require an examination for new teachers use the Praxis series. Additional information about this examination is available at <http://www.teachingandlearning.org/licnsure/praxis/prxfaq.html>.

Preservice Education

The programs at institutions of higher education (typically through schools or colleges of education) that prepare new teachers for grades K-12.

Professional Community

The community that is responsible for preparing, providing professional development for, and supporting teachers throughout their careers. Recent efforts to improve teacher education and professionalism have involved engaging members of the K-12, higher education, and business and industry communities.

Professional Development School

A formal collaboration between a college or university and the K-12 sector for the specific purpose of improving teacher education and school renewal.

Reflective Practice (Practitioner)

“… a mode that integrates or links thought and action with reflection. It [reflective practice] involves thinking about and critically analyzing one’s actions with the goal of improving one’s professional practice. Engaging in reflective practice requires individuals to assume the perspective of an external observer in order to identify the assumptions and feelings underlying their practice and then to speculate about how these assumptions and feelings affect practice” (Imel, 1992).

School Practitioner

Anyone who engages in the act of teaching. Most often the term refers to teachers of grades K-12, but it also is occasionally used to refer to those who instruct in higher education.

Teacher Education

Used to describe either preservice or inservice education but also sometimes used to describe the continuum of teacher preparation and professional development. As emphasized in