CTP Publications Related to this Study:

Teacher Preparation Research: Current Knowledge, Gaps, and Recommendations

CTP Executive Summary—Teacher Preparation Research: Current Knowledge, Gaps, and Recommendations

CTP STUDY DESCRIPTION

Review of Research on Teacher Preparation

Principal Investigators:

Suzanne Wilson, Michigan State University
Robert Floden, Michigan State University
Joan Ferrini-Mundy, Michigan State University

Overview:

The team assembled over 300 research studies from various sources and reviewed them during Fall 2000. Working from research literature published over the past two decades in peer-reviewed outlets, the synthesis team developed a report detailing major findings, research gaps, and recommendations for further research on teacher preparation programs and policies that support them. Guided by a six-member technical working group, which helped shaped the criteria for the review and commented on the draft report, the research review used strict standards of rigor, including only studies that had undergone scientific scrutiny and which conformed to standards in the relevant research traditions. The review also sought to provide guidance to USED/OERI regarding the quality of the research it has supported regarding teacher preparation and outlining targets for future research it might undertake.

Main Research Questions:

1. What kinds of subject matter preparation, and how much of it, do prospective teachers need?
2. What kinds of pedagogical preparation, and how much of it, do prospective teachers need?
3. What kinds, timing, and amount of clinical training ("student teaching") best equip prospective teachers for classroom practice?
4. What policies and strategies have been used successfully by states, universities, school districts, and other organizations to improve and sustain the quality of preservice teacher education?
5. What are the components and characteristics of high-quality alternative certification programs?

Method:

Document review

Status:

Research Completed

Publications:

CTP Research Report: Teacher Preparation Research: Current Knowledge, Gaps, and Recommendations, by Suzanne Wilson, Robert Floden, Joan Ferrini-Mundy, Michigan State University, February 2001.

CTP Executive Summary: Teacher Preparation Research: Current Knowledge, Gaps, and Recommendations, by Suzanne Wilson, Robert Floden, and Joan Ferrini-Mundy, Michigan State University, February 2001.