The essay The Meaning of Professional Development in the 21st Century (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, n.d.) discusses the need for change in teacher preservice and administrative preparation:
"If tomorrow's schools are going to be substantially different from the ones we currently have, it is . . . important that the preparation of future teachers and administrators be altered. In fact, many have suggested that, with the large number of teachers and administrators likely to retire within the next ten years, changing the preparation of incoming teachers and administrators may well have a greater and more long-lasting impact on substantially altering the character of schooling than inservice programs for current staff. It is, after all, the content, structure, and experiences of these programs that help form teachers' and administrators' expectations, perspectives, and attitudes about their future roles and responsibilities, as well as about the students they will teach, and the types of environments in which they will work. Equally important, these preparation programs also provide the knowledge, experiences and skills that provide the foundation upon which subsequent expertise can be developed. Improving the quality and content of preservice and administrator preparation programs will result not only in educators better able to respond to the challenge of restructuring schools to meet the needs of all students, but also educators who are more disposed to do so.
In addition to developing new strategies for such programs, new opportunities for enhancing the knowledge, skills, and experiences of faculty in these preparation programs ought to be significantly expanded. This is especially important in the area of providing expanded options for prospective teachers and administrators to connect what they learn in the university to the realities of elementary and secondary classrooms, schools and communities, particularly those that serve diverse student populations, or large numbers of at-risk students. In this regard, the work by both the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) and the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education to develop a broader and more context-based 'knowledge base' for teacher education, the initiatives of the Holmes Group, the work of the National Board for Professional Standards, and the new models for preparing both teachers and administrators all reflect a growing recognition that fundamental change is needed."
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