Rookie Teachers Woefully Unprepared, Report Says (1 Viewer)

[cpwill]

I would tend to suspect they are not far off - based on solely on anecdotal evidence, getting a masters in education has proven ridiculously easy for those I have knnown who went through it.

The U.S. teacher training system is badly broken, turning out rookie educators who have little hands-on experience running classrooms and are quickly overwhelmed by the job, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Council on Teacher Quality.

The review found "an industry of mediocrity," with the vast majority of programs earning fewer than three stars on a four-star rating scale - and many earning no stars at all...


1,130 institutions collectively turn out more than 170,000 novice teachers annually, about 80 percent of the new teachers entering classrooms each year. Most of the rest come from non-traditional training programs that are not necessarily affiliated with colleges, such as Teach for America.
Freshly minted teachers "don't know how to teach reading, don't know how to master a classroom, don't know how to use data," said Kate Walsh, the council's president. "The results were dismal."...

Several universities tried to block researchers from getting data about their programs; in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Missouri, the disputes escalated into court battles won by the National Council on Teacher Quality.
"Our members feel like they've been strong-armed," said Stephanie Giesecke, a director at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. "These are not valid ways of rating our programs."
More robust evaluations may soon be coming.
To maintain accreditation by the Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation, teacher training programs may soon have to issue regular reports on their graduates: Do they pass licensing tests? Land jobs? Once in a classroom, do they help students learn, as measured by test scores and other metrics?..

 

[Layla_Z]

Interesting article.

The two big teachers unions have both called for aspiring educators to get better mentoring and more practical experience before they graduate. They have also urged tougher certification standards that would require candidates to prove their skills in a classroom - not just pass a paper-and-pencil test - before earning a license.

Those evil unions!

The council ratings lean heavily on a few factors: Whether a program is selective in its admissions; whether its students must take extensive courses in the subject areas they will be teaching; and how much hands-on experience students get in classroom management. Researchers also looked at syllabi, textbooks and the type of training offered in key fields, such as teaching reading.

But the study did not typically evaluate the quality of teaching within the training program or the success graduates may have had in the classroom.

"These rankings do not have a great deal to do with program quality," said Linda Darling-Hammond, a professor at the Stanford University School of Education, which received only mediocre ratings.

Teacher training does need improvement. So much of being a good teacher cannot be taught. You have to get in a classroom and get in front of students to find out what works and what doesn't. Beginning teachers often get little support. They are given the classes no one else wants and then when they struggle, they are fired. It's no wonder so few stay in the profession past 5 years.

 

[Josie]

Teacher training does need improvement. So much of being a good teacher cannot be taught. You have to get in a classroom and get in front of students to find out what works and what doesn't. Beginning teachers often get little support. They are given the classes no one else wants and then when they struggle, they are fired. It's no wonder so few stay in the profession past 5 years.

Agreed. There's no training like getting in there and doing it yourself.

 

[Layla_Z]

Agreed. There's no training like getting in there and doing it yourself.

Yes, and then getting feedback, positive and negative, then given a chance to improve.

 

[Fisher]

I believe that my school system requires that you have experience in the classroom of some sort even if it an internship before you can work in it unless you are an adjunct teaching some specialty like a language or keyboarding.

Law school can be the same way. You can graduate at the top of your class and never even know how to pass the bar or file a basic divorce at too many schools. Their logic is that you can take a crash course class that teaches you the bar material off the foundation the school gave you and whoever you go to work for will teach you the technical stuff.

 

[American]

Interesting article.



Those evil unions!



Teacher training does need improvement. So much of being a good teacher cannot be taught. You have to get in a classroom and get in front of students to find out what works and what doesn't. Beginning teachers often get little support. They are given the classes no one else wants and then when they struggle, they are fired. It's no wonder so few stay in the profession past 5 years.

What country do you live in? :lol: Fired? :lamo

 

[OscarB63]

I got my Masters in chemical engineering, took a handful (33 hours IIRC) of education courses while I was at it and got "certified". my last semester, I did an "internship" at one of the local high schools.

What I have seen, in some cases, is people getting education degrees then they do their internship the last semester and find out that they hate it. hate the kids, hate everything about it but they are stuck because they just spent 4 years getting a degree in a field where the only thing you can do is teach. So they muddle along being miserable and a ****ty teacher.

 

[American]

Agreed. There's no training like getting in there and doing it yourself.

What happened to internships?

 

[American]

I got my Masters in chemical engineering, took a handful (33 hours IIRC) of education courses while I was at it and got "certified". my last semester, I did an "internship" at one of the local high schools.

What I have seen, in some cases, is people getting education degrees then they do their internship the last semester and find out that they hate it. hate the kids, hate everything about it but they are stuck because they just spent 4 years getting a degree in a field where the only thing you can do is teach. So they muddle along being miserable and a ****ty teacher.

Good, another engineer. :thumbs:

 

[OscarB63]

What happened to internships?

In Alabama, you do a one semester internship at the end of your coursework

 

[Josie]

What happened to internships?

When you're doing your student teaching, you are constantly watched by your cooperating teacher and supervisor. When you get your first teaching job, you're in your own. Plus there are so many things you DON'T do in student teaching that you are expected to do in your job.

 

[OscarB63]

When you're doing your student teaching, you are constantly watched by your cooperating teacher and supervisor. When you get your first teaching job, you're in your own. Plus there are so many things you DON'T do in student teaching that you are expected to do in your job.

yeah...they don't tell you about all the extra bull**** you are expected to do when you are student teaching (I guess they don't want to scare you off). bus duty, cafeteria duty, parent/teacher conferences, collecting parking fees at football games, taking up tickets at basketball games, bull**** continuing education seminars, etc, etc, etc.


I had a student teacher once. Older lady, second career kinda deal. She lasted ONE day and never came back.

 

[donsutherland1]

The report is clearly a disconcerting one. It highlights the reality that one must look at the entire value chain (not just funding) when it comes to raising the nation's educational attainment outcomes. Some of the report's conclusions:

...we stumbled across evidence that the field decided it was not its job to train teachers but to prepare them. Though those two terms—train and prepare—seem interchangeable, they are not. This word choice is a deliberate one on the part of teacher education (“training” is never used) and connotes a conception of its mission very different from what PK-12 educators believe or need it to be. By abandoning the notion that teacher educators should arm the novice teacher with practical tools to succeed, they have thrown their own field into disarray and done a great disservice to the teaching profession...

Nowhere has this approach proved more damaging than in the coursework elementary teacher candidates must take in reading instruction. It is commonly assumed that teacher educators choose to train candidates in “whole language” methods rather than scientifically-based reading instruction. Actually, little such training occurs, as whole language is not an instructional method that a teacher might be trained to apply, but merely a theory (flawed at that) based on the premise that learning to read is a “natural” process. The whole-language approach tracks nicely with a philosophy of teacher education in which technical training is disparaged.

The report can be found at: http://www.nctq.org/dmsView/Teacher_Prep_Review_2013_Report-tsv201361891242

 

[CanadaJohn]

I assume things are the same in the US as they are in Canada where every student teacher goes through weeks of teaching practicums before they are certified to teach. Perhaps student teachers are being placed in atypically calm, easy environments that are not consistent with where they will likely get placed when they get a real job.

In many, if not significantly most, cases when new teachers are hired they are placed in some of the most difficult classroom settings with problem, older students who are used to playing the system and getting the better of teachers - long term teachers gravitate to the easier assignments in the good neighborhoods where active parents exist. Very rarely, and God bless them, does a seasoned, experienced teacher go to the problem areas.

 

[Layla_Z]

What country do you live in? :lol: Fired? :lamo

I've seen it happen, more than once. Untenured can be and are fired.

 

[Layla_Z]

yeah...they don't tell you about all the extra bull**** you are expected to do when you are student teaching (I guess they don't want to scare you off). bus duty, cafeteria duty, parent/teacher conferences, collecting parking fees at football games, taking up tickets at basketball games, bull**** continuing education seminars, etc, etc, etc.


I had a student teacher once. Older lady, second career kinda deal. She lasted ONE day and never came back.

I don't know if it is the same in other states, but here you don't get paid for it either.

 

[OscarB63]

I've seen it happen, more than once. Untenured can be and are fired.

my first teaching job was at a middle school in south alabama. 8 untenured teachers, all but one of us were "fired" after the first year. It was a majority black school and the 7 teachers who did not have their contract renewed were white, the one guy who did was black. They hired the principal's nephew to fill my spot. :shrug:

 

[OscarB63]

I don't know if it is the same in other states, but here you don't get paid for it either.

same here. you don't get paid for it...it's just expected. On more than one occasion I was expected to come in on a Saturday to work the gate for a track meet or soccer game.

 

[imagep]

I got my Masters in chemical engineering, took a handful (33 hours IIRC) of education courses while I was at it and got "certified". my last semester, I did an "internship" at one of the local high schools.

What I have seen, in some cases, is people getting education degrees then they do their internship the last semester and find out that they hate it. hate the kids, hate everything about it but they are stuck because they just spent 4 years getting a degree in a field where the only thing you can do is teach. So they muddle along being miserable and a ****ty teacher.

The college that my son goes to has required practicums for all sophomore education students. Basically the students observe real life classrooms one week, and discuss it in class the alternate week. They do this for a total of 7 cycles in 7 different classrooms. I suspect that this is to week out the education students who don't really want to be teachers, but just don't realize that yet. So don't think that our colleges don't recognize that this is a problem.

I have a close friend who was an education major, she taught for one year directly after college, and then refused to step back into the classroom. My kid had a teacher who had an ed degree and a degree in Spanish, but she got married and had kids directly after college, so she never had any real teaching experience. She basically stopped attempting to teach after just a few weeks, and just started handing out Spanish search-a-words. She was either fired or quit at the end of the semester.

 

[Mach]

yeah...they don't tell you about all the extra bull**** you are expected to do when you are student teaching (I guess they don't want to scare you off). bus duty, cafeteria duty, parent/teacher conferences, collecting parking fees at football games, taking up tickets at basketball games, bull**** continuing education seminars, etc, etc, etc..

Oh **** you just scared me off, lol. Really I'd never thought of those sorts of extras..interesting!

 

[OscarB63]

Oh **** you just scared me off, lol. Really I'd never thought of those sorts of extras..interesting!

yeah.

2nd year I taught I was head freshman football coach and assisted with the varsity. after the freshman season had ended (nice of them to wait) the principal told me they'd hired too many coaches and I was only going to get half of the promised coaches pay.

3rd year...same thing

4th year...I told him I just couldn't put in that much extra time for that little money but agreed to film/video the games (they paid me $1000 for the season which just barely covered my expenses)

Did it because I did not have tenure and didn't want to risk not having my contract renewed because of it.

the following year, after I got tenured, the principal actually expected me to do the same thing with no extra pay. no reembursement for gas driving to away games, hell he even expected me to pay my own admission at away games. I told him no way in hell was I going to pay out of my own pocket for that.

so the dirty little douchebag screwed me over by taking away all my AP chemistry and chemistry classes and scheduling me to teach physical science and remedial algebra.

 

[the_recruit]

....so rookie teachers are....rookies?

 

[Μολὼν λαβέ]

Educator training in the USA is basically a joke. Schools of education do not adequately prepare students to become teachers any better than they prepare teachers to become principals. Theory based on educational research is still just that, theory. The basic premise is that all students can learn; however, even if all can, all don't for various reasons. Those reason are inadequately addressed in educator preparation programs with the exception of students with learning disabilities or 504 students like those with dyslexia, and prescriptions to help them are hit and miss. Its akin to treating a viral infection. You know you can't cure it, only treat the symptoms. Therefore dealing with difficult learners/behavior problems is never ending.

Working with difficult children, whether their issues arise from behavior, learning, or a combination of both, and preparing for them by implementing a plan of action is time consuming and physically and emotionally strenuous. No teacher can understand and implement an ever changing curriculum, deal with student disruptions on a daily basis, and ensure they will learn and pass state mandated tests without a great deal of expertise gained from experience. Teachers are basically placed in classes of 22, 23, 24, 25, (tell me when to stop) or more children and expected to individualize learning.

Most course work or professional development may be helpful, but experience is the only thing that allows a novice to become a veteran with the knowledge and skills to manage a safe and effective learning environment, and ensure most students are able to effectively reflect what they have learned.

But as we all know, teachers are grossly overpaid.

 

[head of joaquin]

Pay teachers more. Then you get better teachers as better qualified people compete for the job. What a concept!

Like I always say, capitalists want capitalism for everybody but themselves.

 

[Linc]

But they are cheap. And they coach. And they can be "groomed". And they're there because of nepotism. And if they're lucky, they'll fall into a great program with supportive colleagues.

Educator training in the USA is basically a joke. Schools of education do not adequately prepare students to become teachers any better than they prepare teachers to become principals. Theory based on educational research is still just that, theory. The basic premise is that all students can learn; however, even if all can, all don't for various reasons. Those reason are inadequately addressed in educator preparation programs with the exception of students with learning disabilities or 504 students like those with dyslexia, and prescriptions to help them are hit and miss. Its akin to treating a viral infection. You know you can't cure it, only treat the symptoms. Therefore dealing with difficult learners/behavior problems is never ending.

Working with difficult children, whether their issues arise from behavior, learning, or a combination of both, and preparing for them by implementing a plan of action is time consuming and physically and emotionally strenuous. No teacher can understand and implement an ever changing curriculum, deal with student disruptions on a daily basis, and ensure they will learn and pass state mandated tests without a great deal of expertise gained from experience. Teachers are basically placed in classes of 22, 23, 24, 25, (tell me when to stop) or more children and expected to individualize learning.

Most course work or professional development may be helpful, but experience is the only thing that allows a novice to become a veteran with the knowledge and skills to manage a safe and effective learning environment, and ensure most students are able to effectively reflect what they have learned.

But as we all know, teachers are grossly overpaid.