Since 1980, more than 250,000 people have been licensed to teach through alternative certification routes and thousands of students depend on these teachers to prepare them for higher education, employment, and life. Revision of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) includes competitive federal grants to enable non-government providers to improve the quality of education. This includes $235 million dollars under Title II of ESEA to recruit and train teachers for high need schools through alternative teacher preparation and certification programs-outside a traditional university program. Federal law requires that states and programs receiving Title II funds ensure that teacher candidates have a bachelor's degree and pass state designated certification exams. Alternative preparation and certification programs generally target applicants who already have an undergraduate degree, and streamline the licensure process in order to meet a state's requirements for certification. Alternative programs, for example, may require shorter but more intensive student teaching assignments and more targeted coursework to prepare teacher candidates for the classrooms.
What should be requirements for alternative teacher preparation programs in order to receive a grant from the federal government?
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Here are some research-based recommendations for alternative teacher preparation programs, i.e. these programs must:
ReplyDelete1. Maintain high entrance standards for teacher candidates.
2. Provide researched-based and scientifically supported coursework for training teachers.
3. Include a process to assess and evaluate teacher performance during initial training and during the first year of teaching.
4. Deliver formative feedback and professional development to teacher candidates throughout their first year of teaching in order to increase their skills.
5. Make a commitment to collecting and sharing data on the effectiveness of teachers over time.
Teach for America is an example of an alternative teacher preparation program. It heavily recruits top college graduates, carefully selects corp members, and then provides short, intensive training before sending new teachers into the classroom. In the education world, there are mixed opinions about TFA's model and success. The organization, nonetheless, has made a name for itself and has proven effectiveness through data on student achievement. TFA has been receiving a federal education set-aside of 18 million dollars each year. Now it must compete for federal grants with other programs that offer alternative teacher preparation. This could throw a wrench in TFA's plans of continuing to grow, as well as operate on its current scale. On the other hand, TFA could get even more money if it successfully competes for those grants. Therefore, if TFA and other similar programs want access to those federal grants, it is important that they have a voice in federal requirements for alternative teacher preparation standards.
ReplyDeleteHere is a Washington Post article that gives an overview of changes to TFA's federal funding situation:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/25/AR2010022503842.html
Education Week highlighted a new book by the Urban Institute in Washington DC about how to improve (or essentially recreate) the teaching profession. I thought this quote from the article was interesting:
ReplyDelete"New York University researcher Sean P. Corcoran notes that the percentage of new female teachers drawn from the top tenth of their high school graduating classes shrank from 20 percent in 1964 to slightly more than 11 percent in 2000 as women began to follow other career paths that were once dominated by men. More than a third of new female teachers, on the other hand, came out of the bottom third of their high school classes in 2000."
May show even more reason to support alternative certification programs that recruit high-achieving candidates into a fast-track to teaching.
Check out the article:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/04/28/30teach.h29.html?tkn=PXUFprx9r9jCKffqfwLMwmL3fvQC3%2B0hwU46&cmp=clp-edweek.
I discussed this issue with some people who were prepared through the Prince George's County Resident Teacher Program. They said that when they were in the program (6 years ago) that there was an excellent in school mentor who guided them through their first year of teaching. Since then, the program has been scaled back and an increasing number of people have left withing their first 5 years of teaching. As someone who was prepared through an alternate route with an excellent mentor, I can say with confidence that she is one of the biggest reasons I'm staying in the classroom. If I did not have that level of support in my first year, I probably would not continue.
ReplyDeleteAlternative teacher preparation programs should have well trained and active mentors for teaching candidates so that they are supported during their first year (at least) of teaching.
The April 29, 2010, Education Week article, "Panel Finds No Favorite in Teacher-Prep Pathways" suggests that the research out there is not sufficient to tell us that whether a traditional or alternative teaching certification route is better in terms of producing effective teachers. Moreover, studies conducted by the National Research Council show that "differences among various alternative-certification programs are often as great as those between alternative programs and the traditional ones." This is more reason for alternative certification programs receiving federal funding to collect comprehensive data on its teacher candidates and contribute it to bodies of research on best practices for training teachers. May the programs with the strongest, and fool proof evidence of success prevail.
ReplyDeleteCheck out the article:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/04/29/31teachered.h29.html?tkn=SURFoZ1ZiS0zelKBoXn6Flm38FT6Je1cAtVo&cmp=clp-edweek