ERIC ED468432: Studies of Excellence in Teacher Education: Preparation in the Undergraduate Years.

124 Pages·2000·1.8 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
SP 041 064
ED 468 432
Zeichner, Kenneth; Miller, Lynne; Silvernail, David
AUTHOR
Studies of Excellence in Teacher Education: Preparation in
TITLE
the Undergraduate Years.
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education,
INSTITUTION
Washington, DC.; National Commission on Teaching & America's
Future, New York, NY.
DeWitt Wallace/Reader's Digest Fund, Pleasantville, NY.
SPONS AGENCY
ISBN-0-9654535-6-1
ISBN
2000-00-00
PUB DATE
123p.; Edited by Linda Darling-Hammond.
NOTE
AACTE Publications, 1307 New York Avenue, N.W., Suite 300,
AVAILABLE FROM
Washington, DC 20005-4701 (nonmembers: $25.95; AACTE members:
$20.95). Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; Web site:
http://www.aacte.org.
Books (010) -- Reports - Research (143)
PUB TYPE
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Case Studies; Elementary Secondary Education; Higher
DESCRIPTORS
Education; *Preservice Teacher Education; Program
Effectiveness; Student Teachers; *Undergraduate Study
Alverno College WI; Learner Centered Instruction; Program
IDENTIFIERS
Characteristics; Wheelock College MA
ABSTRACT
This book presents case studies of two highly successful
teacher education programs. It is part of a three-volume series that includes
strategies, content, and
seven case studies. The book documents the goals,
processes of teacher education programs that are widely acknowledged as
exemplars for preparing prospective teachers to engage in skillful, learner-
centered practice. Using observations, interviews, and surveys, researchers
examined all aspects of each program of study and clinical practice. The book
documents the capabilities of prospective teachers who graduate from these
education and
programs by focusing on the teachers' own work during teacher
in the field, interviews with faculty and administrators in the schools where
graduates teach, and surveys of principals. The book also examines what
policies, organizational features, resources, and relationships have enabled
these programs to succeed. Some of the programs' common features include a
clear, shared vision of good teaching; well-defined standards of practice and
performance; extended clinical experiences; and extensive use of case study,
teacher research, performance assessment, and portfolio evaluation. The two
Teacher
case studies are "Ability-Based Teacher Education: Elementary
Education at Alverno College" (Kenneth Zeichner) and "Learning to Become a
Teacher: The Wheelock Way" (Lynn Miller and David Silvernail). (Papers
contains references.)
(SM)
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
Studies of Excellence
in Teacher Education:
Preparation at the
Undergraduate Level
Miller
Kenneth Zeichner, Lynne
and David Silvernail
AACTE
2000
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Office of Educational Research and
Improvement
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)
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Points of view or opinions stated in this
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2
STUDIES OF EXCELLENCE IN
TEACHER EDUCATION
PREPARATION IN THE
ALVERNO COLLEGE
BY KENNETH ZEICHNER
WHEELOCK COLLEGE
BY LYNNE MILLER AND DAVID SILVERNAIL
Linda Darling-Hammond, Editor
3
IN
STUDIES OF EXCELLENCE
TEACHER EDUCATION
PREPARATION IN THE
ALVERNO COLLEGE
BY KENNETH ZEICHNER
WREELOCK COLLEGE
SILVERNAIL
BY LYNNE MILLER AND DAVID
Editor
Linda Darling-Hammond,
4
Education is a national, voluntary association
The American Association of Colleges for Teacher
graduate programs to prepare professional educa-
of colleges and universities with undergraduate or
network-
in data gathering, equity, leadership development,
tors. The Association supports programs
ing policy analysis, professional issues, and scholarship.
expressed in this monograph do not necessar-
The opinions, conclusions, and recommendations
of Colleges for Teacher Education. The
ily reflect the views or opinions of the American Association
The AACTE is publishing this document to
AACTE does not endorse or warrant this information.
educators. The reader must evaluate this
stimulate discussion, study, and experimentation among
situation and must determine inde-
information in light of the unique circumstances of any particular
pendently the applicability of this information thereto.
the Undergraduate Years may be ordered from:
Studies in Excellence in Teacher Education: Preparation in
AACTE Publications
4411..
1307 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 300
IIII
Washington, DC 20005-4701
AACTE Tel: [phone]
AM E RICAN
Fax: [phone]
ASSOCIATION
COLLEGES
Web site: www.aacte.org
OF
FOR TEACHER
nonmembers
EDUCATION
Single copy: $20.95 AACTE members/$25.95
This three-volume series also includes:
Five-Year Program
Studies in Excellence in Teacher Education: Preparation in a
the Graduate Level
Studies in Excellence in Teacher Education: Preparation at
The National Commission on Teaching and
National Commission
America's Future, initiated in 1994, was created to
& America's Future
on Teaching
identify the implications for teaching embodied in
what steps need to be taken to guarantee all children access to
current school reforms; to examine
develop a comprehensive policy blueprint for
skilled, knowledgeable, and committed teachers; and to
work has been supported by grants from the
high educational performance. The Commission's
Corporation of New York; the DeWitt Wallace
AT&T Foundation; BellSouth Foundation; Carnegie
Inc.; the Rockefeller
Fund; the Ford Foundation; the Philip Morris Companies
- Reader's Digest
of Educational Research and Improvement;
Foundation; the US Department of Education's Office
and the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust.
Reader's Digest Fund for support of
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the DeWitt Wallace -
this publication.
America's. Future, New York, New York. All rights
© 2000 by National Commission on Teaching &
reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
ISBN No: 0-9654535-6-1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword
Ability-Based Teacher Education:
College
Elementary Teacher Education at Alverno
1
2
Overview
5
The Alverno Philosophy in Action
9
Teacher Education Program .
.
The Overall Structure of Alverno's Elementary
18
Program Goals and Content
Program:
Perceptions of the Nature and Impact of the
37
Graduates, Employers, Students
52
Education Program
Critical Features of Alverno's Elementary Teacher
56
References
58
Appendix A: Methodology
60
Appendix B: Courses in the Elementary Education Program
61
Appendix C: Professional Group Discussion Assessment
63
Appendix D: Student Teacher Assessment Form
66
Field Experiences
Appendix E: Correlation Between Campus Courses and
67
Way
Learning to Become a Teacher: The Wheelock
68
Overview
70
Education Care
The Undergraduate Program in Early Childhood
75
The Shaping of a Teacher: The Student Perspective
76
Freshman Year: Reframing Commitments
79
Sophomore Year: Empowering Oneself
83
Junior and Senior Years: Taking Charge
88
Reflecting on the Undergraduate Student Perspective
Beyond the Undergraduate Experience:
91
Learning from Experiences and Graduate Study
98
The Institutional Perspective
103
Concluding Remarks
104
References
105
of Study
Appendix A: Early Childhood Care and Education Program
106
Program)
Appendix B: Master's in Elementary Education (Angela's
107
Preparation
Table 1: Wheelock Graduates' Perceptions of Teacher
108
About the Authors
109
About the Editor
FOREWORD
by Linda Darling-Hammond
education programs
This set of case studies about extraordinary teacher
by the American Association of
is one of three volumes being published
with the National
Colleges for Teacher Education in collaboration
cross-cutting analysis of
Commission on Teaching & America's Future. A
the common features of these
the cases, published separately, will describe
teach-
that are distinguished by their success in preparing
seven programs
learner-centered and
in ways that we describe as both
ers to practice
teacher to meet the
learning-centered. By this, we mean that they prepare
that are responsive to
needs of very diverse learnersto teach in ways
and linguistic back-
individual students' intelligences, talents, cultural
teachers to teach for
grounds, needs, and interests; and they prepare
in-depth learning
understandingto teach in ways that support active,
proficient performances
which results in powerful thinking and flexible,
pail of their students.
on the
developed by the
These abilities are the foundation of new standards
Standards (NBPTS), the
National Board for Professional Teaching
Consortium (INTASC),
Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support
of Teacher Education
and the National Council for Accreditation
engaged in developing
(NCATE), along with professional associations
for students. However, while there is increasing consensus
new standards
do in
and their students need to know and be able to
on what teachers
schools, there is
order to meet the more ambitious goals of 21st century
knowledge base about how to prepare teachers
not yet a well-developed
Although teacher education has been much critiqued,
to do these things.
of learning experiences
little research has been done to examine the kinds
and skills that under-
that help beginning teachers acquire the knowledge
lie learner-centered and learning-centered practice.
in
That teacher knowledge is central to this mission is a new concept
fix schools by chang-
20th century school reform. After decades of trying to
ing curriculum packages, texts, tests, and management systems, most
and skills is criti-
reformers now agree that deepening teachers' knowledge
American education. Only
cal to the success of ongoing efforts to reform
respond differen-
and skillful teachers who are able to
very knowledgeable
and needs can enable diverse
tially and appropriately to students' interests
/ V
FOREWORD
7
challenging learning goals. These goals
learners to succeed at much more
ambitious subject matter content
include helping students learn to master
rather than
and solve complex problems,
and to think critically, create,
these
teachers are being asked to achieve
merely to perform rote tasks. And
traditionally
the 10 to 20 percent who have
goals for all children, not just
"honors"
for the gifted and talented or
been siphoned off into programs
back-
diverse in their needs and
track. Furthermore, students are more
the past. So
their communities than in
grounds and less supported in
of
achieve higher goals for a broader group
schools are being asked to take
needs than ever before.
students with greater learning
has not
seeks to answer a question that
This collection of case studies
teachers for this
addressed by reformers: How can we prepare
yet been yet
of the
conducted under the auspices
daunting mission? The study,
Teachers
Teaching & America's Future at
National Commission on
how seven teacher education pro-
College, Columbia University, reports
succeed at the kind of highly
been able to prepare teachers to
grams have
substantially
above, and thus to create
demanding practice described
experiences for students. It pro-
successful and powerful learning
more
of the programs as well as the content
vides evidence about the outcomes
work is to
they employ. The goal of this
they engage and the processes
others in the field can build upon
provide greater knowledge that
what successful teacher education
knowledge that will help us understand
their stu-
for, what they do, and what
models look like, what they aim
dents can accomplish as a result.
the widely shared set
One motivation for this study was to counteract
these
teacher education. Among others,
of myths about teaching and
made;
that good teachers are born and not
myths include the following:
be intuited
really be taughtit can only
that good practice cannot
teaching
few can ever really master complex
through trial and error; that
teacher-proof
of individual learners (thus,
practices or attend to the needs
that
of educational investment);
curricula should be continued targets
the whole
education programs anyway so
there are no worthwhile teacher
abandoned. These myths, despite
preparing teachers should be
process of
attention
much policy work and deflect
their lack of grounding, drive
teachers.
high quality preparation for
from needed investments in
look at teacher
about alternatives, we set out to
To provide evidence
do that the
noticeably good at what they
education programs that are so
8
PREPARATION IN THE UNDERGRADUTE YEARS
vi
STUDIES OF EXCELLENC
/
distinctive practice of their graduates is obvious as soon as an observer sets
foot in the classroom. This phenomenon is one that I have noticed over
the years of my work in schools and teaching. In my years in New York,
for example, I could almost invariably identify the graduates of preservice
and Teachers College, Columbia by
programs like those of Bank Street
seeing them teach and hearing them discuss their practice. Like the grad-
by asking practitioners in
uates of other programs that we discovered
other parts of the country, these teachers' knowledge of curriculum and
of individual students, and
assessment, their focus on and understanding
their capacity to use sophisticated teaching strategies for engaging diverse
learners were immediately evident. Furthermore, I found that in many
degree of consensus among prin-
parts of the country I could find a high
cipals, superintendents, and teachers who operated schools that were
extraordinarily successful with diverse learners about where they liked to
hire their teachers. These excellent practitioners agreed on a very short list
of colleges in their vicinity (often only one or two) that they believe pre-
the job to shape powerful
pare teachers from their very first moments on
learning experiences for their students and to understand their students'
learning and how to support it very, very well.
The seven programs in this study are by no means the only ones that fit
these criteria and the more formal parameters we ultimately used in devel-
oping the sample. The programs were selected from a much longer list of
candidates because they represent elementary and secondary programs in
public and private institutions serving different kinds of clientele in differ-
selected through an extensive
ent parts of the country. The programs were
review of evidence, including national reputational sampling from
researchers, expert practitioners, and scholars of teacher education; local
evidence from employers about who they prefer to hire and why; and evi-
dence of outcomes from prior surveys of program graduates. To these data
about program outcomes, we added as part of the study a comparison sur-
and a national random sample of begin-
vey of recent program graduates
ning teachers about their preparation and practices; a survey of the princi-
pals of program graduates about their views of the program graduates' abil-
ities and practice in comparison with those of other programs; and obser-
vations of graduates' classroom practice after graduation.
The sample institutions use very different models of preparation, some
others are postbaccalaureate or five year (corn-
are undergraduate while
VII
/
FOREWORD
have created professional
bined undergraduate and graduate); some
others organize student teaching
development school relationships while
cohort models while others do not;
in more traditional ways; some use
mid-
college students while others attract
some attract current or recent
the gamut of
teaching. Thus, together they represent
career recruits to
currently found in the field:
possibilities for teacher education
City offers a graduate school program
Bank Street College in New York
commitments to progressive, dem-
that is known for its long-standing
Bank Street School for Children as an on-
ocratic practice and has the
elementary
the programs for preparing
site lab school. We examined
and middle school teachers.
Berkeley's Developmental Teacher
The University of California at
child-
graduate school model of early
Education Program is a two-year
develop-
focused on the application of
hood education that is strongly
mental' psychology to teaching.
Extended Teacher Education Program
University of Southern Maine's
school-
school model that is substantially
(ETEP) is a one-year graduate
elemen-
much coursework for both the
based. Almost all fieldwork and
place in schools
teacher education programs takes
tary and secondary
school partners with the university
that are professional development,
Massachusetts is known for progressive
Wheelock College in Boston,
examined the
much like Bank Street. We
early childhood education,
path-
education program that is also a
undergraduate early childhood
required of all teachers in
master's degree program
way to a
teaching license.
Massachusetts before they receive a career
model
Wisconsin is an undergraduate
Alverno College in Milwaukee,
sophisticated performance assessment
that organizes its work around a
the elemen-
ability-based curriculum. We examined
strategy tied to its
collaboration with
education program that works in strong
tary teacher
Milwaukee Public Schools.
model that
Antonio, Texas operates a five-year
Trinity University in San
P4EIAATION IN THE UNDERGRADUTE YEARS
STUDIES OF EXCELLENCE:
/
u