One of the classic questions about education is whether teaching can be taught. Is a teacher born or made? A recently released book, Building a Better Teacher: How Teaching Works (and How to Teach It to Everyone) by Elizabeth Green, answers with a definitive, “Yes, it can be taught!” Green’s book is another one to Read more about Teaching Teaching[…]
Politicians, pundits, and the American public are seeking evidence of the quality of teacher preparation. But how can we tell if a teacher preparation program is effective? In this month’s issue brief, we have assembled perspectives on accountability for teacher preparation programs and the role of the federal government related to this issue. What is Read more about July Issue Brief: Teacher Preparation[…]
Teacher Prep Review 2014 is the second edition of NCTQ‘s annual assessment of the nation’s 2,400 teacher prep programs. The Review uncovers early evidence that teacher prep programs are beginning to make changes. It arrives at a time of heightened, unprecedented activity across the nation to improve teacher preparation. Here are a few of the Read more about Teacher Prep Review 2014 Report from NCTQ[…]
The Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) has been working with representatives of teachers unions and other contributing parties to finalize new accreditation standards for teacher preparation, and these include a focus on student-achievement growth. While CAEP’s new standards still have to be approved by the accreditor’s board later this summer, the positive feedback Read more about New Language for Accreditation Standards Signals Successful Compromise[…]
To build a world-class educational system, America needs outstanding teachers. But how do we recruit exceptional candidates into the teaching pipeline? How do we ensure that these candidates represent the diversity of our student population? In this month’s issue brief, we have assembled information about America’s teacher pipeline problem, as well as policy ideas and Read more about June Issue Brief: America’s Teacher Pipeline[…]
Most analysts in the education policy conversation agree that teacher quality is the most important in-school variable shaping students’ educational outcomes. It’s a huge lever—new technology, fancy curricula, and better content standards are almost meaningless without a great teacher to make them work. A new report from Third Way offers some insight into the challenges Read more about New Report on College Students’ Perceptions of the Teaching Profession[…]
A new report from Catalyst Chicago focusing on teacher preparation in Illinois highlights the discrepancy between increasing numbers of minority students and stagnant numbers of minority teachers but cites limited success in enrolling more Latino teacher candidates. The Latino demographic, however is the only group that enrolled at increasing rates between 2003 and 2010. Fewer Read more about Across all Races, Teacher Preparation Losing Students[…]
Like so much else in the world of teacher preparation, progress at readying new teachers for vastly different K-12 content expectations can probably best be described by one adjective: inconsistent. There are already a huge range of traditional and non-traditional teaching preparation/certification programs, each with its own particular view on education, curriculum, content requirements, geographic Read more about Common Core Standards Pose Teacher Prep Challenge[…]
If you spend time in almost any major school district in America today, you will notice that the students often do not look much like the teachers. In fact, in some areas, the students don’t look anything like their teachers. There is a significant demographic gap in the largely white teaching profession and an increasingly Read more about America’s Leaky Pipeline for Teachers of Color[…]
Providing all children in America with the opportunity to obtain a world-class education is critical for their success and the success of our nation, and there is no more important factor in successful schools than having a great teacher in every classroom. However, the vast majority of new teachers – almost two-thirds – reports that Read more about Taking Action to Improve Teacher Preparation[…]
A recent Congressional hearing has weighed how Congress should improve teacher preparation, and while the improvements may be necessary, they certainly won’t come easily. One of the big questions facing lawmakers: Should the federal government call for colleges of education to track their graduates into the classroom? And, if so, what exactly should that look Read more about The Role of Congress in Teacher Preparation[…]
Currently, there are more first year teachers in the United States than teachers of any other experience level. At many schools, most of the teachers have only been teaching for a few years. Meanwhile, the skills and responsibilities expected of educators are expanding, as higher standards and new technologies are implemented to improve student learning. Read more about Federal Policy Recommendations for Promoting Better Prepared Educators[…]
A new report from TNTP provides an inside look at their effort to rebuild their own pre-service teacher training from the ground up, with one goal in mind: Give new teachers the skills they need to be successful from the moment they set foot in their classrooms. TNTP had to tackle the same problems that Read more about Fast Start: Training Better Teachers Faster with Focus, Practice and Feedback[…]
Just four years after passing a law mandating that prospective teachers must pass the Test of Academic Proficiency (TAP) within five attempts, Illinois state board of education officials have scrapped this law in hopes of “manipulating the pipeline” of new teachers. State officials, dismayed at the disproportionately low number of minority teachers compared to minority Read more about Illinois scraps limits on basic skills test-taking[…]
Marc Tucker, a long-time proponent of studying high-performing international education systems as a means of improving American education, provided some recent reflection on Shanghai’s students continuing to score highly in PISA, one of the premier means of comparing international student achievement. Marc Tucker explains how Shanghai is able to both produce high quality beginning teachers Read more about Shanghai’s Teacher Development System[…]
Following on the heels of the announcement by the AFT about a “bar-exam for teachers” and announcements by states of prospective teacher tests that include practical teaching elements, the educational testing giant ETS will begin offering their own version of this sort of test. Field-testing began last month for the Princeton, N.J.-based Educational Testing Service‘s Read more about ETS Wades Into Market for Teacher-Performance Exams[…]