Teaching as the Learning Profession: Handbook of Policy and Practice

"No education topic is more important than how to raise the qualityof teaching in America's schools. This book eloquently makes thecase for reshaping teacher preparation and professional developmentto enhance student learning." --Bob Chase, president, National Education Association Leading educational thinkers and researchers deliver an in-depthoverview of the issues and challenges facing the teachingprofession today. This book is the first in over a decade tosynthesize the most important research in the fields of teachingand teacher education. This research is also the basis forrecommAndations found in What Matters Most, a landmarkreport from the National Commission on Teaching and America'sFuture. The authors explore promising approaches to both policy andpractice in teacher learning. They also provide the substancebehind policy recommAndations, examining the implications of schoolreforms for teaching, current knowledge about teacher preparation,and the kinds of learning opportunities teachers will need. Teaching as the Learning Profession includes case studiesof innovative approaches to school improvement, principles forbetter staff development, proposals for the reform of unions, andpractical as well as conceptual advice on recruitment, licensing,redefining the teaching career, enhancing diversity, developingleadership, and expanding such innovations as networks and othersustained forms of teacher-to-teacher learning.

Table of Contents:
Part One: Rethinking Teacher Education 1. Developing Practice, Developing Practitioners: Toward a Practice-Based Theory of Professional Education Deborah Loewenberg Ball and David K. Cohen 2. Aligning Teacher Education with Contemporary K-12 Reform Visions Magdalene Lampert and Deborah Loewenberg Ball 3. The Role of Preservice Teacher Education Mary M. Kennedy 4. Preparing Teachers for Diversity: Historical Perspectives, Current TrAnds, and Future Directions Gloria Ladson-Billings Part Two: Rethinking Teacher Professional Development 5. The Essentials of Effective Professional Development: A New Consensus Willis D. Hawley and Linda Valli 6. Teacher and Student Learning: Strengthening Their Connection Gary Sykes Part Three: Rethinking Organizations for Teacher Learning 7. Teacher Recruitment, Selection, and Induction: Policy Influences on the Supply and Quality of Teachers Linda Darling-Hammond, Barnett T. Berry, David Haselkorn, and Elizabeth Fideler 8. Organizing Schools for Teacher Learning Judith Warren Little 9. Investing in Teacher Learning: Staff Development and Instructional Improvement Richard F. Elmore and Deanna Burney 10. Networks and Reform in American Education Ann Lieberman and Maureen Grolnick Part Four: Rethinking Policy for Teacher Learning 11. Organizing the Other Half of Teaching Julia E. Koppich and Charles Taylor Kerchner 12. The Frame and the Tapestry: Standards-Based Reform and Professional Development Charles L. Thompson and John S. Zeuli 13. Investing in Teaching as a Learning Profession: Policy Problems and Prospects Linda Darling-Hammond and Milbrey Wallin McLaughlin