"No education topic is more important than how to raise the quality of teaching in America's schools. This book eloquently makes the case for reshaping teacher preparation and professional development to enhance student learning."--Bob Chase, president, National Education Association Leading educational thinkers and researchers deliver an in-depth overview of the issues and challenges facing the teaching profession today. This book is the first in over a decade to synthesize the most important research in the fields of teaching and teacher education. This research is also the basis for recommAndations found in What Matters Most, a landmark report from the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future. The authors explore promising approaches to both policy and practice in teacher learning. They also provide the substance behind policy recommAndations, examining the implications of school reforms for teaching, current knowledge about teacher preparation, and the kinds of learning opportunities teachers will need.Teaching as the Learning Profession includes case studies of innovative approaches to school improvement, principles for better staff development, proposals for the reform of unions, and practical as well as conceptual advice on recruitment, licensing, redefining the teaching career, enhancing diversity, developing leadership, and expanding such innovations as networks and other sustained forms of teacher-to-teacher learning.

LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND is Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University and executive director of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future. GARY SYKES is professor of educational administration and teacher education at Michigan State University.