ABSTRACT
Educational policy has become a major driver underlying educational research. This is succinctly articulated by Cochran-Smith and Villegas in a recent analysis of research on teacher preparation. In the era of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race To The Top (RTTT) the purpose of educational research has been expanded to include policy and politics. Past research on initial teacher education is described in terms of the emergence of three broad questions namely 'the curriculum question', 'the effectiveness question', and 'the knowledge question'. A former president of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Marilyn Cochran-Smith is a prolific analyst and critic of educational research, including the role of the federal government. The legendary anthropologist Margaret Mead published a book titled Coming of Age in Samoa in 1928, which was based on ethnographic studies Mead had conducted among teenage girls in that island country.
