Action in Teacher Education Learning to Teach: Comparing the Effectiveness of Three Pathways (original) (raw)
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Variation in teacher preparation: How well do different pathways prepare teachers to teach
2002
Abstract: Does teacher education influence what teachers feel prepared to do when they enter the classroom? Are there differences in teachers ’ experiences of when they enter through different programs and pathways? This study examines data from a 1998 survey of nearly 3000 beginning teachers in New York City regarding their views of their preparation for teaching, their beliefs and practice, and their plans to remain in teaching. The findings indicate that teachers who were prepared in teacher education programs felt significantly better prepared across most dimensions of teaching than those who entered teaching through alternative programs or without preparation. Teachers’ views of their preparation varied across individual programs, with some programs graduating teachers who felt markedly better prepared. Finally, the extent to which teachers felt well prepared when they entered teaching was significantly correlated with their sense of teaching efficacy, their sense of responsibi...
Variation in Teacher Preparation
Journal of Teacher Education, 2002
Does teacher education influence what teachers feel prepared to do when they enter the classroom? Are there differences in teachers' experiences of classroom teaching when they enter through different programs and pathways? This study examines data from a 1998 survey of nearly 3000 beginning teachers in New York City regarding their views of their preparation for teaching, their beliefs and practice, and their plans to remain in teaching. The findings indicate that teachers who were prepared in teacher education programs felt significantly better prepared across most dimensions of teaching than those who entered teaching through alternative programs or without preparation. Teachers' views of their preparation varied across individual programs, with some programs graduating teachers who felt markedly better prepared. Finally, the extent to which teachers felt well prepared when they entered teaching was significantly correlated with their sense of teaching efficacy, their sense of responsibility for student learning, and their plans to remain in teaching.
An Evidence-Based Approach to Teacher Preparation
2016
Recently, a variety of education policy organizations, researchers, legislators and government officials have called for improvements to teacher preparation, as well as concrete evidence that programs are graduating effective teachers. For example, the National Council on Teacher Quality is seeking to achieve fundamental changes in the policy and practices of teacher preparation programs. The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation has advanced evidence-based accreditation to assure quality and support continuous improvement to strengthen student learning. Deans for Impact is supporting its network in sharing data, program designs, and strategies, in an effort to improve student-learning outcomes by transforming the field of educator preparation. The Transforming Teaching Project calls for the creation of vertically aligned pathways that run from teacher preparation through induction and continue into ongoing school-based learning. The TeachStrong coalition, with 50-plus member organizations, seeks to reimagine teacher preparation to make it more rooted in classroom practice and a professional knowledge base, with universal high standards for all candidates. While a recent paper raises questions about the appropriate policy responses to these calls for action in light of the limited and conflicting research base regarding which teacher qualifications and components of teacher preparation lead to teacher effectiveness (Aldeman & LiBetti Mitchel, 2016), it is possible to draw lessons from research to inform practice. One approach teacher preparation providers can take is to build a teacher program from the ground up, investing in elements of teacher preparation which research indicates are related to teacher effectiveness and student gains. Another is for teacher preparation programs to take responsibility for assessing their participants' effectiveness prior to program completion, drawing on lessons from research on teacher evaluation. Urban Teachers has elected to implement both of these approaches at once. This paper provides a description of our model, its theory of change, and the literature base that supports and informs our model. In 2009, Urban Teachers, an innovative, residency-based teacher preparation program, was founded to supply high-need schools with effective new teachers. Urban Teachers takes a multifaceted approach to producing effective teachers, beginning with a strategic, rigorous selection process, followed by four years of intensive training and support, extensive classroom experience, and regular coaching visits. Along the way, Urban Teachers systematically evaluates the performance of its participants in several dimensions in order to make a final determination for or against teacher licensure, based on the proven effectiveness of its participants.
Toward a Framework of Resources for Learning to Teach: Rethinking U.S. Teacher Preparation
2016
In the last twenty years, debates in the field of teacher preparation have increasingly become paralyzing and divisive as rhetoric around the failure of university teacher preparation intensifies. Toward a Framework of Resources for Learning to Teach addresses the historical and practical factors that animate these debates, arguing that novice teachers and teacher educators must understand the central conflicts in the field; however, the book also advances a way of approaching learning to teach that accounts for but does not get stuck at the level of programmatic designation. Using lively, in-depth case studies, the author shows how novice urban English teachers from two different teacher preparation pathways—a university-based program and an urban teacher residency—learn to teach within a policy context of high-stakes testing and “college readiness.” The author illustrates how learning to teach might best be understood as a recursive and dynamic process, wherein novice teachers differentially access programmatic, relational, experiential, disciplinary, and dispositional resources.
An Evidence-Based Approach to Teacher Preparation 2016
Recently, a variety of education policy organizations, researchers, legislators and government officials have called for improvements to teacher preparation, as well as concrete evidence that programs are graduating effective teachers. For example, the National Council on Teacher Quality is seeking to achieve fundamental changes in the policy and practices of teacher preparation programs. The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation has advanced evidence-based accreditation to assure quality and support continuous improvement to strengthen student learning. Deans for Impact is supporting its network in sharing data, program designs, and strategies, in an effort to improve student-learning outcomes by transforming the field of educator preparation. The Transforming Teaching Project calls for the creation of vertically aligned pathways that run from teacher preparation through induction and continue into ongoing school-based learning. The TeachStrong coalition, with 50-plus member organizations, seeks to reimagine teacher preparation to make it more rooted in classroom practice and a professional knowledge base, with universal high standards for all candidates. While a recent paper raises questions about the appropriate policy responses to these calls for action in light of the limited and conflicting research base regarding which teacher qualifications and components of teacher preparation lead to teacher effectiveness (Aldeman & LiBetti Mitchel, 2016), it is possible to draw lessons from research to inform practice. One approach teacher preparation providers can take is to build a teacher program from the ground up, investing in elements of teacher preparation which research indicates are related to teacher effectiveness and student gains. Another is for teacher preparation programs to take responsibility for assessing their participants' effectiveness prior to program completion, drawing on lessons from research on teacher evaluation. Urban Teachers has elected to implement both of these approaches at once. This paper provides a description of our model, its theory of change, and the literature base that supports and informs our model. In 2009, Urban Teachers, an innovative, residency-based teacher preparation program, was founded to supply high-need schools with effective new teachers. Urban Teachers takes a multifaceted approach to producing effective teachers, beginning with a strategic, rigorous selection process, followed by four years of intensive training and support, extensive classroom experience, and regular coaching visits. Along the way, Urban Teachers systematically evaluates the performance of its participants in several dimensions in order to make a final determination for or against teacher licensure, based on the proven effectiveness of its participants.
Learning to Teach: Practice-Based Preparation in Teacher Education. Special Issues Brief
2016
Learning to teach is not easy. Effective teachers have knowledge and skill sets that less effective teachers do not. This type of instructional expertise does not come from engaging in observation of teaching or from reading about the philosophy of teaching alone. It is developed through careful practice coupled with constructive feedback. For teacher candidates to learn to be effective, they need high-quality opportunities to practice. These opportunities, although informed by research, are often difficult to integrate due to intensive emphasis on coursework and challenges with finding highquality placements in the field. Educator preparation programs (EPPs), their faculty, and the local districts can work collaboratively to incorporate the essential features of practice-based opportunities within and across EPPs to structure coursework and field experiences that cultivate the skills that candidates need as beginning teachers. EPPs and their faculty work with local districts to fully incorporate effective, deliberate, practice-based opportunities within both campusbased coursework and field experiences that encompass the features of deliberate practice: practice that is sequenced, coherent, and scaffolded over time and coupled with coaching, feedback, and reflection. This Special Issues Brief from the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform (CEEDAR Center) and the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders (GTL Center) outlines essential features for providing high-quality, structured, and sequenced opportunities to practice within teacher preparation programs. This brief is intended to support states, districts, and EPPs that are striving to prepare and support excellent teachers by: ¡ Showcasing several teacher preparation programs wherein faculty have enacted innovative strategies to embed practice-based opportunities into existing coursework and field experiences that more closely connect with the realistic demands of today's classrooms. ¡ Strengthening understanding of several practice-based approaches, informed by the science of learning, which have been found to increase beginning teacher candidates' capacity for teaching. ¡ Identifying potential action steps that EPPs, districts, and states can take to improve candidates' opportunities to practice. The brief is intended for use by EPPs, districts, and state education agencies (SEAs). The information and considerations presented will be especially useful for EPP faculty engaged in transforming programs and for state policymakers in rethinking program approval requirements.
2008
This course serves as an orientation to careers in elementary, middle and high school education. Upon completion of this course, teacher candidates should understand the nature of formalized education in the United States and be able to asses his or her interest in teaching as a career. Major topics include: • Understanding the roles of schools in society • Exploring philosophies and contemporary issues in education. • Assessing the roles of teachers in schools. • Understanding the qualifications and credentialing process for California teachers. • Understanding and appreciating the student as an individual. • Understanding factors affecting student achievement. • Understanding critical issues in curriculum and instruction. • Understanding infusion of special education in general education practices. • Understanding the laws that influence teaching responsibilities. This course is required for all credential candidates. All students must complete forty-five (45) hours of supervised fieldwork in K-12 classrooms.
The educator preparation programs of the nation's largest university system have continued to collaborate to evaluate and improve the quality of teachers they produce throughout a period of continual criticism from the United States Department of Education. This study describes the manner of this collaboration and compares the evaluation by graduated teachers and their employment supervisors to the characterization of the profession. Results from 12 years of data collection, with a total N surpassing 57,000, shows that over 81% of principals rated the graduates as well or adequately prepared as did 73% of the graduates themselves, figures nearly double those repeatedly quoted. Further, research conducted as part of the system collaboration indicates that three of the four major components of the United States Department of Education's proposed Title II regulations appear to be invalid.
Teacher Preparation and Teacher Learning A Changing Policy Landscape
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The last two decades have witnessed a remarkable amount of policy directed at teacher education—and an intense debate about whether and how various approaches to preparing and supporting teachers make a difference. Beginning in the mid-1980s with the report of the Carnegie Task Force on Teaching as a Profession, the Holmes Group (1986), and the founding of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) in 1987, a collection of analysts, policy makers, and practitioners of teaching and teacher education argued for the centrality of expertise to effective practice and the need to build a more knowledgeable and skillful professional teaching force. A set of policy initiatives was launched to design professional standards, strengthen teacher education and certifi cation requirements, increase investments in induction mentoring and professional development, and transform roles for teachers (see, e.g., National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future [NCTAF], 1996). Me...