This article describes the creation of a First Year Experience learning community in a teacher education program. The First Year Experience model was adopted by the university because of declining enrollment, retention, and graduation rates and has been generally successful in the education department. With little information available for teacher…

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…

Teacher preparation programs (TPP) rely on school-based mentor teachers and university mentors to assist their teacher candidates with bridging the information presented in courses to the "real world" of teaching. Given the important role that the clinical components of teacher preparation provide in terms of candidate development, the…

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…

Early career special educators must be engaged in conversations with developers of preservice teacher preparation programs to co-construct initial teacher education programs which meet their needs. The process of listening to the teachers themselves could serve to ensure that teachers are an explicit element of program design. This article…

This paper describes a university-school collaboration that resulted in the creation and implementation of a field-based teacher education program. Key features of this program included immersion in the field, integrated curriculum, supported reflection, and technology integration. After describing the development and implementation of the…

The Program for Learning Competent Teaching is an on-site, preservice teacher training program sponsored by the Northern Arizona University's Center for Excellence in Education that attempts to incorporate more of the complexities of teaching than is possible in traditional on-campus lecture classes. The program is a cooperative effort of the…

A description is given of a model teacher preparation program under development at Memphis State University, Memphis, Tennessee. The model emphasizes more intensive preparation of prospective teachers in their teaching content fields, demonstrable accountability for both knowledge and skill acquisition in the various areas of professional…

California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) College of Education implemented a Single Subject Credential Program (Secondary Program) in the Fall of 1995. The first part of this paper reviews the program's two-year developmental process, which includes the program's history, vision, and planning. The following areas were determined to be central…

A detailed description is given of the Early Childhood Teacher Education Program at Idaho State University. This program consists of five phases: (1) early field experience; (2) observing and participating in a diversity of early childhood programs as teacher-initiates and teacher-assistants; (3) examining and reflecting upon their teaching and…

Critics of Early Field Experience (EFE) for preservice teachers have cited a need for shifting focus away from logistical questions (e.g., quantity of time spent in the field, legal questions, administrative schedules) and toward promoting a critically meaningful educational experience for preservice teachers. This paper describes an EFE at…

Strategies for implementing changes that will improve the effectiveness of teacher education are discussed. These include: (1) redesigning curriculum by incorporating entrance and exit criteria and a performance-based emphasis, allowing for continuous assessment of the effectiveness of the curriculum and ensuring a more individualized and…

A comprehensive review of teacher education programs conducted at the University of Florida in 1978-79 provided the foundation for developing a complete reconceptualization of what should comprise teacher education. This goal of reconceptualizing the University of Florida teacher education program became known as Operation PROTEACH. The first…

Collaboration for the Improvement of Teacher Education (CITE) is designed to bring university and school personnel together to create, implement, and then assess structured pre-student teaching field experiences to accompany a newly implemented core teacher education program. The program is grounded in research and theory about the nature and…

The Ohio State Board of Education approved new standards for colleges and universities preparing teachers, which have major implications: (1) joint governance of teacher education by universities and school districts; (2) university involvement in in-service teacher education programs; and (3) a new emphasis on field experiences in a variety of…