Politico’s article reporting on the bill recognizes the growing public realization that teacher certification programs aren’t adequately preparing educators for the classroom, noting that over 60% of recent grads reported they were unprepared. These new preparation academies, in contrast, would treat incoming teachers like medical schools treat doctors.
Not only will the focus of these programs be hands-on learning, but these academies will also be held accountable for their students’ success as teachers. Interestingly enough, as Politico points out, while they will be held accountable for the success of their students, they won’t be held accountable to a rigid structure of exactly how they must operate to prepare new teachers.
In addition to tracking their graduates, they will be screening their entrants – also something rarely seen in traditional teacher preparation programs at most universities. These programs will be looking for candidates who have a high probability of being successful in the classroom.
It sounds a lot like TFA Summer Institute, but longer.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57582_Page2.html#ixzz1RIbZLt5A
2 comments:
I loved your blog entry. It definitely hit home, considering the main idea of the article was very closely related to what I wagered needed to be done to improve and reform teacher certification. Teachers need more experience, and it sounds like these "academies" are going to provide this opportunities to teaching candidates.
I also liked that these academies weren't going to have one prescribed way to prepare teachers, however, who is going to operate these institutions? How will they be made accountable for their students' successes and failures?
I am curious to see how this will develop.
Ditto in regards to "sounds like TFA but longer". As I was reading your post and the article, I thought the overall initiative of the bill is enthusiastic but I think there needs to be accountability in regards to teacher turnover/retention. If entering the program, the money spent on an individual teacher would need to be repaid through x many of years teaching within that school district. Otherwise I feel like money will be wasted on teachers that decide to leave the profession for various reasons.
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