nology are related to and integrated with students’ interests, community concerns, and societal issues, as well as provide opportunities for collaborative learning experiences where students work in teams or groups and also to have significant and substantial involvement in scientific research;

• Integrate education theory with actual teaching practice, and knowledge from science and mathematics teaching experience with research on how people learn science and mathematics;

• Provide opportunities for prospective teachers to learn about and practice teaching in a variety of school contexts and with diverse groups of children, as well as provide opportunities for these teachers to practice and apply what they are learning in supportive environments that offer continual feedback, modeling of quality teaching practices, and individual coaching from faculty, practitioners, mentors, and peers;

• Encourage reflective inquiry into teaching through individual and collaborative study, discussion, assessment, experimentation, analysis, classroom-based research, and practice; and

• Welcome students into the professional community of educators and promote a professional vision of teaching by providing opportunities for experienced and future teachers to assume new roles and leadership positions, generate and apply new knowledge, and facilitate improvement efforts.

Given this wealth of reports and recommendations during the past decade, have institutions of higher education, individual schools, and school districts heeded these recommendations and actually instituted changes in their programs for teacher preparation and professional development? Is teacher education better now as a result of these calls for reform? These questions are addressed more fully in the next chapter.