Teacher Education and School Improvement (TESI)

The mission of the doctoral program of study in Teacher Education and School Improvement (TESI) is to prepare doctoral graduates to take informed, reflective, and active leadership in school improvement through teacher education and professional development.  Graduate will be committed to research and scholarship that reflects a critical examination of past work, an engagement in new inquiry, and an active involvement in the ongoing work of the field.  They will conceptualize, conduct, assess, and redesign teacher education and school improvement efforts directed toward developing excellence and equity in education.

This doctoral program of study is founded on the belief that teachers are the major resource in every educational system. Schools and other educational settings can be no more effective than the quality of the teachers within them. Innovations on which millions of dollars have been spent cannot be successful unless embraced, internalized, and owned by teachers. We must tap the reservoir of talent, experience, and potential leadership that resides among experienced teachers as a major source of strength on which to base the specialization. Current approaches to working with preservice and inservice teachers must be thoughtfully reconsidered. Awareness of the changing contexts in which teachers and students work together must inform new designs, processes, and relationships among schools, colleges and universities, and other agencies responsive to educational needs. Our doctoral community should take the lead in conceptualizing, implementing, and assessing effective programs to support and develop the leadership capabilities of teachers.

We seek to develop a community of scholars who respect and build on diversity as well as on what we have in common in order to work toward a more equitable society. Within that community, we recognize the value of individual work and the importance of collaboration within the university and between the university and public schools as well as other educational institutions. We see experiences in schooling as a foundation upon which this doctoral program of study is built. Conceptually, this program of study has three interwoven goals emphasizing the evolving knowledge base, the historical and social contexts of teacher education and school improvement, research, and clinical experiences. Students will integrate and use in their practice knowledge and understandings provided by research, personal experience, and the collective wisdom of teaching practice that inform our understandings of the complexities of teacher development and the intricacies of schooling. We seek to integrate evolving technology in all three goals. Students will develop approaches to teacher education and professional development characterized by the following:

• Evolving Knowledge Base, Historical and Social Contexts
  Students will develop expertise in the knowledge bases directly related to teacher education and school improvement: subject matter, curriculum design, teaching, teacher development, school cultures, preservice and inservice teacher education, and educational change. Students will develop and integrate their understandings of the historical and social (including socioeconomic, sociopolitical, and sociocultural) contexts of teacher education and schooling as they participate in the community of scholars studying teacher development and school improvement.
  
  
• Research
  Students will analyze and apply current research to their practice. They will participate in inquiry from a perspective of critical thoughtfulness. They will be committed to improving research in teacher development and school improvement.
  
  
• Clinical Experiences
  Using the knowledge bases, contextual awareness, and research skills, students will design, implement, teach, and evaluate sound preservice and inservice teacher preparation and school improvement programs.
  
  
• Coursework
  Coursework consistent with the three stated goals of the TESI doctoral program of study will be divided into core seminars (all TESI doctoral students will take these) and strands for respective content specializations, for example, by subject, grade level, or special interest such as research methods or curriculum. At the outset of coursework, each doctoral student with her/his committee will develop a course of study reflecting her/his specialized interest within the field of teacher education and emphasizing the social context. Coursework will reflect the developing knowledge base of teaching, teacher education, and school improvement.

Desired Doctoral Student Characteristics

Students recruited for this doctoral program of study will demonstrate the following:

• significant teaching experience;
• a record of accomplishment in previous academic work;
• an ongoing commitment to learning and inquiry;
• sensitivity to, experience with, and commitment to issues of diversity and equity;
• professional goals consistent with the stated goals of the doctoral program of study .
• master's degree in related discipline.

Contact Information

Coordinator: Allan Feldman

Associated Faculty

Theresa Austin (Associate Professor), Marge Colbert (Lecturer), Kathleen S. Davis (Associate Professor), Kathleen Gagne (Lecturer), Sally Galman (Assistant Professor), Linda L. Griffin (Professor), Barbara Madeloni (Lecturer), Robert Maloy (Senior Lecturer), Christina Ortmeier-Hooper (Assistant Professor).