Design And Implementation Of Practical Curriculum In Excellent Teacher Education Programs In Texas,USA

In 2014,the Ministry of Education officially launched the Teacher Excellence Training Program,with the overall goal of promoting teacher education reform.As an important part of the teacher education reform,the practical curriculum is an important grasp for higher teacher training institutions to improve the quality of human resources training.At present,there are still problems such as the lack of top-level design,low quality of curriculum and single way of evaluation in the reform of practical curriculum for teacher excellence in China.However,the Teacher Excellence Program in the United States has a rich history of designing and implementing practical curriculum.So this study selects the practical curriculum in the Teacher Excellence Program in Texas,USA,and uses two state universities as specific cases in an attempt to gain experience that can improve the practical curriculum for teacher excellence in China.There are five chapters in this study.Firstly,the first chapter contains six aspects,including the reason for selecting the topic,significance of the study,definition of the concept,literature review,case selection and research design.Secondly,Chapter 2 describes the dynamics,historical evolution and current state of development of practical curriculum in teacher preparation programs in Texas.Third,Chapter 3 describes the design of the practical curriculum in the Texas Teacher Excellence Program,in which the Texas education-related departments,state universities,and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board each share academic responsibility for the design of the practical curriculum for teacher excellence in a partnership that establishes detailed and comprehensive regulations and requirements for the standards,content,implementation,and evaluation of the practical curriculum.Fourth,Chapter 4focuses on the implementation of practical curriculum in teacher preparation programs in Texas using the University of Houston and Sam Houston State University as case studies,specifically including the content organization,instructors,and evaluation of the curriculum.The analysis reveals that the organisation of the content of the practical curriculum is characterised by the two typical features of "full integration" and "permeability".Next,there are clear responsibilities for the supervisors and the work is mainly carried out in the form of observation and cooperation.The evaluation programme is based on a diverse and scientific approach to evaluation,and the combination of different types of evaluation methods is characterised by the strength of expressive evaluation.And Chapter 5 summarises the key features and insights of the practical curriculum in the Texas Teacher Excellence Program.And the developmental,reflective and integrative values of the course,the integration of theory and practical knowledge,the clear requirements for guidance and a multi-faceted and holistic evaluation system constitute the main features of the Texas Teacher Excellence Practical Curriculum.Finally,based on the actual situation in China,the following insights are proposed,including firstly,improving the top-level design and promoting the standardisation and legalisation of the practical curriculum reform.Secondly,integrating curriculum resources to achieve the integration of theoretical and practical knowledge.Third,provide professional training and clarify the responsibilities and tasks of the main curriculum instructors.Fourthly,dynamic evaluation is carried out to point to the professional development of future teachers of excellence.Five is to establish partnerships to create a long-term,stable base for practical curriculum.