The concept of teacher centers originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960's. By 1970 there were 500 in operation in that country.(*1) In the early 1970's the movement appeared in the U. S. and it was reported that by ... "1974 ... 4,500 had already been established," (*2) and that the vast majority of those were supported through private and philanthropic funds. Although it was reported that there were four state systems of teacher centers by that date, only Florida had an operational State Teacher Center System.(*3)

Two themes dominated the teacher center movement: 1) "That as teaching becomes harder, teachers in service need and want help and training ... focused specifically on their local and individual problems, and 2) that a major source of that help is other teachers; the most mature and creative and experienced and respected and successful of the local teachers."(*4) Those two themes converged in the development of teacher centers whose primary goal was that of in-service education designed to meet the needs of teachers as perceived by teachers.

In 1974 Schmieder and Yarger, two of the most respected researchers on teacher centers, offered this tentative definition of a teacher center:

"... a place, in sutu, or a changing location, which develops programs directed at the improvement of classroom instruction in which the participating personnel have an opportunity to share successes, to utilize a wide range of educational resources, and to receive training specifically related to the problems of teaching.(*5)

The teacher center movement continued to expand in the later half of the 1970's when the federal government in 1976, through section 5 3 2 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 as enacted by Section 153 of the Education Amendments of 1976 (P. L. 94-482), authorized the Commissioner of Education to make grants to local educational agencies and to institutions of higher education (IHE) to assist in planning, establishing, and operating teacher centers. Ninety per cent of the federal funds to be awarded were earmarked for distribution to local education agencies, while ten per cent were to be distributed to institutions of higher education. By the deadline for submissions in the first funding cycle, the U. S. Office of Education had received 481 proposals. Of the 481, 50 were from institutions of higher education.(*6)

P.L. 94-482 which authorized the federally sponsored teacher center program adopted the major aspects of the Schmieder-Yarger definition, with the addition of aspects of governance and evaluation. Consequently, a federally funded teacher center became "a site which services teachers from public and non-public schools of a state or an area of a community within the state, in which teachers, with assistance from consultants and experts as may be necessary, may develop and produce curricula, utilize research findings and provide training to improve the skills of teachers to enable them to better meet the educational needs of students."(*7) As can be seen from the accompanying table (Features of P.L. 94-482), federal regulations also required state approval and input, from institutions of higher education, local governing boards for each center, demonstrated needs to be met, a plan for meeting those needs, and a method of evaluation. In essence, the federal government became the funding agent, LEA's became the recipients, and local policy boards composed of at least 50 per cent teachers determined their needs, devised a plan to meet those needs, and evaluated the results. The Commonwealth of Virginia was awarded one of the federal grants.

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(*1) An interesting account of the development of centers in the United Kingdom can be found in: Thornbury, Robert, Ed., Teacher Centres, Agathon Press, NY, 1973.

(*2) Schmieder, Allen A., and Yarger, Sam J. Ed., "Teacher/Teaching Centers," Journal of Teacher Education, (Special issue) 24, No. 5, Spring, 1974.

(*3) The article previously cited in (*2) defined a state system as one that would be permitted by current legislation.

(*4) Teacher Centers and the Teacher Centers Program, Summary of Key Points, Jan., 1981. Obtained from SEA.

(*5) Yarger, Sam J., "Inservice Education and Teacher Centers," In Commissioners Report to the Education Profession, 1975-76, Teacher Centers.

(*6) Mertens, Sally and Yarger, Sam, A Content Analysis of the First Teacher Center Program Proposals, 1980.

(*7) From the "Justification for Virginia Teacher Centers." Obtained from SEA.