Sleeter Toward teacher education research that informs policy

Sleeter, C. (2014). Toward teacher education research that informs policy. Educational Researcher, 43(3), 146-153.

Summary: Sleeter examined 196 articles from 2012 published in Journal of Teacher Education, Teaching and Teacher Educaiton, European Journal of Teacher Education, and Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education. She found that only 6% examined the impact of teacher education on teaching practice and/or on student learning. Most research was conducted within silos and not across them, which, she argues, is antithetical to the work of teacher education and teaching.

"A strong program of teacher education research would need to entail collaboration across silos so that research addresses complexities of learning to teach more effectively and powerfully" (p. 151).

She offers 3 suggestions for moving forward:

1. "First, teacher education organizations should collaborate on explicating a research agenda that likns teacher education with its impact on teachers and on students, as had been recommended by the AERA Panel on Resarch and Teacher Education" (p. 152).

2. "Second, the culture of teacher education needs to shift toward more preparation for and rewarding of research that contributes to building a knowledge base (e.g., reward in terms of gaining name recognition, jobs, and publications)" (p. 152).

3. "Third, there should be much greater emphasis on collabration among researchers" (p. 153).