Common Core and Inner Core: Co-Collaborators in Teacher Preparation

INTRODUCTION Many of the day-to-day activities in teacher education and teacher professional development are devoted to structural, programmatic, and curricular responsibilities linked with the teacher accountability and standards movements (Ingersoll, Merrill, & May, 2012; Tobia & Hord, 2012). Prominent organizations and frameworks associated with this approach include: The National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education, the Common Core State Standards, the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium, state or district-specific observation protocols, and performance-based compensation models that link teacher effectiveness to student learning outcomes. As a director of a teacher education program, I am cautious about the way the teacher effectiveness movement may limit the professional autonomy of teachers by norming instruction toward prescribed ends when standards and high stakes accountability are linked together. Yet, I also find that standards can support teacher preparation programs in the development and implementation of performance indicators, competencies, and instructional strategies intended to increase the effectiveness of program graduates. For example, the teacher education program I direct initiated a revision of the curriculum informed by current understandings of standards in teacher education, best practices for teachers, clinical field-based placements for novice teachers, district-specific teacher performance assessments, legislation impacting definitions of teacher effectiveness, and increased public scrutiny that holds teacher preparation programs accountable for the performance of their graduates. The renewed program is grounded in four curricular pillars: engage, plan, teach, and lead, which were gleaned from the teacher effectiveness standards and modified to meet our local context and program mission. Our program-specific response to the current policy terrain in teacher education has increased program coherency and strengthened instructional linkages between learning outcomes, course assignments, and field experiences. But as we moved deeper and deeper into the tasks associated with program renewal, we began to see with increased clarity what we already intuitively knew: that standards are necessary but not sufficient for the preparation of teachers. In addition to technical expertise, 21st century teachers and teacher-leaders need a steady supply of passion, heart, and inner resiliency to resist burnout and effectively respond to the curricular, societal, and institutional conditions of teaching. In an effort to create a more holistic and nuanced framework, we added a fifth pillar to the program, grow. Our intention was to provide a programmatic home for discussing and attending to the inner dimensions of effective teaching such as: calling, integrity, authenticity, and heart. INTEGRATED MODEL OF TEACHER EDUCATION The remainder of this paper argues that a more robust and integrated model for teacher education and teacher professional development (Figure 3.1) should include program specific application of standards as well as attentiveness to the inner dimensions of teaching. As Parker Palmer (1997) states: "We need to open a new frontier in our exploration of good teaching: the inner landscape of the teacher's life. To chart that landscape fully, three important paths must be taken--intellectual, emotional, and spiritual--none can be ignored" (p. 15). For the purposes of this paper I will use the term "common core" as short-hand for standards-based reform and teacher accountability. By common core I mean the Common Core State Standards as well as general efforts in teacher preparation and professional development that seek to describe effective teaching as standards, teacher competencies, performance-based evaluation protocols, accountability, and standardized tests. I will use the term "inner core" as short-hand for a constellation of teaching qualities that characterize the inner life of teachers including: calling, emotion, affect, dispositions, heart, self-knowing, and passion. …