Last month, the Obama Administration released its plan for “recruiting, preparing, and retaining great teaching talent.” In his forward to the plan by Secretary Duncan writes:
“Some of our existing teacher preparation programs are not up to the job. They operate partially blindfolded, without access to data that tells them how effective their graduates are in elementary and secondary school classrooms after they leave their teacher preparation programs. Too many are not attracting top students, and too many states are not setting a high bar for entry into the profession…and too few teacher preparation programs offer the type of rigorous, clinical experience that prepares future teachers for the realities of today’s diverse classrooms […]
Under this plan, teacher preparation programs will be held to a clear standard of quality that includes but is not limited to their record of preparing and placing teachers who deliver results for P-12 students…Significant new scholarship funding will help recruit the next generation of teachers…we will invest needed resources in developing a teaching workforce that reflects the diversity of our students. And standards for entry into teaching will rise to a level worthy of this great profession.”
The plan, briefly stated, is this:
Develop regulations to focus data collection conducted under the Higher Education Act on the most important indicators of quality.
Advance Presidential Teaching Fellows initiative in support of rigorous state-level policy reforms: direct scholarship aid to top performing teacher preparation programs.
Seek funding for the Hawkins Centers for Excellence program at Minority Serving Institutions.
To read the full plan, please visit http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/our-future-our-teachers.pdf
