If It Ain't Broke, Why Fix It? Framework and Processes for Engaging in Constructive Institutional Development and Renewal in the Context of Increasing Standards, Assessments, And Accountability for University-Based Teacher Preparation‪.‬

In this article we offer a descriptive essay outlining the framework and processes of a five-year institutional renewal effort at Bank Street College of Education. Extended the opportunity to participate in the Teachers for a New Era (TNE) initiative, a multi-year, multi-million dollar effort to enhance and "radically reshape" teacher preparation programs (Carnegie Corporation of New York, 2001), our institution faced a set of questions and dilemmas likely common to many programs of teacher preparation. While the local context and environment was instrumental in the design and direction of our efforts, we suspect that the overarching issues and challenges as well as the rationales and processes moving our work forward will be informative and constructive to a broad range of collegial institutions. Bank Street College began preparing teachers in 1930 in response to the documented need for teachers in the nascent progressive schools of that era. Founded in 1916 as the Bureau of Educational Experiments, the institution initially focused its efforts on research and a small experimental nursery school. Adding teacher preparation allowed Bank Street to integrate its efforts, educating both children and teachers and simultaneously studying these pursuits. An experimental attitude directed toward gathering and using information to inform emerging practices characterized the College.