Powerful Teacher Education: Lessons from Exemplary Programs

There is wide agreement that the key to better schools is better teachers.¿ If we are to prepare diverse students with the knowledge required by today's society, we need teachers with the sophisticated skills to teach all learners well. Yet the task of preparing these¿more knowledgeable and skillful teachers has been a difficult one, as schools of education have been poorly resourced and frequently criticized as weak, fragmented, and out of touch.¿ If we are to have teachers who can meet the challenges of today's demanding classrooms, we must start with strong teacher education programs that can help teachers become highly capable from their first days on the job.

Powerful Teacher Education describes the strategies, goals, content, and processes of seven highly successful and long-standing teacher education programs—Alverno College, Bank Street College, Trinity University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Southern Maine, University of Virginia, and Wheelock College. All these colleges and universities have succeeded in preparing teachers to teach diverse learners to achieve high levels of performance and understanding. ¿In discussing the common features of these programs, Linda Darling-Hammond shows what outstanding teacher education models do and how they do it, and what their graduates accomplish as a result.¿ Powerful Teacher Education also examines the policies, organizational features, resources, and relationships that have enabled these programs to succeed.¿

Powerful Teacher Education offers a clear picture of what good teacher education looks like in practice, what those who have experienced it can do, and what it takes to provide quality preparation within and across universities and schools. This book is a valuable tool for educators involved in the daunting task of making teacher education a vital part of the educational system.