Teachers for a New Era (TNE) is a landmark initiative designed to strengthen K–12 teaching by developing excellent teacher education programs. With funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Annenberg Foundation, and the Ford Foundation, this reform effort aims to strengthen teacher preparation by fostering collaborations among K-12 and university faculties in Education, Humanities, and the Sciences (prospectus). The initiative establishes three guiding principles as critical in the redesign of programs that prepare teachers:

• Decisions Driven by Evidence
• Engagement with the Arts and Sciences
• Teaching as an Academically Taught Clinical Practice Profession

As one of eleven TNE institutions preparing the teachers of tomorrow, the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP) is working to improve teacher preparation and K–12 pupil learning through professional development school relationships with our Partner Schools and through program and curriculum reforms across the university. STEP cultivates teacher leaders who share a set of core values that includes a commitment to social justice, an understanding of the strengths and needs of a diverse student population, and a dedication to equity and academic excellence for all students. The program takes an approach to teaching and learning that is sensitive to the family, community, and political contexts of education, focused on the needs and development of diverse learners, and grounded in the study of subject matter that enables inquiry, critical thinking, and high student achievement.