Partnerships for physics teaching reform: A crucial role for universities and colleges

To meet National Standards recommended by the National Research Council for high school physics, in-service teachers must be integrated into the physics community. They must be empowered by access to resources of the physics community and by sustained support for their professional development. To that end, university and college physics departments must assume an essential role in establishing and maintaining the necessary local infrastructure. Nevertheless, this can be done within their current systems at negligible cost by forming partnerships with local alliances of in-service teachers. Practical details have been worked out, and working partnerships have been established in several localities. This effort should be extended to a national infrastructure for reform of physics teaching in community colleges as well as in high schools. Most teachers are eager to participate in teaching reform.