Educational Platforms, Teacher Selection, and School Reform: Issues Emanating from a Biographical Case Study

Teachers can become change agents, but only if they adhere to a social recon structionist perspective. Regrettably, most teacher education institutions, ar gues Barone, emphasize social adap tionism; that is, those matriculating through and graduating from "adap tionist" institutions favor methods that reproduce the educational status quo. Through an in-depth analysis of one stu dent's biography regarding how and why she became a teacher education student, the author argues for selection processes that enable the identification of progressivist ideals in teacher candi dates and the creation of programs that sustain those ideals through the initial phases of teaching.