This article employs Bourdieu’s concept of capital to understand how state officials and teacher educators in New Jersey used three different forms of capital—economic, social, and cultural—in their struggle to shape the undergraduate teacher preparation and the first state sponsored alternative route program to teacher certification. Based on analysis of state archive documents and other primary sources, I describe how state officials successfully exploited their access to cultural and economic capital to establish a legitimate and credible educational policy and to marginalize teacher educators who were forced to rely, almost entirely, on their cultural capital. I conclude that as a result of this struggle, the field of educational policy in New Jersey during the 1980s experienced a shift of power, with the state gaining more power to implement its vision of educational policy (one that relied on neo-liberal and neo-conservative ideas and that supported teachers with broader subject matter knowledge and leaner pedagogic training).
American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education Task Force on Teacher Certification. (1984). Emergency teacher certification: Summary and recommendations. Journal of Teacher Education, 35(2), 21-25.
2.
Angus, D.L. ( 2001). In J. Mirel (Ed.), Professionalism and the public good: A brief history of teacher certification . Washington, DC: Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.
3.
Anyon, J. ( 1997). Ghetto schooling. New York: Teachers College Press.
4.
Anyon, J. ( 2005). Radical possibilities: Public policy, urban education, and a new social movement. New York: Routledge.
5.
Apple, M.W. ( 1993). The politics of official knowledge: Does a national curriculum make sense? Teachers College Record, 95, 222-241.
6.
Apple, M.W. ( 2001). Markets, standards, teaching, and teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 52, 182-196.
7.
Apple, M.W. ( 2003). The state and the politics of knowledge. New York: Routledge.
8.
Becker, G. ( 1976). The economic approach to human behavior. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
9.
Bestor, A.E. ( 1953). Educational wastelands: The retreat from learning in our public schools. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
10.
Bourdieu, P. ( 1985). The social space and the genesis of groups. Theory and Society, 14, 723-744.
11.
Bourdieu, P. ( 1986). The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241-260). Westport: Greenwood Press.
12.
Bourdieu, P. ( 1988). Homo academicus. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
13.
Bourdieu, P. ( 1994). Rethinking the state: Genesis and structure of the bureaucratic field. Sociological Theory, 12(1), 1-18.
14.
Bourdieu, P. ( 2005). Questions in sociology. Tel Aviv, Israel: Resling Press.
15.
Bourdieu, P., & Wacquant, L.J.D. (1992). An introduction to reflexive sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
16.
Boyer, E.L. ( 1984). Report of a panel on the preparation of beginning teachers . Trenton: New Jersey State Department of Education.
17.
Brady, C.R. ( 2003). Can failing schools be fixed?Washington, DC: Thomas B. Fordham Foundation. Retrieved 20 April 20, 2008, from http://www.edexcellence.net/institute/publication/publication.cfm?id=2&pubsubid=12
18.
Carlson, K. ( 1985, November 10). Prof asks re-evaluation of teacher-ed criticism and ‘alternate’ route. Newark Star-Ledger, p. 125.
19.
Carlson, K. ( 1990, April). New Jersey’s alternate route to teacher certification. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Boston, MA.
20.
Carlson, K., Kaplan, L., Maher, C., Nelson, J., Tanner, D., Vitello, S.J., et al. (1983). An analysis of the proposal by the New Jersey education department for an alternative route to teacher certification . New Brunswick: Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University.
21.
Carlson, K., & Silverman, R. ( 1985). The politics of teacher education reform. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.
22.
Cochran-Smith, M., & Fries, M.K. ( 2001). Sticks, stones, and ideology: The discourse of reform in teacher education. Educational Researcher, 30(8), 3-15.
23.
Coleman, J.S. ( 1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94, S95-S120.
24.
Collins, R. ( 1979). Credential society: An historical sociology of education and stratification. New York: Academic Press.
25.
Conant, J.B. ( 1963). The education of American teachers. New York: McGraw Hill.
26.
Cooper, B. S., & Nisonoff, P. (2009). Urbanism, state control, and school spending. In L. Fusarelli, B. Fussarelli & B. Cooper (Eds.), The rising power of the state in education: From equity to control (pp. 47-64). Albany: SUNY Press.
27.
Cooperman, S., & Klagholz, L. ( 1985). New Jersey’s alternative route to certification . Phi Delta Kappan, 66, 691-695.
28.
Cooperman, S., Webb, A., and Klagholz, L. ( 1983). An alternative route to teacher selection and professional quality assurance. Trenton: New Jersey State Department of Education.
29.
Crowe, E. ( 2008). Teaching as a profession: A bridge too far? In M. Cochran-Smith, S. Feiman-Nemser , J. McIntyre & K. Demers (Eds.), Handbook of research on teacher education: Enduring issues in changing contexts (3rd ed., pp. 989-999). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
30.
Edwards, T., Gewirtz, S., & Whitty, G. ( 1992). Whose Choice of Schools? In M. Arnot & L. Barton (Eds.), Voicing concerns: Sociological perspectives on contemporary educational reform (p. 156). London: Triangle Books.
31.
Firestone, W.A. ( 2003). The governance of teaching and standards-based reform from the 1970s to the new millennium. In M. T. Hallinan, A. Gamoran, W. Kubitschek, & T. Loveless (Eds.), Stability and change in American education: Structure, process, and outcomes (pp. 153-170). Eliot Werner Publications, Clinton Corners, NY.
32.
Freistritzer, E.C. ( 2006). Alternative teacher certification: A state-by-state analysis 2005. Washington, D.C.: The National Center for Alternative Certification (NCAC).
33.
Fulton, E. ( 1983, August 28). NJEA chief blasts Cooperman certification plan. Newark Star-Ledger, p. 31.
34.
Gideonse, H.D. ( 1984). Detailed testimony of Dr. H. D. Gideonse before the Board of Education. Trenton, NJ: New Jersey State Board of Education.
35.
Goodlad, J. ( 1990). Teachers for our nation’s schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
36.
Hanley, R. (February 10, 1990). Leaving Trenton, Cooperman still seeks answers . The New York Times. Retrieved February 21, 2008, from http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE2DD1439F933A25751C0A966958260
37.
Hirsch, E.D. ( 1996). The schools we need: And why we don’t have them . New York: Doubleday.
38.
Johnson, R. ( 1991). A New Road to Serfdom? A Critical History of the 1988 Act. In Education Group 2 (Ed.), Education limited: Schooling, training and the new right in England since 1979. London: Unwin Hyman.
39.
Kean, T.H. ( 1988). The politics of inclusion. New York : The Free Press.
40.
Klagholz, L. ( 1984). Standards for professional preparation at New Jersey Colleges-A briefing paper. Manuscript submitted for publication.
41.
Klagholtz, L. ( 2000, May). Growing better teachers in the garden state: New Jersey’s "Alternate Route" to teacher certification. Washington, DC: The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation. Retrieved February 16, 2008, from http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE2DD1439F933A25751C0A966958260
42.
Koerner, J.S. ( 1963). The miseducation of American teachers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
43.
Labaree, D.F. ( 2004). The trouble with ed schools. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
44.
Lanier, J.E., & Little, J.W. ( 1986). Research on teacher education. In M. C. Wittrock (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (3rd ed., pp. 527-569). New York: Macmillan.
45.
Lips, D. ( 2006, January). Education notebook: The NEA cries wolf on Katrina education package. The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved February 8, 2008, from http://www.heritage.org/Research/Education/EdNotes18.cfm
46.
McDermott, A.K. ( 2007). "Expanding the moral community" or "blaming the victim"? The politics of state education accountability policy. American Educational Research Journal, 44(1), 77-111.
47.
Mitchell, T. ( 1991). The limits of the state: Beyond statist approaches and their critics. American Political Science Review, 85(1), 77-96.
48.
National Commission on Excellence and Education. ( 1983). A nation at risk: The imperative for educational reform . Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office.
49.
Ozga, J. ( 1999). Policy research in educational settings: Contested terrain . Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
50.
Ravitch, D. ( 2000). Left back: A century of failed school reforms. New York: Simon & Schuster Press.
51.
Salmore, B.G., & Salmore, S.A. ( 1993). New Jersey politics and government: Suburban politics comes of age. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
52.
Schwaneberg, R. ( 1983, April 14). Education chief hails lean look. Newark Star-Ledger, p. 15.
53.
Sedlak, M. ( 2008). Competing visions of purpose, practice, and policy: The history of teacher certification in the United States. In M. Cochran-Smith, S. Feiman-Nemser , & J. McIntyre (Eds.), Handbook of research on teacher education: Enduring issues in changing contexts (3rd ed., pp. 989-999). Mahwah, NJ : Lawrence Erlbaum.
54.
Skocpol, T. ( 1979). States and social revolutions: A comparative analysis of France, Russia,and China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
55.
Smith, J. ( 1991). The alternative route: Flaws in the New Jersey plan. Educational Leadership, 49(3), 32-36.
56.
Soyka, D. ( 1985, June 9). School reformers need to focus on more than just teacher pay hikes. Newark Star-Ledger.
57.
Stonecash, J.M., & McGuire, M.P. ( 2002). The emergence of state government: Parties and New Jersey politics, 1950-2000. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.
58.
Swartz, D. ( 1997). Culture and power: The sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
59.
Tamir, E. ( 2006). The politics of educational reform: State power and the field of educational policy in New Jersey. Unpublished doctoral dissertation , Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.
60.
Tamir, E. ( 2008). Theorizing the politics of educational reform: The case of New Jersey’s alternate route to teacher certification. American Journal of Education, 115(1).
61.
Tamir, E., & Wilson, S. ( 2005). Who should guard the gates: Evidentiary and professional warrants for claiming jurisdiction. Journal of Teacher Education , 56(4), 332-342.
62.
Taylor, S., Rizvi, F., Lingard, B., & Henry, M. ( 1997). Educational policy and the politics of change. New York: Routledge.
63.
Tozer, S., & Miretzky, D. ( 2005). Social foundations, teaching standards, and the future of teacher preparation. In D. W. Butin (Ed.), Teaching social foundations of education: Contexts, theories, and issues (pp. 3-28). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
64.
Tozer, S., O’Connell, C., & Burstein, P. ( 2006). Four perspectives on alternate routes to Teacher Certification . Success in High-Need Schools, 1(2). Retrieved February 8, 2008, from from http://www.successinhighneedschools.org/journal/issue/2/1/825
65.
Urban, W.J. ( 2000). Gender, race and the NEA: Professionalism and its limitations . New York: Routledge Falmer.
66.
Weber, M. ( 1952). Economy and society: An outline of interpretive sociology (Vols. 1-3). New York: Bedminster Press.
67.
Weiner, L. ( 2007). A lethal threat to U.S. teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 58, 274-286.
68.
Wilson, S., & Tamir, E. ( 2008). The evolving field of teacher education: How understanding challenge(r)s might improve the preparation of teachers. In M. Cochran-Smith & S. Feiman-Nemser (Eds.), Handbook of research on teacher education: Enduring issues in changing contexts (3rd ed., pp. 908-935). Association of Teacher Educators.
