IU Bloomington's teacher education program exists within the context of high and rigorous professional standards that have been developed at the state level for purposes of teacher licensure and program accreditation. How our conceptual framework is aligned in with these sets of standards is described in detail here.

INTASC Principles: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten

IPSB Standards

The INTASC Principles and the IUB Conceptual Framework.

INTASC Principle #1: The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) he or she teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for students.

The conceptual framework for teacher education at IUB stipulates that all programs must be driven by an inquiry process. In addition, our collective commitment to requiring that all prospective teachers possess both Knowledge and Multiple Forms of Understanding, ensures that they will understand the structure of the disciplines they teach. Furthermore, the teacher education community, as reflected in that same principle, is committed to the notion that effective teachers possess a well grounded knowledge of the content areas that are central to their teaching. They also have an in-depth comprehension of the forms of knowledge embodied in the traditional disciplines, of the interdisciplinary nature of inquiry, and of the multiple forms of understanding which individual students bring to the classroom. Our candidates demonstrate and are assessed on their acquisition of "practical wisdom" that integrates forms of understanding, skilled action in and outside classrooms, and a particular sensitivity to the diversity of students.

In addition, among the implications of our principle dealing with Intellectual, Personal, and Professional Growth is a requirement that our students seek, evaluate, and create new knowledge. This involves a more complex undertaking than merely understanding “the structure of the disciplines.” It requires that candidates integrate disciplinary knowledge with an understanding of the ways in which pedagogy, inquiry, and subject matter are mutually reinforcing and dependent. This kind of awareness and understanding requires even more than integrating knowledge and pedagogy. Our expectations demand, as well, that candidates at IUB understand and take part in the intellectual and political debates that are carried on in the disciplines. Through this process candidates gain understandings that are fundamentally important for the serious study of educational issues, curricular and pedagogical initiatives, and the assessment of teaching practices.
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INTASC Principle #2: The teacher understands how children learn and develop, and can provide learning opportunities that support their intellectual, social, and personal development.

We recognize the range of opportunities that pupils must have in order to fully develop all of their human potentials. This is emphasized especially in the principle, having to do with Intellectual, Personal, and Professional Growth. Because teachers are not technicians or simply “purveyors of information” our students must be committed to lifelong intellectual, personal, and professional growth. This is beneficial both for prospective teachers' and their students' futures. Teacher education faculty and students must continually develop these habits of mind, requiring that our programs stimulate the exploration and development of the full range of human capabilities. Consequently, all our teacher education programs must foster intellectual curiosity and encourage an appreciation of learning through intuition, imagination, and aesthetic experience.
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INTASC Principle #3: The teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning and creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners.

Creating new approaches to teaching and learning, and new ways of thinking about and demonstrating how to reach a diverse array of pupils, requires a depth of intellectual sophistication and an interpersonal sensitivity that must be nurtured throughout a candidate's preparation. One implication of Critical Reflection, is that our students must “develop a sensitivity to race, culture, class, gender, and related issues” if they are to be effective and successful teachers. This sensitivity applies equally to P-12 pupils, their parents, future teaching colleagues, and the communities served by P-12 schools.

Good teachers build on their students' interests, learning styles, and goals, as we note in Personalized Learning. Similarly, teacher education faculty must offer candidates opportunities to individualize and personalize their preparation as teachers. Consequently, all our teacher education programs give candidates a significant measure of control over how, when, and where their learning takes place, thus enabling their interests and values to shape major portions of their work. In program courses and field experiences, as candidates create learning opportunities for their own students, they are assessed on the extent to which they are able to personalize and individualize learning experiences.
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INTASC Principle #4: The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage students' development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.

There are no more central components to our conceptual framework than those dealing with the importance of Critical Reflection on and in schools, and the associated commitment to thinking about school practices in reflective ways. All our teacher education programs encourage students to develop their own social and educational visions that are connected to critically reflective practice. Through this process we encourage candidates to think deeply and creatively about a variety of approaches to curriculum and pedagogy and they are assessed on their competence in making decisions about the most relevant and effective teaching methods for particular contexts and settings. We emphasize Personalized Learning in our conceptual framework as it reflects a priority for selecting learning methods that match the interests and learning styles of individual students. Of necessity, in order to personalize learning, candidates must develop a vast repertoire of teaching strategies.
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INTASC Principle #5: The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.

Our commitment to generating a sense of Community within all our programs emphasizes the importance of cooperative efforts at a number of levels. Such efforts provide an important grounding for educational experiences generally, as well as for teaching and learning in P-12 classrooms specifically. The necessity of developing active learning situations is also outlined in our discussion of Personalized Learning, which encourages students to articulate significant new directions for their learning, thus promoting self motivation and active engagement in the classroom. Similarly our focus on Meaningful Experience acknowledges that learning occurs best when learners are actively engage in activities that are relevant and personally meaningful. As we seek to prepare teachers according to this principle, we expect that a commitment to creating meaningful experiences for learners will become a disposition that our graduates carry with them into their own classrooms. Thus, candidates are expected to use their own experiences at IUB as one way to think about, and act on, the development of a positive environment in which all learners are actively engaged.
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INTASC Principle #6: The teacher uses knowledge of effective verbal, nonverbal, and media communication techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in the classroom.

The importance of Community within our conceptual framework is clear. Establishing and supporting forms of group engagement and dialogical understanding in the classroom is a prerequisite for active collaboration (among pupils and between pupils and teachers). The commitment to emphasizing with students the central importance of Intellectual, Personal, and Professional Growth also furthers a variety of forms of communication in the classroom. Among the types of Knowledge and Multiple Forms of Understanding that we promote are the capacities to communicate with students and to foster interaction, verbal and nonverbal, among students that will promote meaningful learning. The fact that our programs are inquiry driven, and that our undergraduate students will themselves be actively engaged in inquiry projects on an ongoing basis, further testifies to our basic commitments. We are dedicated, as a community of teacher educators, to a set of intellectual and pedagogical aims that are central not only to P-12 classrooms, but to college classrooms as well.
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INTASC Principle #7: The teacher plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students, the community, and curriculum goals.

Our emphasis on Knowledge and Multiple Forms of Understanding underscores the importance of disciplinary and interdisciplinary forms of knowledge as these are central to teaching. Buttressing that conviction is the idea that through Personalized Learning candidates utilize students' “interests, learning styles, and goals” in planning classroom activities. One of the implications of our commitment to Intellectual, Personal, and Professional Growth, as well, has to do with the expectation that our students as prospective teachers will foster pupils' “participation in the development of curriculum,” a process that must include an understanding of subject matter, the students, the wider community, and curriculum ideas and aims.
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INTASC Principle #8: The teacher understands and uses formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and ensure the continuous intellectual, social, and physical development of the learner.

Under Intellectual, Personal, and Professional Growth we outline our commitment to professional growth for teachers. In identifying this central commitment to lifelong learning, we emphasize the full range of human capabilities. We also suggest that one implication of this perspective is that teachers must “seek, evaluate, and create new knowledge,” a process that entails the articulation of assessment practices that will help them evaluate the level of development exhibited by their own students. Further, in discussing the value of Meaningful Experiences, we stipulate that our programs, “must maintain or create experiences in schools and on campus that will assist in the development of their expertise in those settings,” and that we will “include early and continuous engagement with the multiple realities of children, teaching, and schools.” Part of the “practical wisdom” that our students acquire in relation to the Knowledge and Multiple Forms of Understanding that we promote in our programs is the ability to use a variety of assessment methods that are authentic and integrally connected to curriculum and instruction. Within all our programs we assess candidates on their ability to use diverse methods of formal and informal assessment that will facilitate the complete development of students.
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INTASC Principle #9: The teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually evaluates the effects of his/her choices and actions on others (students, parents, and other professionals in the learning community) and who actively seeks out opportunities to grow professionally.

The commitment of faculty and students to reflection is central to our conceptual framework. As indicated under Critical Reflection, effective teachers reflect critically on the moral, political, social, and economic dimensions of education. This requires an understanding of the multiple contexts in which schools function, an appreciation of diverse perspectives on educational issues, and a commitment to democratic forms of interaction. Consequently, all our teacher education programs require candidates to develop their own social and educational visions that are connected to critically reflective practice. Our commitment to life-long professional development is also clear in Intellectual, Personal, and Professional Growth, since reflective practitioners must be committed to lifelong intellectual, personal, and professional growth. Additionally, as we discuss in reference to Meaningful Experience, we are committed to creating school-based experiences within which our students will be expected to act as thoughtful, reflective, caring practitioners, and that we are committed to assessing their abilities in such settings.
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INTASC Principle #10: The teacher fosters relationships with school colleagues, parents, and agencies in the larger community to support students' learning and well-being.

The value of Community is clear in our new conceptual framework. Developing a wide range of community relationships strengthens not only our programs but our relationship with P-12 schools and the communities they serve. Effective teacher preparation requires developing a sense of community and our programs all include opportunities for students to participate and interact with others in numerous ways, both in schools as well as other settings relevant to the education of children. Connections with fellow students, colleagues, parents, and other education professionals brings a coherence to programs, fosters an appreciation of the power of cooperative effort, and encourages a dialogue that promotes the continual rejuvenation of teacher education. Consequently, all our teacher education programs are designed to foster a sense of community among students, among faculty members, between faculty members and students, and between the university and the schools. Candidates also develop and are evaluated on their capacity to create communities of learners within the classrooms where they teach.
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IPSB Standards

As we have seen, the ideas and commitments contained in the INTASC principles reflect the direction that teacher education reform has taken at IUB as expressed through our conceptual framework. Since the IPSB content and developmental standards are derived largely from the more general INTASC framework and represent perspectives on teaching and teacher education that are congruent with the INTASC standards, we believe that the most meaningful way to incorporate the substance of the IPSB standards is through their incorporation into each of our specific programs. Connections between the IPSB standards and the specific programs and courses can be found here in the individual program matrices that present evidence of how our programs address the IPSB Standards.