Reading teacher education in the next millennium: What your grandmother's teacher didn't know that your granddaughter's teacher should

THE PREPARATION of teachers in the area of reading education is a primary c oncern of those who seek to improve reading achievement in schools. The cha llenges of the next millennium will make teacher preparation even more of a n issue. Changes in the nature of literacy itself, changes in the diversity of our student population, and changes in the occupational characteristics of teaching are part of the near future. Research in the area of teacher p reparation has been limited. We summarize the research in teacher preparati on and argue that a great deal is known about the training of teachers but much less about the teaching of teachers. It is the latter that must occupy our attention if we are to prepare future teachers for the changing landsc ape of reading education. We review research in the areas of training and t eaching of teachers and point toward promising practices in the area of tea ching teachers. These promising practices emphasize such features as inquir y and reflection and we argue that there are political forces that privileg e a training model for the preparation of teachers and that the emphasis on teaching teachers will be difficult. We conclude with recommendations for a research agenda in reading teacher education that is based on our analysi s of the status quo.