Offers thoughts on why schools, colleges, and departments of education fail to achieve excellence and three premises for achieving same involving building strong partnerships with schools and communities, building an excellent research base, and the preparation of teachers with deep content knowledge, an understanding of child development and…

States that if universities are to remain key players in initial teacher education, they must support university-based initial teacher educators. Presents data that was found during interviews conducted between 1998 and 1999 focusing on the ways teacher educators define their professional credibility. Includes references. (CMK)

Presents an argument for establishing an international research base for teacher education, providing four areas of teacher education activity (program structure, content, personnel, and topics) and a discussion of several research issues within each activity area. Suggestions for encouraging the continued development of international research in…

Post-baccalaureate student teachers (n=130) in an agricultural certificate program were tested on technical knowledge and evaluated by cooperating teachers. Animal science and agricultural education majors scored significantly lower on plant and soil science than did other majors. Cooperating teachers perceived differences between major and…

Reports on the findings from the House of Commons Education Committee's Inquiry into Science and Technology at Key Stages two and three. Discusses background, views of Key Stages two and three, pupil motivation, curriculum, and recommendations. (JRH)

Discusses the changing knowledge base for pedagogy, the domain of the pedagogical sciences, and the intersection between these pedagogical sciences and culture. The paper draws on cultural psychology as a basis for pedagogy and details the implications for teacher education of the view that knowledge is shaped by the cultural contexts in which it…

Draws on a range of recent curriculum development and research initiatives in order to consider what preservice teacher education programs might, most effectively, be able to do to promote environmental education within schools and, through them, within the wider community. Concludes with a set of organizational principles. (LZ)

Reports a longitudinal study that examined gender differences among secondary teacher candidates across three categories of criterion measures (self-confidence in teaching, anticipated sources of professional knowledge, and educational orientations and beliefs). Surveys indicated that there were differences in self-confidence and educational…

Examined the ability to access patterns of pedagogical knowledge about teaching and learning operating when experienced English-as-a-Second-Language teachers taught, using both qualitative and quantitative analyses. Teachers viewed and discussed videotapes of their own lessons. Analysis of their recollections suggests that a combination of…

Confronts the issue of K-12 public school teachers' existing knowledge of, use of, and desire to learn content-reading strategies. Finds that fewer than one-half of the teachers surveyed were familiar with popularly identified strategies, and many who were familiar with these strategies did not use them. (SC)

Asa Hilliard describes how model teaching programs (like Project SEED), mentoring, and improved teacher recruitment can inspire new teachers to realize how good teaching can be. It is crucial for teachers to develop a deep knowledge about the subjects they love, because they will be eager to share what they have learned with students. (MLH)

Discusses how teachers can use magazines written for culturally and linguistically diverse groups to increase their own knowledge base and to use as a resource for multicultural-education lesson planning in order to provide students with an opportunity to learn about high achieving individuals who come from backgrounds similar to their own.…

Describes the way in which 12 primary-grade teachers responded to reform-minded teaching of multidigit addition and subtraction. Discusses the nature of effective teacher-development programs. Contains 21 references. (ASK)

Investigated the evaluation and implementation of four standards-based curriculum programs by middle school mathematics teachers. Data from classroom observations, field notes, individual and group surveys, and teacher and administrator interviews indicated that amount and quality of teachers' experience, curriculum and instruction knowledge base,…

This study assessed factors contributing to global program quality in 180 community-based child-care centers in North Carolina. Inclusive early-childhood programs scored higher on the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale. Other predictors of global program quality included teacher education, professional experience, and teacher self-ratings of…