Moving from Traditional Teacher Education to a Field-Based Urban Teacher Education Program: One Program's Story of Reform.

In recent years, teacher education has been charged with reforming programs to better align curriculum, clinical practice, and accountability. The sense of urgency for reform has been heightened by competition from alternative routes to teaching that jump straight to practice, often criticized for foregoing essential knowledge and theory. This paper details one institution's journey of reforming its early childhood and elementary programs toward practice-based teacher education. Reform efforts have been guided by a clear theoretical framework and philosophical stance and include careful alignment of curriculum and clinical practice, increased partnerships with local schools, and a focus on accountability and program integrity. The focus is on answers to practical questions regarding the application of theory in a field-based teacher education model and is intended to support other programs in their own journey of reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]