Introduction Part I. The Bureaucratic Script Chapter 1: Standards, Standards Everywhere and Not a Spot to Think . P. L. Thomas Chapter 2: Rubrics, Scoring Guides, and Testing, Testing, Testing . Renita Schmidt Part II. The Corporate Script Chapter 3: Marketing Child Readers: Ranking and Sorting . Renita Schmidt Chapter 4: English as a Scripted Language . P. L. Thomas Part III. The Student Script Chapter 5: 'When Are We Going to Do English?' . P. L. Thomas Chapter 6: How School Works: Raise Your Hands When You Want to Learn . Renita Schmidt Part IV. The Parent and Public Script Chapter 7: 'Why Don't You Mark the Errors on my Child's Papers?' - Explaining Yourself Theoretically and Professionally . Renita Schmidt Chapter 8: 'Why Aren't You Teaching C. S. Lewis?'-Challenges and Expectations from Outside School . P. L. Thomas Part V. The Administrative Script Chapter 9: But Are They Ready To Do Best Practices? . Renita Schmidt Chapter 10: Building and Department Politics-Talking English . P. L. Thomas Part VI. Beyond Scripts to Literacy Chapter 11: Literacy as Action-Empowering Students . P. L. Thomas Chapter 12: Assessing Our Way into Instruction: What Teachers Know and How They Know It . Renita Schmidt Conclusion: Implications for Literacy Classrooms in the 21st Century References

Renita Schmidt and P. L. Thomas The guiding mission of the teacher education program in the university where we teach is to create teachers who are scholars and leaders. While the intent of that mission is basically sound in theory-we instill the idea that teachers at all levels are professionals, always learning and growing in knowledge-that theory, that philosophical underpinning does not insure that the students who complete our program are confident about the act or performance of teaching. In our unique program, students work closely with one teacher and classroom for the entire senior year and then are supervised and mentored during their first semester of teaching; the program is heavily field-based, and it depends on the effectiveness of mentoring throughout the methods coursework and the first semester of full-time teaching. Students tell us this guidance and support is invaluable, and yet we feel the disjuncture between university and school just as many of you in more traditional student teaching settings. Students hear "best practice" information from us in methods classes and they receive ample exposure to the research supporting our field, but have a hard time implementing research-based practices in their cla- room settings and an even harder time finding it in the classrooms around them.