In Pursuit of Teacher Quality: Three Models of Success.

This document is comprised of three papers by various authors, summarizing three different models of programs that successfully promote teacher quality that were introduced at the National Conference on Teacher Quality in January 2000, hosted by the U.S. Department of Education. The first program described, the Pathways to Teaching Program of Armstrong Atlantic State University, sponsored by the DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest, is designed to increase minority teacher recruitment by offering tuition and educational support to school district employees who want to become certified teachers. The second program described, the Urban Teaching Partnership Program, is a university-school district collaborative program in which students have a baccalaureate degree outside of education and pursue teacher certification in an intensive, 1-year, school-based program. The program prepares participants to work in high poverty, diverse, urban contexts while concomitantly preparing experienced teachers as mentors and as site-based teacher educators. The third program discussed ,the North Carolina State Model Clinical Teaching Program and Mentor Education Network, offers a long-term, school-based, collaborative model for teacher professional development. The model is designed around the concept of integrated learning, which uses experiential learning, selective role taking, and inquiry projects to increase the cognitive complexity of adult learners. (Contains 59 references.) (SM)