This powerful text organizes Marilyn Cochran-Smith′s influential essays from theJournal of Teacher Education into one concise guide to teacher preparation at its best.

"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 theJournal 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