International visitors to get an inside look at teacher education program

Participants will observe classes, meet with students and faculty, and visit K-12 partner schools in East Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and Woodside.

BY CHRISTINE BLACKMAN

Teacher educators from Chile, Hong Kong, India and Norway are convening on campus today for a weeklong institute designed to share the principles and practices of successful teacher education developed at Stanford.

More than a dozen people from Catholic University in Chile, the Ministry of Education in Hong Kong, the Azim Premji Foundation in India and the University of Oslo in Norway are expected to take part in the Feb. 22-26 program, known as the Inquiry into the Stanford Teacher Education Program Institute.

"The idea for it came about because we constantly get requests from teacher education programs, both nationally and internationally, to come and find out about the Stanford Teacher Education Program," said Rachel Lotan, the education professor who developed the institute, which is being held for the first time.

The Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP) is consistently recognized as one of the top teacher education programs in the nation; it places graduate students in local elementary, middle and high schools to learn from a mentor teacher, lead class lessons and gain classroom experience.

"One of the things we’re going to look at is how Stanford's teacher education program provides a very close connection between theory and practice," Lotan said.

During the institute, participants will observe teacher education classes at Stanford and review the class syllabi and reading assignments. They will visit local K-12 partner schools to observe Stanford teacher candidates at work, and sit in on meetings between supervisors and teacher candidates. They also will develop agendas, timelines and a support network for implementing action plans...Read more