By Default or by Design? Variations in Higher Education Programs for Early Care and Education Teachers and Their Implications for Research Methodology, Policy, and Practice. Executive Summary

Calls to reform teacher education figure prominently in the growing national conversation about teacher performance and children's learning outcomes (National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, 2010a, 2010b; Sparks, 2011). Thus far, however, most proposals have focused on teachers working in kindergarten through Grade 12, with scant attention to the "quality" of education for teachers in child care or preschool settings (Carey & Mead, 2011). For the latter group, the question of which higher education degree (if any) is an appropriate standard--rather than the quality of teacher preparation--has dominated the policy discussion of teacher effectiveness (Barnett, 2003; Bueno, Darling-Hammond, & Gonzales, 2010; Burchinal, Hyson, & Zaslow, 2008; Early et al., 2008; Fuller, Livas, & Bridges, 2006; Whitebook, 2003; Whitebook & Ryan, 2011). This report draws upon a case study (Yin, 2009) of two early childhood B.A. completion cohort programs in order to illuminate the limitations of current ways of conceptualizing and studying early childhood teacher education. Focusing on four dimensions--program content, clinical experiences, faculty characteristics, and institutional context--the authors examine challenges encountered and lessons learned in seeking to understand differences in educational experiences among students attending these two programs. The authors then offer a series of recommendations for more nuanced ways of describing and evaluating the quality of higher education programs for early care and education practitioners. [For the full report, "By Default or by Design? Variations in Higher Education Programs for Early Care and Education Teachers and Their Implications for Research Methodology, Policy, and Practice. Report," see ED543247.]