BOULDER, Colo. (PRWEB) October 10, 2019

As schools and universities begin a new academic year, a growing alliance of leaders in colleges of education across the country today released a statement cautioning against many of the current trends for reforming how we prepare teachers for our nations public schools.

In the statement, Seven Trends to Reform U.S. Teacher Education, and the Need to Address Systemic Injustices, over 350 deans and other leaders called for a significant shift in course. The statement begins by declaring that teacher-education programs without a doubtcannot and should not operate as if all is well, because it is not. But the leaders then warn that several current efforts to reform teacher education in the United Statesare making things worse. These trends, they explain, share the fundamental flaw of focusing on hyper-individualistic, market-based solutions linked to failed ideas about student achievement, teacher accountability, rewards, and punishments, rather than addressing legacies of systemic injustices in educational institutions and strategies to increase participatory democracy.

The seven trends examined are:

The leaders statement highlights research that shows how, in a number of ways, these approaches lack a sound research basis, and in some instances, they have already proven to widen disparities. The statement concludes with an alternative vision for teacher education that advances equity and justice in our nations schools.

Signing the statement are over 350 current and former leaders in colleges and schools of education across the United States. The leaders, which include deans, associate deans, directors, and chairs, work in public, private, and religious institutions of higher education spanning over three dozen states.

The statement was authored by Education Deans for Justice and Equity (EDJE) and prepared in partnership with the National Education Policy Center. EDJE was formed in 2016 as an alliance of deans to address inequities and injustices in education while promoting its democratic premises through policy, research, and practice.

Seven Trends to Reform U.S. Teacher Education, and the Need to Address Systemic Injustices, including the list of signatories and endorsements, can be found on the NEPC website at:http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/seven-trends

Find Documents:Publication Announcement: https://nepc.info/node/9994NEPC Publication: https://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/seven-trends

The National Education Policy Center (NEPC), a university research center housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, produces and disseminates high-quality, peer-reviewed research to inform education policy discussions. Visit us at: http://nepc.colorado.edu

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A Call to Retreat from Trendy Teacher Education Reform October 10, 2019Key New NEPC Statement - PR Web