Despite all of the educational reform activity over the past two decades, the teaching profession currently faces daunting challenges. These include the influx of underqualified teachers into classrooms, the potential dismantling of professional education for teachers, and the trend toward the regulation of teaching practice—regulations that may deprive teachers of the ability to make professional judgments and exercise their professional knowledge. So we face a paradox: in some areas teachers are better prepared than ever, while in schools that serve the greatest numbers of poor and minority children, more and more teachers are underqualified. Due in part to the reforms enacted in response to A Nation at Risk, it is harder than ever to get into a teacher education program. But in many communities, individuals can bypass these requirements altogether and enter the classroom with an emergency credential.
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