English Education - Volume 38, Issue 4, 2006

Elaborating three major dimensions of our profession, the authors argue the need for critically literate citizens and the urgent need for English teacher educators to prepare teachers who envision that as their key professional responsibility. The authors contextualize this task within the current political and social climate in which distortion of language in civic discourse threatens to undermine not only our profession, but also American public life and democracy.

This piece was guided by the framing question “How can CEE help its constituencies, the broader public, and policymakers understand the relationship between research and teaching?” The authors consider the usefulness of a range of empirical traditions; explore how expert language arts teachers read, conduct, and use research; and reflect on the role of preservice teacher education in fostering understandings of published research and providing preparation and practice in the conduct of teacher research.

In this piece, the authors argue that we should reconsider several critical programmatic issues, including the need for greater program coherence, the continuing dilemma of the gulf between schools and universities, and both the promise and the problems of student cohorts. In addition, the authors offer a brief review of the current political climate that questions the value of pedagogical coursework. They urge us to reconsider the value of course work and field experiences, and to look more closely at the observational component in an effort to make it more meaningful. They also call for more investigations into the nature and effects of teacher preparation, “research that can help us and our students articulate the ways our work has import, especially in these new and challenging times.

Attempting to address the following central question, How might literacy educators learn to recognize, promote, and capitalize upon the rich cultural resources of students in diverse classrooms in the United States?, the authors provide a list of belief statements to serve as the foundation for positive changes in the ways in which the literacy needs of diverse learners could be met. The conclusion is that we had better support the learning of all of our peoples if they are to participate meaningfully in our place. The future truly is all Accuse.

The authors contend that new technologies have developed new literacies and new ways of thinking that are reshaping our lives. In the rapidly changing world, they argue, these new literacies and their practices must become central to effective English education programs. To frame their argument, they introduce the notion of technological pedagogical content knowledge to bridge the perceived binary of technology and English education. Throughout, they analyze how reflection on new technologies and integration of them into coursework for specific purposes is an educational, political, and even a moral imperative.

This article is a summary of our working group’s continued discourse from the CEE Summit, where our discussions focused on English teacher candidate competencies, program assessment, the Standards and Guidelines, and NCTE’s roles and responsibilities. For the purpose of this special issue of English Education, our group chose to focus more specifically on issues related to candidate and program assessment and NCTE’s responsibilities in guiding our field in these areas.

The authors argue that if CEE is to nurture and grow its membership in the coming years, we will need a more focused purpose related to the central mission of the organization: ’the effective education and development of students and professionals in English language arts education.’ To that end, the authors offer several specific recommendations for CEE which could serve primarily the ’inner circle’ or heart of CEE membership.

CEE Chair Suzanne M. Miller provides an overview of the CEE Leadership and Policy Summit articles that focuses on next steps. She asks CEE members individually and collectively to take up the calls for action across the pieces’ for research, pedagogical scholarship, program excellence, and activist participation in policy and politics.