Preparing Teachers for Deeper Learning answers an urgent call for teachers who educate children from diverse backgrounds to meet the demands of a changing world. In today’s knowledge economy, teachers must prioritize problem-solving ability, adaptability, critical thinking, and the development of interpersonal and collaborative skills over rote memorization and the passive transmission of knowledge. Authors Linda Darling-Hammond and Jeannie Oakes and their colleagues examine what this means for teacher preparation and showcase the work of programs that are educating for deeper learning, equity, and social justice. Guided by the growing knowledge base in the science of learning and development, the book examines teacher preparation programs at Alverno College, Bank Street College of Education, High Tech High’s Intern Program, Montclair State University, San Francisco Teacher Residency, Trinity University, and University of Colorado Denver. These seven programs share a common understanding of how people learn that shape similar innovative practices. With vivid examples of teaching for deeper learning in coursework and classrooms; interviews with faculty, school partners, and novice teachers; surveys of teacher candidates and graduates; and analyses of curriculum and practices, Preparing Teachers for Deeper Learning depicts transformative forms of teaching and teacher preparation that honor and expand all students’ abilities, knowledges, and experiences, and reaffirm the promise of educating for a better world.

The High Tech High case is one of seven that form the basis for the arguments and analyses presented in Preparing Teachers for Deeper Learning. Each case outlines the context, vision, and practices guiding a particular program’s enactment, and includes sample curricula, assessment and feedback forms, and the program details that have contributed to its success. The cases are valuable reading for educators involved in developing teacher candidates who are self-directed, collaborative, social justice–focused, and prepared to meet the needs of today’s students and a changing society.

"The best book on high school dynamics I have ever read."--Jay Mathews, Washington Post An award-winning professor and an accomplished educator take us beyond the hype of reform and inside some of America's most innovative classrooms to show what is working--and what isn't--in our schools. What would it take to transform industrial-era schools into modern organizations capable of supporting deep learning for all? Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine's quest to answer this question took them inside some of America's most innovative schools and classrooms--places where educators are rethinking both what and how students should learn. The story they tell is alternately discouraging and hopeful. Drawing on hundreds of hours of observations and interviews at thirty different schools, Mehta and Fine reveal that deeper learning is more often the exception than the rule. And yet they find pockets of powerful learning at almost every school, often in electives and extracurriculars as well as in a few mold-breaking academic courses. These spaces achieve depth, the authors argue, because they emphasize purpose and choice, cultivate community, and draw on powerful traditions of apprenticeship. These outliers suggest that it is difficult but possible for schools and classrooms to achieve the integrations that support deep learning: rigor with joy, precision with play, mastery with identity and creativity. This boldly humanistic book offers a rich account of what education can be. The first panoramic study of American public high schools since the 1980s, In Search of Deeper Learning lays out a new vision for American education--one that will set the agenda for schools of the future.

The University of Colorado Denver case is one of seven that form the basis for the arguments and analyses presented in Preparing Teachers for Deeper Learning. Each case outlines the context, vision, and practices guiding a particular program’s enactment, and includes sample curricula, assessment and feedback forms, and the program details that have contributed to its success. The cases are valuable reading for educators involved in developing teacher candidates who are self-directed, collaborative, social justice–focused, and prepared to meet the needs of today’s students and a changing society.

The Alverno College case is one of seven that form the basis for the arguments and analyses presented in Preparing Teachers for Deeper Learning. Each case outlines the context, vision, and practices guiding a particular program’s enactment, and includes sample curricula, assessment and feedback forms, and the program details that have contributed to its success. The cases are valuable reading for educators involved in developing teacher candidates who are self-directed, collaborative, social justice–focused, and prepared to meet the needs of today’s students and a changing society.

The Trinity University case is one of seven that form the basis for the arguments and analyses presented in Preparing Teachers for Deeper Learning. Each case outlines the context, vision, and practices guiding a particular program’s enactment, and includes sample curricula, assessment and feedback forms, and the program details that have contributed to its success. The cases are valuable reading for educators involved in developing teacher candidates who are self-directed, collaborative, social justice–focused, and prepared to meet the needs of today’s students and a changing society.

The Montclair State University case is one of seven that form the basis for the arguments and analyses presented in Preparing Teachers for Deeper Learning. Each case outlines the context, vision, and practices guiding a particular program’s enactment, and includes sample curricula, assessment and feedback forms, and the program details that have contributed to its success. The cases are valuable reading for educators involved in developing teacher candidates who are self-directed, collaborative, social justice–focused, and prepared to meet the needs of today’s students and a changing society.