Some educators believe such problems can be averted through more coordinated communication among state-level education policy makers, university education faculty, university arts and sciences faculty, and mentor teachers in public schools. Complicating the question of curricular control in many settings is the low status of teacher education departments compared to other university departments. Questions about requirements placed on teacher education programs are also connected to concerns about the unique context of teacher education programs in universities. The concept of such centers emerged from the work of John Goodlad and members of the Holmes Partnership, an education reform network. The education of the teachers to whom the public entrusts its children is one of the most serious policy issues today.
Questions related to teacher education are complex, challenging, and controversial.