The “work” of preparing undergraduates to become teachers has shifted dramatically in recent years. High-stakes assessments and public pressure to make teachers “accountable” for student learning has shifted the very core of teacher education pedagogy. It is now much easier to list the reasons why one should not become teacher than the reasons to become a teacher. What lies ahead and how can schools and colleges of education survive? What is our responsibility to the communities educators we work with?

Heyning, a 2014-2015 UW–Madison School of Education Distinguished Alumni Award winner, will discuss how UW–Whitewater, housing the largest undergraduate initial-licensure program in Wisconsin,  has been striving to stay “one step ahead” of the tidal wave and has found some positives among the negatives.