As educators, we are concerned about the quality and quantity of applicants entering the field of education. Our members have often been catalysts for innovative solutions to the many challenges facing education. This is why we take an interest in the next generation of educators and why we strive to improve their experience and support as they transition from teacher candidate to classroom teacher.
In 1986, education school deans from the top universities developed a critical report that attributed much of the blame for struggling public schools on the training teachers were receiving in college.
Research reminds us that although we spend millions of dollars and thousands of hours on teacher preparation courses, we do not have much evidence justifying some of those requirements in Colleges of Education. Nor do policymakers really know how to measure and define a successful teacher training program.
Effective educator preparation remains critical to the future of education in Tennessee. We have already focused as a state on admission requirements in educator preparation programs. Again, research is mixed on the relationship between academic admission requirements, and teacher candidates’ later effectiveness levels. This provides an opportunity for needed research. Teaching candidates must have a GPA of 2.75 and an ACT or SAT score of 21 or 1020 for admission to an educator preparation program.
Policymakers should invest much more time and resources into learning about the science of teaching and how individual teachers actually develop their skillset - and how long it takes to develop some of those skills—and what changes are needed. Policies currently reflect the fact that we know far more about a teacher after they enter the classroom than before. Important benchmarks we should look at besides program completers are identifying those who actually enter the field of education and teach, as well as those who remain for several years. However, change may be on the horizon for the profession.
The University of Michigan is making some interesting changes, and moving to end the longtime practice of sending educators into their classrooms after just a few months of student teaching. Elizabeth Moje, dean of the school of education at the University of Michigan, is offering an innovative method, based on the way doctors are trained - that will extend teacher training through their first three years on the job, supporting them as they take on the daunting responsibility of educating children. The teacher intern program at Michigan would be the first dramatic upheaval in the way teachers are trained in this country in at least a generation - an upheaval that has been a long time coming. Michigan has planned its launch for this year.
In a nutshell, the new approach is like a teaching hospital, where future teachers - called interns - will train together under a single roof. They will complete their student teaching there. Then, instead of heading out in search of a job in another school, they will stay on for three more years as full-time, fully certified teaching “residents.” Residents won’t be trainees. They will be real classroom teachers working with real children and making a real salary - the same as any other first-, second-, or third-year teacher. But, unlike their peers in traditional schools, they will continue to learn from their professors and will work closely with the veteran teachers - called attendings - who will make up most of the school’s teaching staff.
Each educational preparation program has its approach to supporting teacher candidates, and our association tries to fill in gaps for our student members. It is critical to walk the fine line between informing teacher candidates with the needed knowledge and overburdening them with excessive information. We aim to touch on issues such as legal and professional development while catering to student teachers with specific content such as plan assistance, classroom management, and an introduction to our Career Center to help teacher candidates to find future employment.
The existing teacher shortage - especially in special education, math, and science, and in schools serving students of color, low-income students, and English learners - will likely only increase, based on the predicted increase in the school-going population in the future. Colleges of Education must also address how to serve Career & Technical Education (CTE). Areas such as business, agriculture, health, automotive, and mechatronics programs need high-quality teachers. Also, we should consider how to better build the skills of paraprofessionals who work alongside teachers in classrooms in critical roles.
There is no way to ensure that all teachers are great before they begin teaching. However, we can make the effort to equip our educators with skills for a modern age. Change is on the horizon in how we prepare those who educate our children. Policymakers and stakeholders need to work together to make the necessary changes that benefit our students and ensure that quality educators enter and remain in the profession. Together we can make schools a better place for teachers to work and our students to learn.
J.C. Bowman, executive director of Professional Educators of Tennessee