Developing a Shared Vision for Schooling and Teacher Education in a Democracy: A Story from Colorado

During the early 1980s, a vast wave of criticism rose to engulf the public schools. Originating in earlier decades but not quelled by responses up through the early 1980s, this wave reached a crest with the National Commission for Excellencein Education's report, A Nation at Risk. The unforgettable language used by the commission likened schools' efforts to an enemy taking over the country, and the report contained urgent recommendations for mobilizing education to bring the United States into the global economy's forefront.'