Teaching Partnership Regroups To Define Mission and Survive

By Ann Bradley

Washington

A $23 million contract announced by the Department of Education in fall 1997 created an unusual partnership of researchers and education organizations devoted to the improvement of teaching.

The short history of the initiative, the National Partnership for Excellence and Accountability in Teaching, has been one of confusion and change, with its leaders struggling to define its mission and defend its very existence.

Faced with dissatisfaction from within and pressure from without, the partnership--known by the acronym NPEAT--has overhauled its plans substantially in the past six months. Still, its goal remains the same: to generate new knowledge about teaching and mobilize policymakers and...