Clinical supervision in a standards-based environment - Opportunities and challenges

Current education reform stresses systemic change to achieve large-scale and long-term results. However, education in the United States has long been characterized by loose coupling, manifested in the relationship between administration and instruction, between universities and schools, and between preservice and in-service expectations. The result is an endemic inconsistency in achievement among different classrooms and schools, an inadequate preparation of teachers for classroom reality, and beginning teachers' being left to survive with limited available support. The standards movement seeks to reduce loose coupling by bridging the gap between universities and schools and smoothing the transition from novice teacher to professional. Yet, the imposition of standards and dose monitoring of learning outcomes potentially violates the affective bond between student and teacher and the teacher's commitment to the calling. Resolving the tension between externally imposed outcomes and the teacher's emotional investment requires a high degree of empathy for the developing teacher.