A Mixed-Methods Study of School of Education Mission Statements and Teacher Licensure Data

• In Event: Exploring the Landscape of Teacher Preparation Programs

Abstract

This study investigated the mission statements of the top 50 School of Educations (SOE) in the US World News report from 2019 and the 50 programs that certified the most teachers in 2019 as reported by Title II data. Drawing from Bourdieu’s notion of habitus, this work is guided by the assumption that institutional habitus is conceptualized within SOE’s mission statements. Preliminary analyses suggest variation among traditional SOEs and alternative teacher preparation programs in regard to number of licensed teacher graduates and also how respective institutions/programs describe their missions. Our findings describe an ongoing tension between education research and teacher training as it relates the purpose of SOEs.

Authors

• Christine Montecillo Leider, University of Massachusetts - Boston

• Christina L. Dobbs, Boston University

• Naomi Caselli, Boston University