All those responsible for the preparation of teachers agree that having a highly qualified teacher in every classroom is essential to student academic achievement. The research of the past decade by William Sanders and others clearly demonstrates the significance of the teacher in fostering student growth and academic achievement. What researchers and practitioners are having difficulty agreeing on is the essential characteristics of the teachers who create value-added learning and the ways in which professional development experiences need to be structured in order to foster and develop those critical teacher characteristics. The Ohio Teacher Quality Partnership represents one state's approach to better understand the relationship between teacher behaviors and student achievement and how a wide variety of stakeholders are collaborating to create a more vital educational system for P-12 students.

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Urban schools have historically struggled to create engaging learning environments for students. One of the emerging answers to this educational conundrum is the development of more personalized learning environments. Such environments draw on the natural interests of students but contextualize those interests within demanding academic structures. This article describes the historical context confronting urban educators and one of the emerging solutions: early colleges.

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