teach for america

Secretary Arne Duncan hit the one-two punch of teacher preparation this week focusing on how poorly our teachers are prepared in general and then how they need a greater emphasis on math and science if we are to succeed as a nation.

“By almost any standard, many if not most of the nation’s 1,450 schools, colleges, and departments of education are doing a mediocre job of preparing teachers for the realities of the 21st century classroom.”

So very true.

There is a great report on alternative teacher certification from the Center for American Progress. They get many things right in this article and are pushing lawmakers/decision-makres to think outside the university in order to get the numbers of teachers we need in this country.

Interesting discussion in Education Next on Teach for America. I am amazed that after 19 years there is still discussion on whether it is good for schools. Somehow the education establishment, in this case appropriately represented by Art Wise, always wants the change agent to show why the program is good.

The Economist article on successful schools is certainly eye-opening. There is always a danger in extrapolating data – but there are some solid lessons that McKinsey has developed from their research. First – we must be more selective in getting teachers and we must provide more ongoing training and collaboration for them when they get into the classroom.

Great post over at Joanne Jacob's site on some TFA teachers struggling to survive. As is usually the case, people find their political point in the article and in the comments use that point to push their case instead of looking at the big picture presented.

Here are the key points as I see it:

Obviously, we are thrilled with the recent study by Fordham and NCTQ revealing that Alternative Certification in the US really isn't. I remember back a few years when I briefly thought about going to law school and looked into a couple of night schools. I found out that they basically consisted of the day time program crammed into the night - it wasn't spread out or really designed for busy professionals to complete their course work.