Nation's Biggest Teacher-Prep School Revamps Training

Aspiring teacher Xochitl Lopez, 28, leads a 3rd grade class at Michael Anderson School in Avondale, Ariz. All Arizona State University undergraduate education majors must undergo a year of student-teaching and demonstrate that they’ve acquired the knowledge and skills to become an effective teacher before they can graduate.

—Laura Segall for Education Week

Arizona State undergraduates must prove classroom mastery

By Stephen Sawchuk

Tempe, Ariz.

School after school in the Phoenix area has a banner hanging on the side of the building: iTeachAZ .

It's shorthand for Arizona State University's new flagship undergraduate teacher education program, which integrates several high-profile—and hotly debated—reforms to teacher preparation today.

Under the program, which debuted formally this school year, ASU requires a yearlong student-teaching apprenticeship for all undergraduate education majors, during which time they must demonstrate mastery of specific teaching skills as measured by...