What are the most important elements in a good teacher education program?
I think the most important, top-of-the-line issue in teacher preparation and most important variable is getting prospective teachers into real-life classroom settings early with mentor teachers. I think those two components are absolutely critical in ensuring that a prospective teacher really learns how to teach and develops the competencies to teach. And there’s research that supports that. If you ask teachers what’s most important to them in developing competence to teach, the number-one thing they cite is doing it. And the number-two thing is working with other teachers. So, field-based teacher education with mentor teachers, I think, is absolutely critical.
