Today's schools are more culturally and linguistically diverse than ever before, prompting the need for teachers with the requisite expertise for work with emergent bilingual learners. As students grow in numbers and fill seats in classrooms spanning grades and disciplines, teacher educators must consider ways to prepare an increasing number of…

Despite the call for a transformation of teacher education in the 21st century, surprisingly little has changed. This includes how the practical, hands-on component, known as a field experience is structured. Previous research, conducted in 2010, specifically examining how teacher education programs address K-12 online learning through their field…

Recent policy and scholarly reports, accreditation agencies' guidelines, and professional association efforts have called for teacher preparation programs to incorporate more frequent and rigorous clinical experiences. Directing three elementary and secondary education programs in two states, we recognized that one reason they--and perhaps other…

Teacher education programs are responsible for preparing science teachers for today's culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms, which includes preparing them to support students' science learning and language development. Given the rapid growth in linguistic diversity across the country, science teacher preparation for English learners,…

Prospective elementary teachers at three universities engaged in online modules called the Virtual Field Experience, created by the Math Forum. The prospective teachers learned about problem solving and mentoring elementary students in composing solutions and explanations to nonroutine challenge problems. Finally, through an asynchronous online…

Preparing teachers to be civic educators is especially critical in urban schools serving marginalized populations. This paper proposal describes the use of a highly interactive, student-centered, and social justice-oriented teaching strategy -- youth participatory action research (YPAR) -- to support new urban teachers working at all grades level…

A significant amount of research supports the value of learning outside the classroom for creating effective learning opportunities, and for the social, cultural and emotional benefits it presents. Although there is a movement in place in the United Kingdom to integrate learning outside the classroom into classroom practice, many pre-service…

Tennessee began its movement toward Middle Level Licensure during the 2002-2003 school year. Only 14 years later, in 2016, Middle Level Licensure in Tennessee will change. In this article, the background and experiences of seven middle level education teacher candidates at the University of Memphis who were the first candidates to complete the…

Background: The implementation of inclusive education creates challenges for classroom teachers who have to meet the learning needs of students with and without special educational needs (SEN). Research has revealed that teachers' readiness and willingness to accommodate the learning needs of students with SEN was determined by their…

Recent reports call for a structural transformation of teacher preparation programs with increased attention to quality field-based learning experiences for pre-service teachers. Ideally, this occurs in the context of robust university-school partnerships. The challenges lie in identifying such school sites and building meaningful, reciprocal…

This study details the experiences from a pilot program aimed at virtually pairing pre-service teacher education candidates with fifth-grade students for the purposes of raising achievement and creating meaningful field experiences. Researchers paired the difficulties of traditional field experiences with the difficulties in vocabulary…

This article explores a university's Urban Teacher Education Program (UTEP) and its success not just in recruiting, preparing, retaining, and graduating its students, but in likewise leading to employment and retention as teachers in urban schools. It focuses on critical aspects of the program, including recruitment of diverse candidates,…

Across all certification areas, teacher education is being challenged to better integrate clinical experiences with coursework. This article describes the process of curriculum mapping and its impact on the organization of clinical experiences in a master's TESOL program over a 1-year redesign process. Although curriculum mapping has been employed…

Nationwide, personnel preparation programs are responding to the changing population demographics and its impact on Pre K-12 classrooms. Needs surveys conducted by the Monarch Center over the past ten years have consistently yielded a need for support in redesigning program course and fieldwork components to better prepare their teachers and other…

The benefits of family involvement in the education of children with disabilities are well documented. Few teacher education programs, however, implement specific strategies for encouraging interactions between families and those preparing to be teachers. The University of South Florida St. Petersburg and the local membership of a professional…