teacher training

Teaching jobs increased last month even as the rest of the country went to unemployment over 10% for the first time since 1983. The education stimulus is doing the job it was supposed to and at least 10,700 more people got jobs in education.

This is not a fluke. If you are a professional who needs a more rewarding career, education needs to be one of the places to look – especially if you have experience and a background in math and science.

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.

I think a quick note is in order regarding the EdWeek Article on the Ingersoll and Perda research suggesting that we are producing plenty of math and science teachers and all we need to do is just retain them and we are set.

The facts are probably correct – though dated – that we produce 2X as many math and science teachers than retire. Thus, retention is the solution. Woohoo - problem solved.

Yesterday I was going to blog about the outstanding opinion piece by Colbert King in the Washington Post on Saturday appropriately titled “Beyond Publicity, What is Rhee Producing”. King makes a great point that seems to occur with every rock star superintendent of schools – they make changes and are immediately canonized before we even see the results.