Why is this so? There are two main reasons. Reason #1. To meet
the challenges inherent in system-wide reform, teachers and
administrators will need considerable helpincluding help from
higher education. Like it or not, many of the central tasks in
systemic reform depend upon higher education. Teachers, for
example, say that if they are to succeed in getting all of their
students to standards previously achieved by only a few, they
need more help than before: help in deepening their own content
knowledge; help in learning more effective ways to engage their
students; help in understanding more about how children develop
and how the brain works. There are a range of ways to provide
this help, including teacher networks and study groups; most of
the best, though, draw heavily upon people and resources within
higher education. It is hard to imagine how to provide quality
professional development on the necessary scale if higher
education continues to confine its attention to handfuls of
teachers here and there. B