The Power of Clinical Preparation in Teacher Education

Preparing teachers to work in our nation’s classrooms presents an array of challenges for teacher educators. Recently, organizations such as the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released reports calling for change, supporting clinical teacher preparation, and encouraging links between university faculty, clinical faculty (P-12 educators), and pre-service teachers. This book (as well as its companion text, Case Studies of Clinical Preparation in Teacher Education: An Examination of Three Teacher Preparation Partnerships) responds to calls for change in teacher education. Sponsored by the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) and its Commission on Clinically-Based Teacher Preparation, the book includes program descriptions, theoretical frameworks, and research studies. Initiated in response to Dr. Nancy Zimpher’s keynote speech at ATE’s 2011 Annual Meeting, the Commission on Clinically-Based Teacher Preparation set out to identify exemplary programs of teacher education, promising practices within those programs, and research related to the programs’ clinical practices. This text represents the Commission’s findings.