Abstract
This article argues that factory model schools, created for a time when most individuals were being prepared for relatively low-skilled jobs, are not adequate to the task of educating most citizens for the knowledge work that will increasingly characterize economies of the 21st century. Although many important reforms have been launched over the last decade, countries that have not invested in the development of sophisticated teaching that can adapt to the needs of students and the demands of more challenging content have reached an impasse. Every aspect of school reform – the creation of more challenging curriculum, the use of more performance-based assessments, the implementation of decentralized management, the invention of new model schools and programs – depends on highly-skilled teachers. Policies aimed at developing a quality teaching system include (1) enacting meaningful standards for teachers as well as students, (2) overhauling teacher education and professional development, (3) addressing teacher recruitment problems and placing qualified teachers in all schools, (4) rewarding teacher knowledge and skills, and (5) redesigning schools so that they support teaching and learning. This article describes successful strategies in each of these areas and paints a picture of the alternative futures for education that rest on policies yet to be decided.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Commission on Youth and America's Future (1988). The Forgotten Half: Non-College-Bound Youth in America. Washington, DC: William T. Grant Foundation.
Cremin, L.A. (1965). The Genius of American Education. New York: Vintage Books.
Cremin, L.A. (1989). Popular Education and Its Discontents. New York: Harper & Row.
Darling-Hammond, L. (1990a). Teachers and teaching: Signs of a changing profession. In R. Houston, M. Haberman & J. Sikula (eds), Handbook of Research on Teacher Education (pp. 267–290). New York: Macmillan.
Darling-Hammond, L. (1990b). Teacher professionalism: Why and how? In A. Lieberman (ed), Schools as Collaborative Cultures: Creating the Future Now. New York: The Falmer Press.
Darling-Hammond, L. (1997). The Right to Learn: A Blueprint for Creating Schools that Work. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Darling-Hammond, L. (2000, January). Teacher quality and student achievement. Educational Policy analysis archives 8 (1): http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v8n1.
Ebmeier, H., Twombly, S. & Teeter, D.J. (1991). The comparability and adequacy of financial support for schools of education. Journal of Teacher Education 42(3), 226–235.
Educational Testing Service (1989). Crossroads in American Education. Princeton, NJ: Author.
National Center for Education Statistics (1993). The Condition of Education, 1993.Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
National Commission on Teaching and America's Future [NCTAF] (1996). Doing What Matters Most: Teaching for America's Future. NY: NCTAF.
National Education Goals Panel [NEGP] (1995). National Educational Goals Report: Improving Education Through Family-School-Community Partnerships. Washington, DC: Author.
National Education Goals Panel [NEGP] (1999). The National Education Goals Report: Building a Nation of Learners. Washington, DC: Author.
Nelson, F.H. & O'Brien, T. (1993). How U.S. Teachers Measure up Internationally: A Comparative Study of Teacher Pay, Training, and Conditions of Service. Washington, DC: American Federation of Teachers
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (1992). Education at a Glance. Paris: Author.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (1995). Education at a Glance. Paris: Author.
Sedlak, M. & Schlossman, S. (1986). Who Will Teach? Santa Monica, CA: The RAND Corporation.
Shulman, L.S. (1983). Autonomy and obligation: The remote control of teaching. In L.S. Shulman & G. Sykes (eds), Handbook of Teaching and Policy. New York: Longman.
Tyack, D.B. (1974). The One Best System: A History of American Urban Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Darling-Hammond, L. Futures of Teaching in American Education. Journal of Educational Change 1, 353–373 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010034806982
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010034806982