Teacher Education Leaders Research Articles

Exhibiting Care While Re/Constructing Teacher Education: A Self-Study of Teacher Education Leadership

ABSTRACT Leadership development in higher education remains lacking, with most leadership development the result of learning on-the-job. Understanding and navigating the leadership challenges of increasingly complex higher education environments is even more demanding in colleges of education facing unprecedented pressures from outside and inside the institution. Given that little training exists for teacher education leaders, they often find themselves experiencing tensions related to how to facilitate teacher education reform as they learn on-the-job. In this self-study, we developed a reciprocal mentoring relationship that helped us unpack tensions related to our experiences as teacher education leaders. Two tensions were explored in this study, the tensions of action and intent and valuing and reconstructing experience. Investigating these two tensions resulted in two findings related to our transition into leadership. First, we found that leadership required exhibiting care and an ability to navigate the divides and challenges that can inhibit teacher education reform. Second, leaders learn and develop leadership practices over time, such as providing clear communication and understanding faculty roles in change and transformation. Learning to embrace successes while learning from challenges affords teacher education leaders opportunities to re/construct pictures of the self as leader through shifting interpretations of leadership, experiencing challenges in promoting change, and building new/existing programs to improve teacher education. These findings hold implications for teacher education leadership as they help make visible the challenges of teacher education leadership roles and the importance of faculty-leadership collaboration in teacher education program reform.

Facing Fears and Finding Fit: A Self-Study of Teacher Education Leadership

ABSTRACT In an era defined by educational reform, teacher education requires strong, informed, and reflective leadership. Although teacher education faculty leadership is essential to reform, identifying and supporting the development of teacher educators who assume administrative leadership positions remains critical. Unfortunately, the transition into academic leadership often lacks training and support, leaving leaders isolated and learning as they lead. In this study, the authors – leaders at different institutions with different leadership roles as dean and program director – used self-study methods to explore questions related to teacher education leadership. Specifically, we found that reform-minded teacher education leaders should find professional fit in the programs and institutions they lead, find ways to maintain their work as teacher educator-scholars, have a willingness to express uncertainties related to their work as leaders, and learn to facilitate and support change in teacher education. Implications include a need for teacher education leadership training and mentoring, as well as providing space for leaders to support one another across institutions and ranks.

Assessing and comparing alternative certification programs: The teacher-classroom-community model

Alternative certification programs (ACPs) differ from traditional teacher certification programs in their target populations, duration, tools they employ, their pedagogy, and subject matter curricula. Given the acute shortage of excellent teachers, especially in STEM, significant efforts and resources are invested in ACPs so they prepare highly qualified teachers. Yet, novice teachers face difficulties during their initial integration into the school system. To better understand the state of affairs, we investigated and compared the integration into the school system of graduates of five major Israeli ACPs that are tailored for diverse student-teacher target audiences. The study goals were to (1) investigate and compare the integration of graduates of the five ACPs into the teaching profession with respect to five teacher-related aspects: (a) self-efficacy, (b) commitment to the teaching profession, (c) challenges encountered, (d) leadership roles, and (e) teamwork; (2) identify ACP characteristics that support the graduates’ integration into the teaching profession. The teacher-classroom-community model we propose, holistically connects three aspects: affective – the teacher, the teaching profession – the classroom, and peer interaction and leadership – the school community. The model provides a common language for comparing how the different ACPs prepared their graduates toward the teaching profession. The model is instrumental for identifying ACP characteristics that support graduates’ integration into teaching and facilitating ACP evaluation by connecting several aspects of teachers’ professional lives. The study employed a mixed-methodology in which 506 graduates responded to a closed- and open-ended questionnaire and 71 interviews were conducted with graduates (novice teachers), ACP directors, school principals and mentor teachers. The findings depict a complex picture that reflects the different ACPs’ characteristics targeted at diverse audiences. For example, graduates of STEM-oriented programs perceive the different kinds of knowledge, including content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge, as most important to their roles in schools. They undertake fewer roles, and the ones they do assume are discipline-related. Graduates of the more social-leadership-oriented programs identify developing leadership skills as most beneficial and they undertake more leadership-related roles. The research highlights key aspects that teacher education leaders should consider and use for self-evaluation of their ACPs. The strength of this study stems from proposing and applying the teacher-classroom-community model for evaluating teacher certification programs in several contexts and for diverse groups along with their integration into schools.

Valuation ofDesirable Affective Dispositionsby Primary Teacher Education Leadersin AmharaRegion,Ethiopia

The purpose of this study was to examine whether primary teacher education leaders in Amhararegion value prospective teachers’ Desirable Affective Dispositions (DADs) or not. To achieve this purpose, a mixed concurrent triangulation design was employed. Data were collected from 30 college leadersof which 27were selected comprehensively, whereasthree of them were selected purposively. Semi-structured interviewand questionnaire were used to collect data from leadersfrom three and 27 leaders, respectively. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis, whereasquantitative data were analyzed using aone-sample t-test. Both the qualitative and quantitative data disclosed that leaders are in better a state of valuing DADs ofprospective teachers for different reasonsthat are revolving aroundeffectiveness, professional love, professional stay, andknowledge and skill development of prospective teachers.The study shows that the valuation of DADs by leaders is an excellentopportunity to cultivate prospective teachers’ DADs in the course of their training.

VALUATION OF DESIRABLE AFFECTIVE DISPOSITIONS BY PRIMARY TEACHER EDUCATION LEADERS IN AMHARA REGION, ETHIOPIA

The purpose of this study was to examine whether primary teacher education leaders in Amhara region value prospective teachers’ Desirable Affective Dispositions (DADs) or not. To achieve this purpose, a mixed concurrent triangulation design was employed. Data were collected from 30 college leaders of which 27 were selected comprehensively, whereas three of them were selected purposively. Moreover, for triangulation purpose, data were collected from six teacher educators and 18 prospective teachers who were selected purposively and six prospective teachers selected using convenience sampling method. Semi-structured interview (for three leaders, six teacher educators, & 24 prospective teachers) and questionnaire (for 27 leaders) were used to collect data. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis, whereas quantitative data were analyzed using a one-sample t-test. Both the qualitative and quantitative data disclosed that leaders are in better a state of valuing DADs of prospective teachers for different reasons that are revolving around effectiveness, professional love, professional stay, and knowledge and skill development of prospective teachers. The study shows that the valuation of DADs by leaders is an excellent opportunity to cultivate prospective teachers’ DADs in the course of their training

Physical Education Teacher Education Leaders’ Perceptions on a National Curriculum in Physical Education

ABSTRACTPurpose: Given criticism of P-12 physical education and wide variability in instructional quality and subject matter outcomes in the United States (US), a national curriculum has been debated by some scholars as a mechanism for improving the status of the subject matter. Grounded in the systemic reform (SR) model, the purpose of this study was to explore physical education teacher education (PETE) leaders’ perceptions regarding the implementation of a national curriculum. Method: In total, 28 individuals participated in in-depth interviews that were inductively/deductively coded and triangulated. Results: Themes indicated that nationalizing the curriculum has the potential to offer explicit educational goals, substantial pedagogical guidelines, and valid assessments. Despite recognizing the potential benefits of national curriculum, however, the majority of participants were opposed because of the inflexibility of such a system in the culturally and geographically diverse school contexts across the US. Conclusions: The concept of national curriculum can be differently interpreted in different countries based on sociocultural, historical, and contextual factors, and its relevance depends primarily on one’s perceptions and previous experiences.

TPACK Leadership Diagnostic Tool: Adoption and Implementation by Teacher Education Leaders

This case study describes how leaders from three teacher education institutions utilized a technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) leadership diagnostic tool in the design, development, and implementation of technology rich initiatives. Participants were interviewed to find out how the diagnostic tool guided their decision making. Content analysis and a priori coding were used to analyze transcripts along with constant comparative methods to explore elements within the diagnostic tool and identify additional codes. Results indicate that education leaders utilized the TPACK leadership diagnostic tool in different ways to guide the design, development, and implementation of their technology initiatives. Participants also provided recommendations for how the diagnostic tool and its use might be enhanced in order to support change.

Linking Student Achievement to Teacher Preparation: Emergent Challenges in Implementing Value Added Assessment

Systemic efforts to strengthen teacher preparation in Louisiana led to the first statewide value-added assessment (VAA) of teacher preparation programs (TPPs). Subsequently, a number of states have adopted VAA of TPPs. The authors describe challenges that were confronted around the deployment of Louisiana’s VAA of TPPs. The discussion is organized around the challenges emerging from calculation, communication, and change. The discussion provides information that policy makers and teacher education leaders, rather than analysts, might find useful, and focuses on the types of challenges that a state or university system can expect to encounter in developing a VAA. We describe decisions made in response to specific challenges that appear to have been successful and some that in retrospect appear to have been mistakes. In addition, consideration is given to some unintended consequences of policy choices as well as the continuously changing policy landscape for the assessment of teacher preparation.

A TPACK Diagnostic Tool for Teacher Education Leaders

Teacher education faculty must incorporate and model effective use of Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (TPACK) in the classroom and across the curriculum. Teacher education leaders have a responsibility to set direction, develop people, and redesign their teacher preparation programs into TPACK ready environments. As such, a change process may occur that may be challenging and difficult for some leaders and their faculty. In this article, the authors examine the process and product of creating a TPACK leadership diagnostic tool that provides leaders in teacher education with support and guidance for the process of developing TPACK ready teacher preparation programs. Suggestions for further development and usage of the diagnostic tool are discussed.

Special Editorial: Technology Leadership for Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology

Teacher education leaders must attend to leadership practices that set direction, develop people, and redesign their programs of teacher education to develop technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge (TPACK) and skills in preservice teachers. This special editorial shares the results of a leadership‐strand discussion at the past two National Technology Leadership Summits (NTLS) focused on good teaching and organizational change that incorporates TPACK‐based practices. It highlights focus‐group results from College of Education deans, the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) Innovation & Technology Committee, and other leaders attending NTLS regarding context‐specific products and processes needed to create change in teacher education at the local level.

Unsettling Conversations

Equipping teachers for the full range of diversity of students in today's schools has long been a shared concern among teacher educators. Bilingual education, special education, culturally responsive teaching, social justice education, and urban education are among the several responses to this fundamental educational goal. These responses, however, although critical for moving the project of educational equity forward, have tended to produce conversations within diversity communities in teacher education rather than across them. The aim of this special issue is to open up what we believe to be a long overdue conversation among scholars from different diversity communities within teacher education to begin to think about what is needed if we are to advance teacher education that is responsive to the full range of diversity of students and that takes account of the multiple markers of identity that characterize individuals and groups of students--disability among them. This special issue grew out of a major session that took place at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) titled Diversity Frameworks in Teacher Education: Where Does Special Education Belong? The purpose of that session was to initiate a dialogue among teacher education leaders in multicultural education, culturally responsive teaching, social justice education, and special education to begin to unravel the enduring and thorny problem of why, given the longstanding rhetoric of preparing teachers for diversity, there has been comparatively little discussion about the role of special education within the larger discourse of diversity of race, class, culture, and language. The roots of that session can be traced back to discussions that began in 2002, during a 5-year joint, federally funded project housed within the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) in the Council of Chief State School Officers, with AACTE as one of the lead partners. In response to the call for special education teachers to become highly qualified under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), teams participating in this project, representing 45 states and made up of higher education faculty in general and special education and their respective counterparts at the state level, started to grapple with the question of what it meant to prepare novice teachers for in this new policy context. Team members began to raise important issues about preparing general education teachers for students with disabilities as an integral part of teacher education reform. With this special issue of Journal of Teacher Education (JTE), we broaden this question for the teacher education community: How can we work together to advance a more complete vision of diversity, one that does not merely attach disability to a long list of social markers of identity, but rather works from the assumption-and indeed the fact--that the children and youth for whom we prepare teachers do not have just one diversity identity, but rather multiple diversity identities that interact with and nest within one another in different and often complex ways. We appreciate the willingness of the scholars whose work appears in this issue--Marilyn Cochran-Smith and Curt Dudley-Marling, Jacqueline Jordan Irvine, Robert Rueda and Jamy Stillman, and Ana Maria Villegas--to join us in a rich conversation that pushes at the outer margins of the many diversity communities in which their and our work is typically situated. …

The Sinking State of Public Colleges of Education: Lessons Learned Without Lifeboats

The bow of the flagship is beginning to tip. Unless teacher educators can prove that their graduates are effective classroom teachers, they will not stay afloat in the ocean of accountability that has already encumbered U.S. public schools. In this article one consortium of teacher education leaders' and researchers' nascent efforts to research the worth of the state's public colleges of education are presented. Described are their journey, the distance covered, and the icebergs, so to speak, they have hit. Due to the vastness of this statewide effort, the lessons learned may help inform others as they too embark on similar journeys.

Multicultural and disability agendas in teacher education: preparing teachers for diversity

America's schools have become increasingly diverse, both in terms of traditional multicultural markers (race, class, ethnicity) and the inclusion of students with disabilities. Preparing teachers to meet the needs of all students and to work actively to promote social justice and equity requires a careful analysis of how teachers are prepared to work with diverse learners. This paper examines multicultural education textbooks and those used in introductory special education classrooms in order to assess how each set of texts treats the others' issues. This analysis is followed by reports of conversations with teacher education leaders addressing how their teacher education programmes include issues of multicultural education and disability and the relationships and connections between those two areas. We conclude with recommendations for continuing the conversation regarding the multicultural-disability interface and urge the identification of common agendas for teacher education reform.

Reflections on Some Current Situations

Victory at Last After years of urging that American schooling practices catch up with Japanese education, critics and reformers can now celebrate. The nation is finally catching on to one Japanese practice: Saturday cramming sessions. Recent articles describe situations in several states indicating that children from Grades 1 through 12 are going to school on Saturdays to prepare, cram, and study for upcoming state or district tests. Waterbury, Connecticut, is one of the latest to announce a Saturday academy; the board of education voted unanimously to establish a Saturday Accelerated Academy, targeted for the estimated 600 youngsters behind in reading, writing, and mathematics, at a cost of $239,304 (Weekend Classes, 1999). No more Saturday morning cartoons or late sleep-ins for these kids. We wonder about the implications of these matters for teacher education. In an ironic mood, we ponder: Should forward-thinking teacher education leaders in SCDEs establish preservice and inservice modules entitled How to teach youngsters on Saturday who failed on Monday through Friday of the previous week? Ed remembers well, in his early economically desperate years of high school teaching, agreeing to and then teaching summer school classes for students who had failed English 10 the previous year. He remains uncertain who suffered more, he or the students. More time was not the answer. How do teachers teach reluctant, failure-prone youngsters in school on Saturdays, most likely against their will? How do teachers prepare students to do well on standardized tests? These development are clear examples of how societal expectations and demands may drive future teacher preparation. Wanted: More Work We were struck by reports of some recent polls of American secondary school students in which, it is claimed, students blame the teachers for not giving them enough homework, not challenging them enough. The lament seems to run this way: If only teachers would make us do more, then we'd do more. We do not propose to analyze this too deeply, but our combined 65 years of teaching have not been filled with students begging us for more work. Often, quite the contrary existed. We are not against matters that promote student learning and accomplishment. We merely wonder why, if students really want to work harder, they simply don't work harder. We are reminded of a player on a National Football League team who, after being eliminated from the playoffs, lamented that he wished the coach had worked them harder so they would have been in better shape. We wonder who is preventing students from working harder, taking on difficult assignments and achieving. Our discussions with teachers in four states suggest that they are pushing students as hard as they can. So, where does truth lie? Needed: Research These and other matters cry out for the need for quality research. Currently, America is a nation that lives on anecdote, spurious poll results, and quarter-truths, not even half-truths. In 1996, we wrote a chapter entitled Needed Research in Teacher Education (Ducharme & Ducharme, 1996), in which we described what we believed to be needed areas for research in teacher education. We believe other areas of importance have emerged since then that desperately need quality research. We urge readers to consider them and embark on a research program to help both teacher education and education in the nation make better decisions and achieve better results. These areas include * More Time in School. Certainly, it seems logical that more time in school, longer days, and longer years would promote higher quantity and quality of learning. …

Relationships Between General Education and Business Education

Teacher-education leaders everywhere are seeking ways to pull more closely to gether all elements of the preservice pro gram. Mr. Boynton, Head of the Business Education Department, Teachers College of Connecticut, New Britain, relates the offerings of his field to the life problems of high school boys and girls.

The Role of Experiential Learning in the Education of Teachers

Miss Hildreth, Assistant Professor of Education at Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York, spoke as President of the Di vision of Educational Psychology, Ameri can Psychological Association, at The Pennsylvania State College, September 5, 1950. In her address she challenged teacher-education leaders to a reexamina tion of many commonly accepted assump tions and widely used procedures in the education of teachers. Her plea for an enlarged role for experiential learning throughout the entire period of prepara tion is backed by concise argument in this article.