Reforming Teacher Education: A First Year Progress Report on Teachers for a New Era

摘要

In a bold attempt to reform the way teachers are prepared in the United States, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, with the Annenberg Foundation and the Ford Foundation, launched Teachers for a New Era (TNE) in the summer of 2001. The goal of this initiative is to fundamentally reform teacher education in a selected number of teacher preparation programs by providing these sites with funding ($5 million over a period of five years) and technical assistance through the Academy for Educational Development (AED). Four institutions were selected for the TNE grant in FY2002: Bank Street College of Education; California State University, Northridge (CSUN); Michigan State University (MSU); and the University of Virginia (UVa). Bank Street College of Education is an independent institution devoted entirely to Improving the education of children and their teachers. The college comprises three divisions: Children's Programs, which runs the School for Children; the Division of Continuing Education; and the Graduate School of Education devoted entirely to teacher education. The Graduate School offers master's degrees in education through a number of different pro- grams that can be completed in as little as 12-15 months, although two years to completion is most typical. Generally, Bank Street graduates about 250 teachers per year from programs leading to initial certification. CSUN offers multiple pathways for obtaining elementary and secondary teaching credentials, including undergraduate programs offered jointly by the College of Education and arts and sciences colleges. In addition, it offers several versions of the postbaccalaureate program (fifth-year program). In 2000-01, CSUN issued a total of 1,554 initial credentials. Overall, a little less than half of the graduates were minorities.