Clinical supervisors serve an essential role in the field of teacher preparation. Despite acknowledgment of the complexity of this work, supervisors are often marginalized, provided inadequate support in their roles, and seen as evaluators for individual student teachers as opposed to part of a larger program. Instead of positioning clinical…

The purpose of clinical courses in teacher education programs is to reflect on practice. Yet there is little research on how best to structure critical self-reflection with early childhood special education (ECSE) teacher candidates. Following a review of research promoting ECSE teacher candidate reflection and a discussion of critically…

The relocation of teacher preparation to "new graduate schools of education" (nGSEs) is a highly controversial "innovation" within the rapidly expanding field of teacher education. This introductory article to a guest-edited issue of "The New Educator" focused on nGSEs defines teacher preparation at nGSEs and analyzes…

The rationale, process, critical features, and lessons learned by faculty members during the redesign and implementation of our previously existing special education teacher education program into an innovative program integrating research-supported effective teacher education practices are described in this article. We begin with the rationale…

Transitioning from teacher candidate to beginning teacher remains a difficult one despite school districts' efforts to provide mentoring and induction programs. This commentary examines teacher attrition and current practices used to support new teachers entering the profession. We draw on the tenets of characteristics of effective mentorships and…

This article documents a collaborative effort between university teacher educators and an urban school district in Wisconsin to address acute teacher shortages in bilingual education. The effort took shape as a Grow-Your-Own program based on the teacher residency model. Several innovations were required in program design and implementation to…

While academic conferences and professional associations were amongst those societal structures that were immediately (and arguably forever) changed by the pandemic , many -- including this article's authors and this special issue's editors -- would argue that long before the pandemic, the static structure of professional conferences had made them…

As the intersection between theory and practice, clinical experiences are the shared home through which school and university constituents examine effective pedagogies. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, our teacher preparation programs had built meaningful, face-to-face, partnership-based clinical experiences. The abrupt shift to virtual instruction…

Many students in the United States suffer from mental health issues resulting from Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Often, students exhibit negative behavior as a result of these issues and many schools continue to implement punitive approaches to discipline, such as suspensions or expulsions, which serve to further isolate and disconnect…

In recent decades, several novel approaches to teacher preparation have emerged to challenge the dominance of university-based programs. Included in those approaches are two well-publicized, but little-researched phenomena: new graduate schools of education (nGSEs) and fully online teacher preparation. Drawing on data generated from a…

This paper describes how we, a group of 7 emerging teacher educators, took up a critical inquiry framework to collaboratively generate knowledge through dialogic reflection on practice across educational contexts. We participated in culture circles and teatro as a practice of teacher education that centers love and humanizing practice. Together…

Despite evidence that inclusion is a research-based practice for students with extensive support needs (ESN), such students are often denied access to meaningful instruction in general education. This article describes an interdisciplinary program that prepares educators to serve all students, including those with low-incidence disabilities, in…

As new teachers confront the realities of a Trump administration characterized by a troublingly tenuous grasp of history, we advocate for infusing historical thinking into all facets of elementary teacher education. Historical thinking can promote an inquiry stance, ably contribute to social justice initiatives, and enable teachers to appreciate…

Facilitating successful informal STEM learning experiences is essential for building knowledge and comfort with STEM content for children and teachers alike. Informal learning experiences are by nature hands-on and interdisciplinary and provide play-based, real-world, authentic learning experiences. This article describes what elementary teacher…

In this article, we describe teacher educators' collaboration for coherence around social justice teacher education in preparation for a national accreditation review. Specifically, we illuminate how we cultivated an inquiry stance and critical conversations to build a safe and trusting community, generate locally meaningful values, and…