The Power Of Clinical Preparation In Teacher Education

Preparing teachers to work in our nation’s classrooms presents an array of challenges for teacher educators. Recently, organizations such as the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released reports calling for change, supporting clinical teacher preparation, and encouraging links between university faculty, clinical faculty (P-12 educators), and pre-service teachers. This book (as well as its companion text, Case Studies of Clinical Preparation in Teacher Education: An Examination of Three Teacher Preparation Partnerships) responds to calls for change in teacher education. Sponsored by the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) and its Commission on Clinically-Based Teacher Preparation, the book includes program descriptions, theoretical frameworks, and research studies. Initiated in response to Dr. Nancy Zimpher’s keynote speech at ATE’s 2011 Annual Meeting, the Commission on Clinically-Based Teacher Preparation set out to identify exemplary programs of teacher education, promising practices within those programs, and research related to the programs’ clinical practices. This text represents the Commission’s findings.

Preparing teachers to work in our nation’s classrooms presents an array of challenges for teacher educators. Recently, organizations such as the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released reports calling for change, supporting clinical teacher preparation, and encouraging links between university faculty, clinical faculty (P-12 educators), and pre-service teachers. This book (as well as its companion text, The Power of Clinical Preparation in Teacher Education: Embedding Teacher Preparation within P-12 School Contexts) responds to calls for change in teacher education. Sponsored by the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) and its Commission on Clinically-Based Teacher Preparation, the book includes program descriptions, theoretical frameworks, and research studies. Initiated in response to Dr. Nancy Zimpher’s keynote speech at ATE’s 2011 Annual Meeting, the Commission on Clinically-Based Teacher Preparation set out to identify exemplary programs of teacher education, promising practices within those programs, and research related to the programs’ clinical practices. This text represents the Commission’s findings.

For decades teacher education researchers, organizations, and policy makers have called for improving teacher education by creating clinically based preparation programs (e.g. CAEP, 2013; Goodlad, 1990; Holmes, 1986, 1995; National Association for Professional Development Schools, 2008; National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Educators, 2001, 2010; Zeichner, 1990). According to the NCATE Blue Ribbon Report (2010), this approach requires extensive opportunities for prospective teachers to connect and apply what they learn from school and university based teacher educators. Similar to preparing medical professionals, clinical practice in teacher education requires the complex and time intensive work of supporting teacher candidate ability to link theory, research, and practice as well as on-going inquiry into best pedagogical practices. Therefore, clinically intensive programs expect prospective teachers to blend practitioner and academic knowledge throughout their programs as "they learn by doing" (NCATE, 2010, p.ii). However, most of the literature to date on clinical practice has been conceptual and often relies on describing program design. The purpose of this book is move past description to study and understand what teacher education programs are learning from research about innovative clinical models of teacher education. Each book chapter highlights research about how programs are studying a variety of outcomes of clinical practice. After an introductory chapter that helps to define and situate clinical practice in teacher education, the book is organized into four sections: (1) Outcomes of New Roles, (2) Outcomes of New Practices, (3) Outcomes of New Coursework/Fieldwork Configurations, and (4) Outcomes of New Program Configurations. The book wraps up with a discussion that looks across the chapters to find common themes, share implications for teacher educators, and set the course for future research.

National and international teacher education organizations and scholars have called for an increased emphasis on clinical practice in educator preparation programs. These recommendations include specific efforts to increase the duration, diversity, and quality of experiences that teacher candidates engage in during their time in P-12 schools while earning their teaching license. This book includes a robust set of chapters that include conceptual, theoretical, and empirical chapters related to innovative approaches in clinical practice in educator preparation. Authors include teacher educators from around the United States and Canada from a variety of types of higher education institutions. The book provides readers with examples, evidence, and ideas to thoughtfully consider their future direction in examining, planning, and implementing clinical practice experiences for teacher candidates.

Today, in many contexts the lack of attention to preparing the next generation of teacher educators as well as having a critical mass of faculty who understand the current teacher education research problem lingers. Although the NCATE Blue Ribbon Panel Report (2010), the recent advent of the CAEP standards, and the new AACTE Clinical Practice Commission Report (2017) challenge those responsible for teacher preparation to rethink the design as well as their work within clinical practice, there is much too little discussion about how to prepare the next generation of teacher educators to work differently. Just like Zeichner found almost 20 years ago, teacher education still too often remains “a tangential concern for most and the major concern of only a few” (Ziechner, 1999, p. 11). These concerns raise important questions for those who are currently responsible for pivoting, reinventing, and researching teacher preparation. This book offers insights from teacher education researchers that illustrate the ongoing benefits and persistent challenges of educating and preparing university and school-based teacher educators. This is an important step in understanding the complex roles, practices, and responsibilities associated with high quality teacher education that emphasizes clinical practice.

Teaching as a Clinical Practice Profession is a collection of research-based works that represent current clinical-based teacher preparation. Excellent teaching is a clinical skill and exemplary teacher education provides for clinical education in a clinical setting. Strong clinical preparation of teachers is a key factor in students’ success.

Preparing Teachers for Deeper Learning answers an urgent call for teachers who educate children from diverse backgrounds to meet the demands of a changing world. In today’s knowledge economy, teachers must prioritize problem-solving ability, adaptability, critical thinking, and the development of interpersonal and collaborative skills over rote memorization and the passive transmission of knowledge. Authors Linda Darling-Hammond and Jeannie Oakes and their colleagues examine what this means for teacher preparation and showcase the work of programs that are educating for deeper learning, equity, and social justice. Guided by the growing knowledge base in the science of learning and development, the book examines teacher preparation programs at Alverno College, Bank Street College of Education, High Tech High’s Intern Program, Montclair State University, San Francisco Teacher Residency, Trinity University, and University of Colorado Denver. These seven programs share a common understanding of how people learn that shape similar innovative practices. With vivid examples of teaching for deeper learning in coursework and classrooms; interviews with faculty, school partners, and novice teachers; surveys of teacher candidates and graduates; and analyses of curriculum and practices, Preparing Teachers for Deeper Learning depicts transformative forms of teaching and teacher preparation that honor and expand all students’ abilities, knowledges, and experiences, and reaffirm the promise of educating for a better world.

Clinical experiences, supported by well-prepared mentor teachers and university-based teacher educators, are essential for developing successful teacher candidates. While the design and structure of these significant learning opportunities often vary among preparation programs, a common feature is teacher candidates work in partnered educational settings engaged in teaching that is closely aligned with coursework and in collaboration with individuals tasked with supporting their growth, development, and entry into the profession. The primary purpose of this text is to provide readers a varied set of examples from teacher preparation programs that have established effective systems, practices, and/or pedagogies to develop and support mentor teachers and university-based educators in becoming effective clinical coaches. The text endeavors to shine a bright light on those programmatic efforts shaping teacher preparation in impactful, meaningful, and sustainable ways. This text will be of primary interest to all those working in organizations, institutes of higher education, alternative licensure programs, and schools and districts involved with the preparation of teacher candidates.

A significant trend in teacher education is that of providing more clinical experiences for prospective teachers than was formerly the case, and offering them earlier in teacher preparation programs. This will help teacher educators acquire an understanding of the dimensions of clinical experiences and develop the ability to implement them in their unique situations. To facilitate this objective, the material included in this book combines significant research findings with current thinking regarding effective practice. This combination provides a base from which participants in clinical experiences can approach this important effort with competence and confidence.

As it stands, there is currently a void in education literature in how to best prepare preservice teachers to meet the needs of individualized learners across multiple learning platforms, social/economical contexts, language variety, and special education needs. The subject is in dire need of support for the ongoing improvement of administrative, clinical, diagnostic, and instructional practices related to the learning process. The Handbook of Research on Reconceptualizing Preservice Teacher Preparation in Literacy Education stimulates the professional development of preservice and inservice literacy educators and researchers. This book also promotes the excellence in preservice and inservice literacy both nationally and internationally. Discussing topics such as virtual classrooms, critical literacy, and teacher preparation, this book serves as an ideal resource for tenure- track faculty in literacy education, clinical faculty, field supervisors who work with preservice teacher educators, community college faculty, university faculty who are in the midst of reconceptualizing undergraduate teacher education curriculum, mentor teachers working with preservice teachers, district personnel, researchers, students, and curricula developers who wish to understand the needs of preservice teacher education.