited in Hartman, 1992). Zuravin (1989) defined refusal or delay in providing health care as one subtype of parent behavior resulting in child neglect. Social work studies provide overwhelming evidence that extreme poverty is significant in the etiology of neglect, especially chronic neglect. At the micro level, the multiplicity of problems facing chronically neglecting caregivers requires interventions that are comprehensive, in-home, and longer term. Social services agencies have long been unable to provide the concrete and paraprofessional services necessary to increase household management and parenting skills (Nelson, Saunders, & Landsman, 1993). The crises in health care - the new demands and the need for answers - clearly point to the need for a redefinition of services. Although social work emphasizes the importance of family involvement, research indicates that the actual number of encounters with families is a relatively small percentage of the many interventions provided by social workers in health care settings (Bergman et al., 1993), Society cannot afford to ignore the increasing blight of child maltreatment perpetuated by economic inequities and by the failure of the human services system to adequately meet the needs of families and children (Nelson et al., 1993). Shared Beginnings was established in 1994 to address the needs of high-risk pregnant women in Denver, specifically women enrolled for health care at Provenant Family Medicine Centers. The program involved the collaboration of the medical, social services, and business communities; philanthropic sectors; and community members. This article describes the nature of this program and the steps taken to initiate and maintain such a grassroots program. …

Building Research and Policy Connections: Training and Career Options for Developmental Scientists

RESEARCHERS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES have long emphasized the importance of bringing their shared knowledge and skills to bear on significant social problems. This was the vision that gave rise, in 1924, to the Committee on Child Development, and seven years later, to the establishment of the Society for Research in Child Development (Hagen, in press). Today this philosophical position is expressed in “applied developmental science.” Developmental science refers to the study of systematic and successive change in individuals over the lifespan (Fisher, Murray, et al., 1993). This discipline recognizes the ongoing interaction between biological development and the physical and social environment. It investigates change within the individual and between individuals. Normative developmental patterns provide the basis for understanding both typical and atypical development. Applied developmental science pertains when the aim is not just to understand but to intervene in social problems. As students in developmental science, we find many young developmental scientists seeking opportunities to apply developmental principles in this manner; they are interested in forging careers that blend their research training with social policy concerns. At the 1995 biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, an invited conversation hour led by several graduate students focused on the link between developmental science and social policy and the types of skills and training needed to integrate the two. Following the meeting, further conversations ensued both within this group and with exemplars in the field, professionals who are currently bridging the gap between science and policy. This report elaborates the major themes from these discussions:

No Kidding, My Mom's Got Homework?

The american public hears repeatedly that parents and guardians need to take a more active role in their children's education. The Carnegie Task Force (1989) recommends that families become reengaged in the education of their young adolescent children. Mathematics educators must promote practices that encourage involvement of those at home.

Giving voice to young children

SUMMARY This article summarises the major findings of the report of the Carnegie Task Force on Meeting the Needs of Young Children, Starting Points: Meeting the needs of our Youngest Children (1994). Major advancements in knowledge about infant and toddler development have met with a decline in public resources and in parental time available to these youngest children in the United States. In this context, the Task Force makes recommendations in the areas promoting responsible parenthood, guaranteeing quality child care, and ensuring good health and protection. Quality child care includes the guarantee of paid family leave, the allocation of major new funds into child care to ensure quality and affordability, and improving child care training and compensation.

Introduction: The Role of Research in the Reform of Middle Grades Education

The Elementary School Journal Volume 93, Number 5 o 1993 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0013-5984/93/9305-0001$01.00 For nearly 100 years, educators, in varying numbers and intensity, have been calling for reform of middle grades schools and classrooms (Clark & Clark, 1993, in this issue; Cuban, 1992; Oakes, Quartz, Gong, Guiton, & Lipton, 1993, in this issue). More recently, the Carnegie Foundation, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, the Lilly Endowment, and departments of education in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, and other states have issued similar calls investing their prestige and money in the cause of middle grades reform. From a variety of perspectives, there is agreement that the traditional middle grades school has not adequately served the capacities, motivations, and aspirations of early adolescents (Carnegie Task Force on Education of Young Adolescents, 1989; Eccles, Midgley, Wigfield, & Feldlaufer, 1993, in this issue; Lipsitz, 1977; Maehr & Anderman, 1993, in this issue; Tye, 1985). There is also agreement regarding the steps that should be taken to reform middle grades education (Carnegie Task Force on Education of Young Adolescents, 1989; Superintendent's Middle Grade Task Force, 1987). Given the factionalism and dissension

Power, Knowledge, and the Rationalization of Teaching: A Genealogy of the Movement to Professionalize Teaching

In this article, David Labaree presents a genealogy of the current movement to professionalize teaching, focusing on two key factors that define the lineage of this movement and shape its present character and direction. First, he argues that teacher professionalization is an extension of the effort by teacher educators to raise their own professional status. Second,he examines the closely related effort by this same group to develop a science of teaching. Given these roots, the reforms proposed by the Carnegie Task Force on Teaching as a Profession and The Holmes Group may well do more for teacher educators than for teachers or students. More importantly, they may promote the rationalization of classroom instruction by generating momentum toward an authoritative, research-driven, and standardized vision of teaching practice.

The Liberal Profession of TeachingThe Moral Dimensions of Teaching. John I. Goodlad , Roger Soder , Kenneth A. Sirotnik

In 1985, John I. Goodlad, Roger Soder, and Kenneth A. Sirotnik created Center for Educational Renewal at University of Washington and commenced five-year Study of Education of Educators. Stemming from that study, this collection of 10 essaysl addresses nature of teaching vocation and, especially, the of teaching viewed as an actual or possible profession. The authors accurately observe that these dimensions were relatively neglected in various reports on school reform issued during 1980s by agencies such as National Commission on Excellence in Education, National Governors' Association, Carnegie Forum on Education and Economy, Carnegie Task Force on Teaching as a Profession, Holmes Group, and National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.2 More or less respectfully, authors criticize the first wave of such reports for their purely instrumental approach of addressing teaching as a means to improve schools and then schools as a means to strengthen economy and nation. The second wave of reports is likewise criticized for adopting another kind of instrumentalism. This kind amounts to viewing teaching as mechanistic, behavioral, pedagogical expertise (p. 18), which serves to legitimate increases in teachers' status, authority, autonomy, and income and thereby professionalize them (Preface, p. xiii; Goodlad, p. 11; Soder, p. 37; Fenstermacher, pp. 130-31, 142; Sockett, p. 224). Thus, unifying themes of this collection are that moral must be considered by anyone attempting to understand teaching, and that professionalizing of teachers inevitably concerns ethical aspects of teaching due both to nature of work and to nature of professions.

Social issues in teacher testing

As of 1984 there were about 30 national reports on educational reform, and the states had appointed nearly 300 task forces to study ways to improve education (Cross, 1984). One of the ways chosen was to focus on the quality of teachers (Carnegie Task Force, 1986; Holmes Group, 1986). To improve the quality of teachers, testing programs were implemented for entry into and exit out of teacher education programs, eventually leading to receipt of a license to teach. Current plans are under way to implement a test as requirement for national certification (Shulman, 1987). The vast, fast effort to implement teacher testing programs has not been without controversy, centering around psychometric issues (Mehrens, 1987a), legal issues (Rebell, 1986, 1990), and social issues surrounding the testing of preservice and practicing teachers (hereafter referred to as teacher testing). This article will focus on the social issues. Is the pervasive practice of teacher testing likely to be a positive or negative force in improving education in the United States? As a prelude to the major focus of the article, this section will cover briefly the extensiveness of and support for teacher testing and the reasons for both.

Teacher Certification Testing in Physical Education

The 1980s witnessed an unparalled review, analysis, and critique of the quality of education and schooling in the United States. Criticism that has emanated from the wide range of reports and research studies was directed to all levels of education including the nation's schools (Boyer, 1986; Goodlad, 1983; Sizer, 1986), teacher education (Holmes Group, 1986), conditions of teaching and the teaching profession (Carnegie Task Force, 1986), and the quality of undergraduate education (Bennett, 1984; Boyer, 1987)_ federally funded report called A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform (National Commission, 1983) was the impetus for many of the later documents and was largely responsible for shaping the public's view of education. The seriousness of the allegations about the decline and general malaise in education that set the tone for many later documents can best be understood from an oft-quoted line of the report: If an unfriendly foreign power had done to American education what the country has done to itself it would have been regarded as an act of war (p. 1). Several solutions have been proposed to what has been described as the mediocrity of American education. These can be summarized as (a) improve the quality of those who in schools improving the quality of teacher preparation programs and extend them to a fifth year, (b) improve the conditions of schooling and the autonomy of teachers and reward quality work, thereby encouraging creative teachers to remain in the profession, and (c) keep less able teachers and less able prospective teachers out of the profession establishing higher standards. Prospective teachers must demonstrate such competencies passing a test that allows entrance into the profession. There has been a dramatic increase in teacher testing in the last 6 or 7 years (Haney, Madaus, & Kreitzer, 1987). All indications are that by 1990, virtually every state in the nation will require tests of basic skills, subject matter knowledge, and professional knowledge before a teacher can receive a standard license to teach (Darling-Hammond, 1984, p. 1). Certification tests have become a visible and controversial issue in education, with several of the major reports on schooling and teacher education advocating some form of teacher testing. The Carnegie report, Teachers for the 21st Century, was most explicit about test-

The Kansas internship program assistance/assessment model: A design for beginning teachers' professional growth

In the words of the recent Personnel Evaluation Standards, " . . . educational institutions have often been ineffective in carrying out their personnel evaluation responsibilities" (1988, p. 6). According to these standards, this failure is documented in many current books, articles, and reviews that call for a reform in evaluating educational personnel (Andrews, 1985; Brodinsky, 1984; Carnegie Task Force on Teaching as a Profession, 1986; Coker, Medley & Soar, 1980; Educating Americans for the 21st CenturypNational Science Foundation, 1983; Goodlad, 1983; Millman, 1981; A Nation at Risk--National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983; Wise & Darling-Hammond, 1985). State departments and school districts look to teacher evaluation as a means of enhancing teacher performance (Educational Research Service, 1978; Bolton, 1973). However, given the incompetence of many evaluation practices, most are not achieving this goal to any degree that is impressive (Stiggins & Duke, 1988). Kansas recognized the need for educational reform in the area of teacher evaluation by taking an innovative approach to evaluating and assisting beginning teachers.

Equity and Excellence in Education—Compatible Concepts or Hostile Abstractions?

Since 1983, with the publication of five well-known national reports calling for reform in education, the later release of other reports by prestigious groups (such as the Carnegie Task Force on Teaching as a Profession and the Holmes Group), and the enactment of approximately 700 state statutes focused on school reform, the push for excellence has overshadowed earlier commitments to equity in schools. As Orlich writes, “In at least one instance, implementing the proposals of these two groups [Carnegie and Holmes] would have the same undesirable effect: reducing the number of minority teachers from few to virtually none.” This movement for excellence has had a narrowing effect on the level of social consciousness concerning sex and race equity in schools and in society. Any movement which restricts the growth of equity should be examined critically; for it, both as a topic of study and as a fact in practice, is a necessary component of an excellent and complete preparation of teachers in a pluralistic society. By providing programs that both “preach and practice” equity principles, today's teacher educators assist the next generation of teachers to develop a contextual understanding of the field of teaching and a heightened social consciousness of their role in education.

Broadening teachers’ perspectives on research

The need for reform in teaching K12 mathematics and science has been well established (James & Kurtz, 1985, pp. 104-114; Holmes Group Executive Board, 1986; Carnegie Task Force on Teaching, 1986). Teachers must be able to foster student interest in the nature of the scientific enterprise and an understanding of its relevance to individuals and society. Unfortunately, it is common to fred that teachers' understanding of and knowledge about the scientific enterprise and research is not adequate to accomplish this goal. Teacher educators must, then, revise existing preservice and inservice programs to address the need.