Humble Beginnings: The Need to Improve Teacher Preparation Programs

Most teachers I know, including myself, have experienced humble beginnings during their first two or three years of teaching. For me, personally, my first two years were horrible. Nevertheless, I persevered and improved in my craft throughout the years. However, after much reflection, I truly believe my pre-service  teacher training/experiences via alternative certification were a huge factor in my initial struggles as a classroom teacher.

For those who aren't familiar, alternative teacher certification programs cater to adults with non-education degrees who undergo streamlined training to become a teacher. This became a popular option to combat teacher shortages, especially in critical areas like secondary science. Many of these programs, however, do not require student teaching or teaching clinical, where a pre-service teacher can actually apply the theories and methodologies taught in their courses in a classroom setting. As a result, once hired, these teachers become ill prepared to handle a typical classroom; this can have an adverse effect on student achievement as well.

In a recent AJC's Get Schooled blog entry on the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs, it focused on the findings of a study in this area conducted by the University of North Carolina. Gary Henry, director of the UNC Carolina Institute for Public Policy, made an interesting remark concerning the study's findings on alternative-certified teachers:
I can relate; I was one of them. I attained my Bachelor's degree in Chemistry at age 21; I became a certified science teacher at age 25. Within the four-year gap, I briefly worked in my major which I didn't like it, wanted to do something more meaningful, did some tutoring and substitute teaching on the side, encouraged by others to become a teacher, went back to school to do so, and the rest is history. Despite my journey into the profession, I was not ready to be "thrown to the wolves". Most of what I have learned about teaching was done the hard way. That's not how it should be.

When we looked at these alternative or lateral entry teachers, many of them were quite young and were simply frustrated in getting a job in their chosen profession...they shifted over to teaching as a reasonable second or third choice.

While I was working on my Master's thesis, I came across many studies conducted by respected education scholar and Standford professor, Linda Darling-Hammond. Her perspectives on teacher preparation are note-worthy due to her plea for more emphasis on pedagogical skills, i.e., how students learn, than content knowledge. According to Darling-Hammond, as noted in my thesis,

In addition, a few years ago, Edutopia interviewed Darling-Hammond on her views on teacher preparation, which she essentially elaborated further on the significance of practical clinicals in teacher training programs.

[She] advocates equal emphasis on subject matter and teaching skills; in addition, she believes that teachers should have more time for lesson planning in teams and for professional development....tradition teaching education programs and especially alternative teaching certification programs place equal or more emphasis on pedagogical training; due to lack of preparedness and in-field training, she argued that, once hired, pre-service teachers struggle in applying what they have learned in these programs in a classroom setting.

Besides alternative-certified teachers, the UNC study also mentioned teachers trained in the famed Teach for America (TFA) program; it is a selective program that trained newly graduates from elite schools to become teachers in high-needs areas throughout the country. While TFA has many supporters and success stories, such as noted in the UNC study, it also has its critics, with Darling-Hammond being at the forefront. Based on her 2005 study on teacher preparation and certification, in a USA Today article, her views about TFA in teacher preparation was simply this:

Our study doesn't say you shouldn't hire Teach for America teachers. Our study says everyone benefits from preparation, including Teach for America teachers — that they became more effective when they became certified.

Presumably, the consensus is teachers should be traditionally trained in a 4-year school/college of education program that includes more time in clinical training required. While NCLB emphasis on teachers being more content knowledgeable, these teachers have to be able to teach the material to their students. If a teacher doesn't understand pedagogy and practice it, he/she will struggle in the classroom. However, this requires long-term time investment policy makers and the public aren't interested in. Instead, like with everything else in education reform, they prefer an inexpensive "quick fix" to fix the teacher shortage problem. Of course, the academic needs of the students are compromised to save a buck.