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In the United States and in many other nations worldwide, there is now a consensus that teacher quality is among the most important factors, if not the essential factor, in the overall success of schooling and the educational system, which in turn determines a nation's ability to compete in the global knowledge economy. Accordingly, over the past decade, the recruitment, preparation, and retention of teachers has become a central concern of leaders in the business, philanthropic, and policy-making communities as well as in the professional arena. Along these lines, there has been a steady stream of position papers, think tank reports, and new policies or policy proposals regarding teacher preparation along with a great deal of controversy.

Like policy regarding other public services in the United States, however, policies related to teacher education are not developed and enacted at a single level by a single agency, but at multiple levels and by many actors, including federal, state, and local agencies. In addition, teacher education policy is developed and enacted by professional organizations and national/regional accreditors as well as by individual higher education institutions (or higher education systems) and by alternate providers of preservice preparation who make decisions related to recruitment, admissions, placement, curriculum, program completion, and graduation. This entry describes the multiple levels at which teacher education policy is determined in the United States, provides an overview of whether and how diversity is treated at these levels of policy making, and considers the implications.

Policy Making in Teacher Education

It is difficult to make sweeping generalizations about teacher education policy and diversity because teacher education policy in the United States is developed and implemented by multiple agents and at multiple levels, unlike the situation in many other nations that have national curricula and regulations regarding the preparation of teachers. This entry builds on the idea of a “policy web” to suggest that policies are developed formally and informally on multiple levels and in multiple forms and that policy discourses are both discrete and interconnected. The web image also suggests that specific policies may be understood within a larger network of related policies. The web idea calls attention to the relationships between and among policy discourses, who the actors are, how new ideas and competing agendas enter into the larger arena, and which discourses are predominant or marginalized.

Generally speaking, teacher education policy is enacted at three levels, but by multiple agencies and actors at each level and with some overlap among levels. First, there are a number of key federal education policies that focus directly on teacher quality and teacher education and/or have significant implications for teacher education. These include policies governing higher education, such as the Title II requirements of the Higher Education Act, which since 1998 have mandated numerous reporting and accountability requirements for teacher education, linked state grants to the revision of certification, and provided funding for alternate routes. This level also includes general federal education policies, especially the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and its current No Child Left Behind version, which defines highly qualified teachers and stipulates that when beginning teachers are enrolled in alternate certification programs, they meet the requirements for highly qualified teachers. Federal education policy that has substantial implications for teacher education also includes programs such as the “Race to the Top” funding initiative, which requires, among many other things, that states have accountability systems in place linking student, teacher, and teacher preparation program data.

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