Putting the System Together: Lessons Learned by the Eisenhower Initial Teacher Professional Development Programs

Abstract

In spite of unrelenting focus on the quality of new teachers and on teacher education, there has been little research on collaboration at all teacher education system levels to attain the goals of states and education schools to reform teacher education. Nine federally-funded projects were designed to explore whether partnerships between state agencies, universities, and local school districts could be the catalyst for improvement in teacher education and induction. This meta-ethnography of the projects synthesizes eight lessons learned across the projects: 1) Partnerships and professional development schools; 2) Models of teacher education; 3) Engagement of arts and sciences faculty; 4) Teacher education curriculum; 5) A clinical approach to teacher education; 6) Educational standards; 7) Recruitment and retention; and 8) Professional development, induction, and retention. Specific examples of strategies used to attain goals are provided to enhance the usability of the article, intended to both provide evidence of successes in nine states that used a system approach and to provide lessons learned to inform other teacher education programs.