Preparing Teachers: High Standards, Large Numbers, or Both?

What's the Policy?

The United States will need a projected 2.2 million new teachers in the next decade, an average of 220,000 each year. College- and university-based teacher education programs are expected to produce between 75 and 100 percent of the nation's new teachers, but many teacher education graduates choose never to teach. Where will the shortfall come from? State policymakers are now grappling with this problem. One popular solution is to create alternative routes to the traditional teacher education program for licensing prospective teachers.

How Does It Affect Teachers?

Recently several new avenues have opened up for those interested in teaching. Some see retiring military personnel as a source of new teaching talent, especially in the sciences and mathematics. To capitalize on this population source, U.S. Congress has created the Troops to Teachers program to help military personnel who want to teach to acquire teaching licenses. Many states allow liberal arts graduates with academic majors to bypass regular teacher education programs and be hired directly into teaching positions without having had any supervised teaching experience. Usually these programs require that the schools provide mentor teachers to work with the neophyte teacher for a year or two. Another highly publicized program, Teach for America, recruits liberal arts graduates to undertake a two-year commitment to teach in either an urban or a rural setting where teachers are desperately needed.

What Are the Pros?

Programs such as Troops to Teachers and Teach for America are helping to fill a need that otherwise would soon grow desperate. In addition, they are targeting, especially high-need areas, including the disciplines of mathematics and science and rural and urban areas that find it particularly hard to recruit teachers.

In addition, alternative licensure methods may offer opportunities to some extremely gifted potential teachers who would have been put off by the requirements of a standard teacher preparation program. People older than the traditional college-age student, for example, may welcome the chance to enter the teaching field without spending several unpaid years returning to college. These programs have also proven to be successful in attracting minorities and males into teaching at a higher rate than traditional teacher education programs.

What Are the Cons?

Research indicates that having a well-qualified, competent teacher is one of the most important factors in whether students learn the school's curriculum. Toward this end, most states have increased standards for prospective teachers entering the field through traditional teacher preparation programs. States have begun requiring graduates of such programs to have higher grade point averages, more preparation in the subjects they will teach, more experiences in schools, and higher scores on tests of subject-matter knowledge and teaching competence. In contrast, many observers wonder about the qualifications and commitment of teachers prepared in alternative programs. Does student learning suffer while these teachers are learning on the job? How long will these teachers stay in the classroom compared with regularly prepared teachers?

Other concerns involve the reasons at the root of the teacher shortage and whether they stem from the nature of teaching as a profession. Is the shortage of well-qualified teachers a factor of inadequate pay and working conditions, problems that won't be solved with short-term solutions?

As policymakers and the public grapple with these questions, one thing seems certain: school districts will always have a warm body in front of each classroom. Whether that warm body can inspire students to learn and teach them what they need to know is another question.

What Do You Think?

1. How would you propose to address the gap between the number of teachers needed and the number produced through teacher education programs?
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the various kinds of alternative teacher education programs? What concerns, if any, do you have about them?
3. What are some ways for policymakers to increase the number of bright and committed college students in college-based teacher education programs?

For more information on alternative routes to teaching, visit these web sites, then reflect on the questions that follow.

Web Links

Alternative Routes to Teaching: Do They Get You There in One Piece?

http://www.education-world.com/a_admin/admin252.shtml

This 2002 article from the Education World archives interviews six teachers who were certified through alternative programs to see how well prepared they felt they were for their first year of teaching.

A Real Education

http://www.cjr.org/year/02/2/asquith.asp

Read this first-person account by Christina Asquith, a reporter who became a teacher for a year after receiving "emergency certification."

Teach for America

http://www.teachforamerica.org/tfa/

Learn more about this alternative licensure organization, which places students from nearly every major in their first teaching positions.

Troops to Teachers

http://www.dantes.doded.mil/dantes_web/troopstoteachers/index.htm?Flag=True

Find out how the Troops to Teachers program works at the Department of Defense's web site for the program.

Educational Leadership

http://www.ascd.org/frameedlead.html

Compare two articles from May 2001 issue of the journal Educational Leadership. The first, "Removing the Barriers for Teacher Candidates," argues that traditional teacher education programs and certification requirements deter gifted teachers from entering the field. The other, "No Shortcuts to Preparing Good Teachers," examines the flaws and shortcomings of alternative certification programs.

Students of Uncredentialed Teachers More Likely to Fail

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2002/12/11/MN191373.DTL

This 2002 article from the San Francisco Chronicle reports the results of a California study, which found that high school with higher percentages of uncredentialed teachers also had higher percentages of students who failed to meet state standards. In response, that state was moving to require higher qualifications for teachers.

Fast-Track Teacher Training Boosted

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/325/metro/Fast_track_teacher_training_boosted+.shtml

This November 2002 article from the Boston Globe describes additional requirements added to an alternative licensure program that was criticized for producing underprepared teachers.

For Further Reflection

1. What are some pros and cons for teachers who enter the field through alternative routes? How can they overcome the pitfalls?
2. Why did you choose the teacher preparation route in which you are currently involved? Did other paths hold any interest to you?
3. Do you believe that the recent trend in many locations to add requirements to alternative certification programs will effectively address the problems of these programs? Why or why not?