Faculty Research Profiles: Renee Clift

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Professor

Curriculum & Instruction
387 Education Building
1310 S. 6th St. MC 708
217 244-3548

PI-Illinois New Teacher Collabrative

Curriculum & Instruction
194 Children's Research Center
51 Gerty Dr. MC 672
217 2172447389
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Research Biography

My research investigates factors that affect the process of learning to teach, which includes preservice teachers’ learning, educators’ continuing professional development, and educational leadership. My current work focuses on the transition from preservice teacher education programs to the first six years of teaching. One of my research projects is a six-year study of the career paths of thirteen graduates from the University of Illinois English teacher preparation program. Another project is investigating the appropriate uses of technology to support beginning teachers and their mentors.
I also serves as the Director for the Illinois New Teacher Collaborative (http://intc.ed.uiuc.edu).  Based at the College of Education, the collaborative is a statewide, voluntary consortium of stakeholders who are concerned with recruiting and retaining talented educators for all schools.

Degrees

  • Ph.D., Curriculum & Teacher Education, Stanford University, 1984
  • M.A., Educational Administration, Stetson University, 1979
  • B.A., Education, University of Florida, 1972

Key Professional Appointments

  • Professor, Department of Curriculum & Instruction, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1995--
  • Executive Director, Council on Teacher Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1994-2000
  • Associate Professor, Department of Curriculum & Instruction, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1990-1995
  • Associate Director, Education Student Services Center, University of Houston, 1989-1990
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Curriculum & Instruction, University of Houston, 1984-1990
  • Teacher, New Smyrna Beach Senior High School , New Smyrna Beach, Florida, 1974-1980
  • Teacher, Vanguard High School, Ocala, Florida, 1972-1974

Activities & Honors

  • Outstanding Service, Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools, Area IV, Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools, 2007
  • Director, Illinois New Teacher Collaborative, 2004- present
  • Member, Board of Directors, Association of Teacher Educators, 2001-2004
  • Co-PI, Partnership with Danville High School, Danville, IL, to improve instruction, teacher education, and technology use at both campuses., METER, 1999-2005
  • Director, Novice Teacher Support Project, 1998-2006
  • Outstanding Faculty Award for excellence in teaching, research, and service, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1996
  • Project Director, Program C, School Culture, National Center for School Leadership, 1991-1993

Grants

  • Principal Investigator, Illinois New Teacher Collaborative 2006-2008, State Farm Companies Foundation, 2006
  • Principal Investigator, Introduction and Mentoring Pilot Programs, Illinois State Board of Education, 2006
  • Principal Investigator, Crossing Contexts: Longitudinal Case Studies of English Teacher Education Graduates, Campus Research Board, 2005
  • Principal Investigator, Illinois New Teacher Collaborative, State Farm Companies Foundation, 2004
  • Principal Investigator, Statewide Plan to Support the Expansion of E-Mentoring as a Service to New Teachers, Illinois State Board of Education, 2004
  • Principal Investigator, Learning Technology Center, Illinois State Board of Education, 2004
  • Principal Investigator, Learning Technology Center, Champaign-Ford Regional Office of Education, 2004
  • Principal Investigator, E-Mentoring Initiative, Illinois State Board of Education, 2003
  • Principal Investigator, Mathematics, English, & Technology Educational Resources (METER), Illinois Board of Higher Education (Illinois State University), 2001

Selected Publications

  • Clift, R. T., Mora, R. A., & Brady, P. (in press). The categories that bind.  To appear in C. J. Craig & L. F. Deretchin (Eds.), Imagining a renaissance in teacher education: Teacher education yearbook XVI. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefied. (24 pp.)
  • Clift, R. T. (accepted) A Letter to the Forty-fourth President of the United StatesTo appear in the Journal of Teacher Education.  (14 manuscript pages)
  • Clift, R. T., Brady, P., Mora, R. A., Stegemoller, J., & Chois, S. J. (2006). From self-study to collaborative self-study to collaborative self-study of a collaboration: The evolution of a research team. In C. Kosnick, C. Beck, A. R. Freeze, & A. P. Samaras (Eds.), Making a difference in teacher education through self-study: Studies of personal, professional, and program renewal (pp. 85-100). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.
  • Clift, R. T., & Brady, P. (2005). Research on methods courses and field experiences. In M. Cochran-Smith & K. Zeichner (Eds.), Studying teacher education: The report of the AERA panel on research and teacher education (pp. 309-424). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
  • Klecka, C. L., Clift, R. T., & Cheng, Y. (2005). Are electronic conferences a solution in search of an urban problem? Urban Education, 40, 412-429.

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