Holmes Group

Begun in the mid-1980s, the Holmes Group worked to elevate the profession of teaching, restructure colleges and departments of education, reform teacher education, and strengthen ties between K–12 and higher education. The consortium of 96 major U.S. research universities was led by their deans of education, with Judith Taack Lanier, Dean, College of Education, Michigan State University, as president; and Frank B. Murray, Dean, College of Education, University of Delaware, as chair of the executive board. The name Holmes honored Henry W. Holmes, Dean of the Harvard Education School in the 1920s, who envisioned a more professional teacher corps in the United States.

The Holmes Group published three influential reports. Tomorrow's Teachers laid out goals for increasing the academic rigor of teacher preparation, distinguishing different levels of teaching proficiency, reforming state licensure of teachers, making schools better places for professionals to work, and forging stronger links between schools and higher education. A key recommendation was that teachers should have a strong arts and sciences undergraduate degree and that teacher education would be a graduate program. Tomorrow's Schools proposed the creation of professional development schools (PDS), defined as schools for the development of novice professionals, for continuing development of experienced professionals, and for the research and development of the teaching profession. The most controversial of the reports, Tomorrow's Schools of Education, outlined reforms needed in the teacher preparation programs themselves, addressing curriculum, faculty, scholarship, the setting for teaching and learning, and the diversity of the students. It was criticized for not really addressing how universities and schools of education would make the transformation, for overemphasizing PDS, and for concentrating on the preparation of teachers while neglecting the preparation of other education specialists, such as counselors, administrators, and so on.

The Holmes Group sponsored regional and national conferences and published a newsletter to showcase implementation of reforms. In an evaluation of the organization's first 10 years, Michael G. Fullan and his associates noted five primary accomplishments, in addition to the publication of the three reports: (a) framing the debate about teacher education reform and establishing PDS, (b) encouraging school-university partnerships, (c) enhancing the status of schools of education within their universities, (d) providing direction and networking for reform, and (e) strengthening minority representation on education faculties, especially through the Holmes Scholars.

The concept of the PDS was that it would serve the education profession the way a teaching hospital serves the medical profession. Fullan found that each of the Holmes Group members had established at least one PDS. The purpose of the Holmes Scholars was to nurture and network graduate students from underrepresented groups to become eventual faculty members. More than 400 students participated in the network, and at least 100 went on to tenure-track faculty positions.

The Fullan evaluation report concluded that the Holmes Group had had a considerable effect but that the universities weren't able to accomplish teacher education reform by themselves. In 1996, the Holmes Group reorganized into The Holmes Partnership, whose members include research universities, public schools, and six national professional educators' organizations.

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