Teacher training
institutions across the U.S. are working to improve the quality of America's
teachers. Here we highlight a handful of programs that are taking steps
-- big and small -- to change the way teachers are trained.
In September 1996, the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future
issued a major report -- What
Matters Most: Teaching and America's Future. The report detailed
the need for quality teachers. Indeed, the quality of teachers is central
to our nation's effort to improve its schools, the report says. The urgent
need is underscored by some eye-opening statistics:
America will need to hire two million teachers in the next decade
due to increased student enrollment and the retirement of an aging teaching
force.
Almost 30 percent of our student population is minority, while minorities
comprise only 13 percent of our teaching force. More than 40 percent
of schools in the U.S. do not have a person of color on their faculty.
Twenty-two percent of all new teachers leave the profession in the
first three years because of a lack of support and a "sink or swim"
approach to induction.
Roughly one-fourth of newly hired teachers lack the qualifications
for their jobs.
Seventy-five percent of urban districts admit hiring teachers without
proper qualifications.
Nearly one-fourth (23 percent) of all secondary teachers do not have
even a minor in their main teaching field. This is true of more than
30 percent of mathematics teachers. In schools with the highest minority
enrollments, students have less than a 50 percent chance of getting
a science or mathematics teacher who holds a license and a degree in
the field he or she teaches.
We examined the report and these statistics in detail in a previous
Education World story, The
State of Teacher Preparation: 1997. Now we turn our attention to what's
going on in teacher training institutions in an effort to turn the tide
on "teacher quality." This story -- the first in an intermittent series
-- will highlight a handful of teacher ed programs that are taking steps
to change the way teachers are trained.
LAWYERS, DOCTORS, PLUMBERS, HAIRDRESSERS...
BUT WHAT ABOUT TEACHERS?
Although no state will permit a person to write wills, practice medicine,
fix plumbing, or style hair without completing training and passing an
examination, more than 40 states allow districts to hire teachers who
have not met basic requirements!
U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) would like to change that!
Reed is proposing a national program that would link schools of education
with elementary and secondary schools across the United States in much
the same way that teaching hospitals are linked to medical schools.
"We have a support system for doctors and lawyers to continue learning
and developing their skills throughout their careers," says Reed. "If
this country is really committed to improving its schools, then we need
to recognize that teachers deserve the same kind of opportunity…"
Just as experienced doctors work to train medical students, Reed proposes
that education professionals connected to colleges and universities would
provide direct training to teachers in local schools.
Today, about 80 such partnerships already exist. Reed's proposal would
provide $100 million in grants to create additional partnerships.
FIVE YEARS TO CERTIFICATION
The Cincinnati Initiative for Teacher Education has won wide praise.
The special five-year teacher education program works similar to college
programs that train doctors. After four years of coursework, including
many practical experiences, students in this program at the University
of Cincinnati spend 36 weeks as classroom interns in one of Cincinnati's
11 "professional practice schools." As interns, the students work closely
with veteran teachers, who serve as mentors and coaches. And the best
part -- the interns are paid as regular half-time teachers!
This unique program has the support of the Cincinnati public schools
and the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers.
At the "professional practice schools," interns work as part of a team.
The team includes a lead teacher (who is released from many teaching duties),
a mentor-teacher, and other team members. The intern teaches half a course
load (filling in the slot left by the lead teacher) and takes additional
college courses; the mentor-teacher receives a stipend of $5,000; and
all other teachers on the team receive $1,000 in additional pay.
Why would students be willing to spend an extra year in college when
they could go to another college or university and earn their certification
in four years?
They get a double degree and earn credits toward a Master's degree.
That provides career flexibility.
Working with a mentor-teacher and as part of a team of teachers enables
interns to gain experience that will help them to be more effective
teachers. They benefit from the advice and mentoring of veteran teachers.
They get to observe a variety of teaching styles. (Most student-teaching
experiences involve working with one teacher.)
The experience builds self-confidence; the interns are better prepared
for a full-time teaching assignment than a student at another institution
who participates in a traditional ten-week student teaching experience.
Teachers with their experience are in demand; more than 90 percent
of the teachers who graduated from the first class in this program found
full-time teaching jobs.
BASELINE DAY ENHANCES
THE STUDENT TEACHING EXPERIENCE
The student-teaching experience for students in the School of Education
at Indiana State University is enhanced considerably by taking on a full
day of teaching responsibility within the first four to ten days of their
assignment. The day is referred to as baseline day.
The purpose of baseline day, according to an article in the journal
Contemporary Education, is to
Promptly establish the student teacher's role as a new junior faculty
member.
Provide both student teacher and classroom supervisor with very early
evidence of the student teacher's strengths and areas for needed enrichment
during the assignment.
Quickly increase the technical communications between student teacher
and classroom supervisor.
Expose student teachers to the detailed decisions necessary for full-time
teaching very early in their assignment so as to make their observations
more vivid.
Provide objective and individualized evidence upon which to plan the
rational steps leading to at least one week of solo teaching later in
the assignment.
The supervising teacher is in the classroom for the entire baseline
day -- taking notes and resisting the temptation to participate! He or
she doesn't participate unless absolutely necessary for safety or health
reasons.
Baseline day is followed by a post-conference. The post-conference isn't
held on baseline day, because student teachers are usually exhausted at
the end of the day. Delaying the post-conference for a day provides some
time for the student teacher to analyze and reflect on the experience
and for the supervisor to organize notes.
In the post-conference, student teacher and supervisor clarify strengths
and establish and plan strategies for the remainder of the ten-week experience.
The majority of student teachers (92 percent) and cooperating teachers
(87 percent) strongly support the idea of baseline day. The experience
stimulates "open discussion on strengths and needs, shared expectations,
and specific ideas for improvement goals." That open communication continues
throughout the experience, most agree.
TRAINING TEACHERS FOR THE INCLUSIVE CLASSROOM
A program at Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) recognizes that many new
teachers enter the profession ill-prepared to handle the wide-ranging
needs of students in today's inclusive classroom. The program is described
in a recent issue of Contemporary Education.
The article includes results of several studies. One, a 1990 study,
found that about half of classroom teachers believe students in teacher
preparation programs should be required to take at least one special education
class. In the same study, 38 percent of respondents thought that an inclusive
practicum should be part of teacher training. Results of another national
study (1991) revealed that less than half of the U.S. states offered students
any special education content. Only about 30 percent of states required
a specific special education course, and less than 15 percent required
students who plan to teach in regular classrooms to have any special education
teaching experience.
Instructors at Miami University are taking steps to address the need
for including special education content and experience in courses for
general education students. Faculty appointed a Distinguished Professional
in Residence who has "extensive experience in the implementation of inclusionary
models" to help infuse special education content into methods courses.
The result of the first year of the program revealed " a greater understanding
of the nature of and the need for inclusionary practices" among many faculty.
ATTRACTING HIGH SCHOOLERS TO THE TEACHING PROFESSION
In the next decade, thousands of teachers are expected to retire in
Connecticut. The need is especially great when it comes to minority teachers.
In Connecticut, about 30 percent of the student population is classified
as "minority," but fewer than 7 percent of teachers are from minority
groups.
Will the state's teachers training institutions be able to help school
systems keep up with the demand for teachers -- minority or not?
Last summer, 40 high school students from across the state participated
in a month-long program that exposed high school students to the teaching
profession. The Summer Institute for Future Teachers, which was held at
Eastern Connecticut State University (Willimantic), was open to students
of all races from across the state. The program, funded by a $100,000
grant from the state Department of Education, was free and offered college-level
credit for student participants.
"The main focus of the program is to provide students with an opportunity
so they can reflect on what teaching is all about and ask themselves if
they really want to be a teacher," Elsy Negron, an assistant professor
of education at the university told the Hartford Courant. "Teaching in
the 21st century is going to call for a more reflective teacher because
of the changing student population."
Schools need teachers who will act more like facilitators and less like
God, said Walter Dean, the director of the summer institute. He said teachers
will need to find new ways to challenge students who need motivation,
the paper reported.
"I want to be a teacher so badly," said student Wendy Mayo, who is a
senior this year at E.O. Smith High School in Storrs, Connecticut. "I
am really learning the actual work it takes, the nitty-gritty things like
working with curriculum and learning the motivations and dedication it
takes…"
STATES ARE STEPPING IN:SATISFACTION GUARANTEED...
OR RETURN YOUR TEACHER TO COLLEGE!
In the state of Alabama, a new law went into effect July 1st. The law
requires school boards to send failing teachers back to their alma maters!
Seven years ago, the University of Montevallo (Montevallo, Alabama)
began providing "guarantees" with each graduate of its teacher certification
program. The guarantee, which applied to all students who graduated with
a B average or better, was available for one year.
Speaking about the First-Year Teacher Quality Assurance Program, Terry
Roberson, the dean of the University of Montevallo's College of Education,
said: "It's made us more reflective of our own program. We scrutinize
everything we do."
Of the 1,200 teachers who've graduated from the program, only four schools
have asked the university to honor their warranty, Roberson adds.
Meanwhile, back at the state capitol, the new Alabama law will hold
for all graduates (not just those with B averages) and the guarantee will
be good for two years.
One school leader, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, predicted that
the new law will limit "ivory tower" courses at colleges of education
and lead to more practical experiences for teachers-in-training. Jack
Farr, superintendent of Hoover City Schools, predicts that the new law
will force colleges of education to "be more diligent with the people
who graduate from their teacher programs."
WILL TEXAS "FAIL" ANY TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAMS?
The State of Texas is serious about teacher preparation. Starting in
1998, teacher prep programs will be scrutinized under a new program established
by the State Board for Educator Certification. Any teacher training institution
that produces "too many…graduates [who] fail the state exam for certifying
teachers" will be placed under review, according a report in the Dallas
Morning News. A state team will be sent in to help upgrade the program.
Students who attend the school would not be able to earn certification.
"If graduates of Institution "X" consistently fail the English ExCET
[Exam for Certification of Educators in Texas], we will not allow them
to continue to prepare teachers in that academic area," explained Mark
Littleton, executive director of the certification board. "After three
years, they lose their program."
Ken Craycraft, dean of the College of Education at Sam Houston State
University, told the Morning News that a review system is needed to ensure
"consistency in the quality of educators who are prepared as well as [to
provide] some guarantee to the school districts where the individuals
will work that they've all met a set criteria."
Related Resources
What
Matters Most: Teaching and America's Future "This report offers
what we believe is the single most important strategy for achieving
America's educational goals: A blueprint for recruiting, preparing,
and supporting excellent teachers in all of America's schools. The plan
is aimed at ensuring that all communities have teachers with the knowledge
and skills they need to teach so that all children can learn; all school
systems are organized to support teachers in this work. A caring, competent,
and qualified teacher for every child is the most important ingredient
in education reform…"
Internships
Hailed as Key Prescription For Teacher Training Up in front of her
7th grade science classroom at Shroder Middle School, Ronnie Casebolt
looks just like a regular teacher. The students treat her like one...
But she's not exactly a "regular" teacher. Not yet, at least. Ms. Casebolt
is serving out a yearlong teaching internship, the final step in the
University of Cincinnati's five-year teacher education program. (From
Education Week, 4/23/97.)
Baseline Day: A Student Teaching Enhancement by L.R. Braught
and B. Montgomery, Contemporary Education, Fall 1996.
Restructuring Teacher Preparation Programs for Inclusion: The Change
Process in One University by C. Everington, L.B. Hamill, and B.
Lubic, Contemporary Education, Fall 1996.
Teacher training
institutions across the U.S. are working to improve the quality of America's
teachers. Here we highlight a handful of programs that are taking steps
-- big and small -- to change the way teachers are trained. 