Studying Teacher Education What We Know and Need to Know

The most recent of the new teacher education reports is Studying Teacher Education: The Report of the AERA Panel on Teacher Education (Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2005), which reviews existing research and calls for a new research agenda. This editorial comments on the report from three perspectives: the emerging research in the field, the preparation of professionals in other professions, and the conclusions of other recent teacher education reports. (1) STUDYING TEACHER EDUCATION (2) The work of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Panel on Research and Teacher Education began at a time when many conflicting claims were being made about what the research said about teacher education. The panel was charged with two tasks: (a) to present an even-handed, critical analysis of the weight of the empirical evidence about the impact of policy and practice in preservice teacher education in the United States and (b) to recommend a research agenda that acknowledged strengths and shortcomings of the extant research and that built on promising lines to move the field forward. Throughout its work, the panel took seriously its charge to produce a synthesis that was not beholden to any reform agenda and did not advocate for or against any particular political position. WORKING ASSUMPTIONS AND KEY QUESTIONS The work of the panel is based on four assumptions. We assumed complexity and variation, rather than uniformity, across collegiate programs and alternate providers as well as in the language used to describe them. Thus, we focused primarily on components rather than on program types. Second, the panel assumed that many empirical approaches are needed in the study of teacher education, including experimental and correlational research but also including a variety of qualitative approaches. Thus, the panel worked from the assumption that pupils' learning, especially when defined solely by test scores, is a necessary but not sufficient way to conceptualize the outcomes of teacher preparation; we therefore considered a variety of outcomes. Finally, the panel assumed that there is a loose coupling among research, practice, and policy, which means that teacher preparation policies and practices can be profoundly influenced but never determined solely by empirical evidence. Working from these assumptions, the panel developed three framing chapters and nine reviews of empirical research on (a) the demographic characteristics of the entering teaching force, (b) relationships between demographic characteristics and quality, (c) the outcomes of coursework in the arts and sciences and foundations of education, (d) the outcomes of methods courses and fieldwork, (e) the outcomes of various teacher education pedagogies, (f) the outcomes of preparing teachers to work with diverse populations, (g) the outcomes of preparing teachers to work with students with special needs, (h) the outcomes of accountability processes, and (i) the outcomes of teacher preparation program types. For each area, the panel analyzed the findings, strengths, and weaknesses of the research and also identified needed research topics and methods. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDED RESEARCH AGENDA Just a few highlights of the panel's findings and recommendations are noted here. The panel found that despite growth in alternate routes, most teachers are still prepared in undergraduate programs in public colleges and universities with more majoring in arts and sciences subjects than ever before. College graduates in secondary teacher education have SAT or ACT scores comparable to those of other college graduates, although elementary teachers have slightly lower scores. The research comparing the impact of different types of teacher education programs and pathways (4-year to 5-year programs, traditional-alternate routes) does not point to the superiority of any one path. However, across the research, there is evidence that certain program components and characteristics are related to teacher quality and pupils' achievement, such as consistent vision, strong collaborations between universities and schools, certain course work and school/ community fieldwork, and effective use of certain teacher education strategies. …