Strengthening Clinical Preparation: The Holy Grail of Teacher Education

Abstract

Efforts to improve teacher education have recently focused in on the importance of well-supervised clinical practice as a critical element of effective preparation. This article outlines the challenges to creating productive clinical experiences for prospective teachers, and identifies strategies that have been found successful in confronting these challenges. These include the development of professional development school relationships that strengthen practice in partner schools and the use of teacher performance assessments that focus attention on pulling together practical skills and providing feedback to candidates and programs.

Notes

The seven institutions studied are Alverno College in Milwaukee, WI; Bank Street College in New York City; Trinity College in San Antonio, TX; University of California at Berkeley; University of Virginia in Charlottesville; University of Southern Maine; and Wheelock College in Boston, MA.

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Linda Darling-Hammond

Linda Darling-Hammond is Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University and founder of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE) and the School Redesign Network. She has served as faculty sponsor for the Stanford Teacher Education Program. She is a former president of the American Educational Research Association and member of the National Academy of Education. Among her many books are Professional Development Schools: Schools for Developing a Profession, Preparing Teachers for a Changing World: What Teachers Should Learn and be Able to Do (with John Bransford, winner of the Pomeroy Award), and Teaching as the Learning Profession (with Gary Sykes, winner of the National Staff Development Council Outstanding Book Award).