Recent Developments in Teacher Education in the United States of America

Two national reports published in 1986 marked the beginning of teacher education reform in the United States of America. Both of these reports proposed a twofold approach to teacher education reform: first, to enrich the professional education of teachers by eliminating undergraduate teacher certification programs and requiring graduate level training; and second, to change the structure of the teaching profession by replacing the existing undifferentiated system in which all teachers have the same rank with a two-tiered system in which lead teachers or career professionals would assume higher level responsibilities and receive higher salaries than regular teachers. A ten-year follow-up report identified some progress toward these goals of teacher education reform but criticised schools of education for not making greater efforts to connect their educational programs to elementary and secondary schools. The report argued specifically for professional development schools to link university schools of education to school systems. Most of the recent efforts to reform teacher education have adopted this approach. A particular focus has been the preparation of new and experienced teachers to educate an increasingly diverse student population.