Child and Adolescent Development Research and Teacher Education: Evidence-Based Pedagogy, Policy, and Practice. Summary of Roundtable Meetings (December 1-2, 2005 and March 20-21, 2006)

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) collaborated to produce a summary of two roundtable discussions on the critical relevance of child and adolescent development research to teacher preparation practices. The participants in the roundtable discussions were not formal advisors charged with making policy recommendations but rather a group of experts in teacher training and child and adolescent development research. Their discussions provided important guidance to the NICHD/NCATE collaborative effort. This summary report discusses major issues faced by teachers and schools and the resources needed to address them--such as translating child and adolescent development literature into a user-friendly format for delivery in courses and links to the accreditation process. The underlying premise guiding the roundtable discussions: If educators are to empower all individuals to learn, they must know and be able to apply information from human development and cognitive science within their own professional practice. The following are appended: (1) The Integration of Child/Adolescent Development in Teacher Preparation; and (2) Child and Adolescent Development Research and Teacher Education: Evidence-based Pedagogy, Policy, and Practice--Research Questionnaire. (Contains 2 tables and 36 endnotes.)