Carnegie's Teachers for a New Era

In 2001, the Carnegie Corporation of New York and other funders launched the Teachers for a New Era project, a reform effort to encourage the creation of excellent teacher education programs at selected colleges and universities. The schools of education at Bank Street College, the University of Virginia, the California State University-Northridge, and Michigan State University have received 5-year, $5 million grants to redesign their programs of teacher preparation. Participating institutions will provide matching funds for the project.

These newly re-tooled programs will be centered around three key principles: using student achievement data of program graduates to guide program development, engaging arts and sciences faculty in teacher preparation, and providing true clinical preparation, including cooperation between colleges of education and local school, using master teachers as clinical faculty, and two-year “residency” induction programs for new teachers. 

At the conclusion of the project, the selected institutions should be regarded by the nation as administering the best programs possible for the standard primary route to employment as a beginning professional teacher. The quality of the teachers prepared is expected to encourage the crafting of supportive public policy in states and school districts, and the emulation of the programs by other institutions.