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Policy, Practice, and Politics in Teacher Education
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Policy, Practice, and Politics in Teacher Education
Editorials From the Journal of Teacher Education

Foreword by John I. Goodlad



March 2006 | 304 pages | Corwin
`Marilyn Cochran-Smith's keen insights about the politics and substance of teacher education reform focus like a laser on the central issues of educational equity and quality in our time. Anyone who wants to understand what's happening to teaching in this country, and what's at stake, should read this book.'

—Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education

Stanford University

`Marilyn Cochran-Smith is one of the strongest voices in teacher education today. By weighing the evidence, challenging orthodoxy, and analyzing the policies, she has given teacher education a firm footing in the scholarly canon. Her leadership is vital to the field's viability.'

—Gloria Ladson-Billings, Kellner Family Chair in Urban Education

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Access the insight and wisdom of one of today's leading educational scholars in one concise volume!

When it comes to determining the best approach to teacher preparation, today's teachers, teacher educators, and school leaders face an overwhelmingly contentious environment. Through her influential essays in the Journal of Teacher Education, however, Marilyn Cochran-Smith has consistently provided educators with a distinguished voice of reason, advocacy, inspiration, and social justice. This powerful text organizes all of her editorials for the first time into one concise volume, making this an essential guide to teacher preparation at its best.

 
Foreword by John I. Goodlad
 
Preface and Acknowledgments
 
Prologue: Policy, Practice, and Politics: Taking Stock of the Field
 
1 Teacher Education at the Turn of the Century
 
2 Gambling on the Future
 
3 The Questions That Drive Reform
 
4 Learning to Teach Against the (New) Grain
 
5 Multicultural Education: Solution or Problem for American Schools?
 
6 Higher Standards for Prospective Teachers: What’s Missing From the Discourse?
 
7 Reforming Teacher Education: Competing Agendas
 
8 Desperately Seeking Solutions
 
9 Teacher Education, Ideology, and Napoleon
 
10 What’s Preparation Got to Do With It?
 
11 What a Difference a Definition Makes: Highly Qualified Teachers, Scientific Research, and Teacher Education
 
12 The Research Base for Teacher Education: Metaphors We Live (And Die?) By
 
13 Reporting on Teacher Quality: The Politics of Politics
 
14 The Unforgiving Complexity of Teaching: Avoiding Simplicity in the Age of Accountability
 
15 Teaching Quality Matters
 
16 Assessing Assessment in Teacher Education
 
17 Teacher Education’s Bermuda Triangle: Dichotomy, Mythology, and Amnesia
 
18 Sometimes It’s Not About The Money: Teaching and Heart
 
19 Taking Stock in 2004: Teacher Education in Dangerous Times
 
20 Ask a Different Question, Get a Different Answer: The Research Base for Teacher Education
 
21 The Report of the Teaching Commission: What’s Really at Risk?
 
22 The Problem of Teacher Education
 
23 Stayers, Leavers, Lovers, and Dreamers: Insights About Teacher Retention
 
24 Taking Stock in 2005: Getting Beyond the Horse Race
 
25 No Child Left Behind: 3 Years and Counting
 
26 The Politics of Teacher Education and the Curse of Complexity
 
27 Studying Teacher Education: What We Know and Need to Know
 
28 Teacher Education and the Outcomes Trap
 
29 Taking Stock in 2006: Evidence, Evidence Everywhere
 
Epilogue: The Future of Teacher Education: Promises and Pitfalls
 
Index
 
About the Author

"Marilyn Cochran-Smith is one of the strongest voices in teacher education today. By weighing the evidence, challenging orthodoxy, and analyzing the policies, she has given teacher education a firm footing in the scholarly canon. Her leadership is vital to the field’s viability."

Gloria Ladson-Billings
Kellner Family Chair in Urban Education, University of Wisconsin, Madison
QQ

"During her tenure as editor of the Journal of Teacher Education, Marilyn Cochran-Smith used her editorials to provoke our thinking anew about so many important education research issues, ranging from pedagogy to politics. It is to her credit, and our good fortune, that we get to revisit her perspective through this collection of her work."

Sharon Robinson
President and CEO, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
QQ

"Marilyn Cochran-Smith’s keen insights about the politics and substance of teacher education reform focus like a laser on the central issues of educational equity and quality in our time. Anyone who wants to understand what’s happening to teaching in this country and what’s at stake should read this book."

Linda Darling-Hammond
Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University


"Relevant to teachers, policymakers, school board members, and anyone who cares about our schools and their public purpose. . . A book of Marilyn Cochran-Smith’s thirty thoughtful editorials deserves attention both within and beyond the professional teacher education community."

 

From the Foreword by John I. Goodlad

Sample Materials & Chapters

Foreword

Ch 1

Prologue