Afterword: In Retrospect

Deep and abiding disagreements over the best way to prepare teachers for the classroom continue to divide policy-makers, teacher educators, and the public at large. Hard on the heels of a widely publicized September 1996 report issued by the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, for example, the editors of Education Week (January 22, 1997) reiterated a long-standing lament over teacher quality. “Schools of education are not adequately preparing teachers,” they charged. “Bureaucratic hiring procedures frustrate their entry into the profession, and ineffective licensing systems place unqualified teachers in too many classrooms.”