Chapter 8 Making stone soup: Tensions of national accreditation for an urban teacher education program

In her children's book, Stone Soup, Heather Forest (1998) recreates a popular European folktale about people wanting to make soup but lacking the typical ingredients…. As the story unfolds, they discover the possibilities that are available when individuals come together to make soup out of a stone and with the contribution of each member – a carrot, a potato – and “a magical ingredient…sharing.” Within this chapter, we tell our story of seeking national accreditation for the Urban Teacher Education Program (UTEP) at Rutgers University-Newark (RU-N)…. This story is crafted through personal experience narratives that illuminate the contribution of each author toward making our UTEP soup…. As in the story of Stone Soup…, we lack the typical ingredients to achieve accreditation, and we continue to make it happen.