America’s Teachers: Innovations In Recruitment, Retention And Professional

A Forum — June 14, 2002

Moderator Betsy Brand pointed out that the federal budget in FY 2003 for educational professional development was $2.85 billion. How wisely that investment is made will shape the quality of America’s schools.

Three superbly qualified panelists addressed critical K-12 teacher workforce challenges facing the country:

Recruitment and Retention: David Haselkorn, Dean of National Education Programs and Policy at Lesley University, Cambridge, MA, described the nature of the alleged teacher shortage issue, characterized by, among other things, a one-third “dropout” rate of all new teachers by their third year. 2.4 to 2.8 million teachers will be required over the next decade, half of them entirely new to teaching. This demand results from higher student enrollments (echo of the baby boom), retirements, chronic turnover of teachers in difficult, poverty-area schools, moves to reduce student class size, etc. The high tech bust and heightened patriotism following 9-11 has generated new interest in teaching, particularly among professionals considering a career change. However, too many new teachers are being prepared in elementary-preschool education, and not enough for secondary schools. There are also shortages in math, science, ESL, special education and a gross maldistribution of our most experienced teachers away from inner city schools where they are needed most. Teachers of color are also in insufficient supply; 37% of students are persons of color vs. only 13% of their teachers. Perhaps as many as 50,000 teachers each year teach out of their field of preparation and are not fully qualified by their state licensing boards. (The adequacy of such state licensing standards was later questioned by the second speaker, Dr. Wise).

Haselkorn, seconded by the next two speakers, opined that the major problem was not quantitative as much as qualitative. There are many willing, skilled professionals with subject matter competence who need to learn how to teach. Both subject matter and effective pedagogy are essential to student learning.

Innovation in Teacher Preparation: Arthur Wise, President of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), also stressed that the basic problem of the teacher workforce was not recruitment but retention. Any effort to “fix” the teacher shortage by recruitment of under-prepared teachers will only exacerbate dropouts and academic underachievement, he said. America’s colleges of teacher education are not “the same old” schools. Responding to a 1998 call to raise standards, Wise reported that the 650 NCATE member colleges (plus 100 colleges seeking NCATE accreditation) were now using rigorous standards emphasizing both sound pedagogy and subject matter competence. Graduates of these colleges have to demonstrate competence through performance assessments; colleges must follow up on graduates by reviewing their subsequent work in school districts. Most colleges of education now have extensive cooperative arrangements, (e.g., internships) with local school districts. They also stress college faculty who know how to teach effectively, how to prepare future teachers to work with all kinds of students, and how to use educational technology well.

Wise said many colleges of education are moving towards NCATE’s notion of a Professional Development School, roughly analogous to a teaching hospital, wherein theory and field practice support each other. Most colleges have long offered so-called “alternative” routes into teaching and, agreeing with the next speaker, he envisions the day when most accredited colleges of education offer first-class programs for both initial teachers and career-changers. What is still needed is stronger state leadership in assuring that their licensing laws go beyond basic subject knowledge to test mastery of effective teaching.

Alternative Teacher Preparation: Emily Feistritzer, President of the National Center for Education Information, and publisher since 1979 of Teacher Education Reports, said she had never been as optimistic as today about the quality of American teachers. Today, there is widespread agreement about what teachers need to know and be able to do. Thirty-five states now have alternate routes to teacher certification. These require a BA or more, vigorous screening, internships in the field usually as part of a supportive cohort, and, especially, partnerships between the state department of education, colleges of education and liberal arts and sciences, and school districts. Simply having a BA/BS degree is insufficient; good pedagogical training and actually working in the field with competent, veteran mentor teachers is essential. Like previous speakers, Feistritzer believes that many people today value teaching as a profession, want to work with and help young people, and appreciate the benefits of teaching (e.g., summers off and time to be with family in evenings and weekends).

In the spirited Question and Answer period, the importance of colleges of education orienting their curriculum to the most vigorous academic state standards was affirmed. While 93% of Americans believe teachers should be tested on their content knowledge (Hart-Teeter survey), the importance of being able to teach effectively cannot be emphasized enough.

The issue of distribution of effective teachers is a major issue for policymakers. There is no teacher shortage in most suburbs, while the likelihood that students in the inner cities will be taught by a fully qualified teacher is less than 50%. Among the further innovations to be developed: distance learning for isolated and understaffed schools; part-time teachers recruited from professionals in business and industry; teacher sharing arrangements; and greater use of community colleges to prepare subject matter specialists as well as motivate their students to become teachers.

Overall, the three panelists provided a large measure of agreement and optimism about the future prospects for America’s teaching workforce.

American Youth Policy Forum   1836 Jefferson Place NW,  Washington DC 20036
Telephone 202-775-9731      |      Fax 202-775-9733      |     Email aypf@aypf.org