The Hechinger Report – Ashley Libetti Mitchel
“Is it possible to ensure that all teachers are effective from the first day they walk into the classroom to work? Teacher quality policies assume that it is. But what if it isn’t? That’s the question Chad Aldeman and I explore in two new reports, published earlier this week by Bellwether Education Partners. Decades of education-reform efforts focused on trying to improve the quality of teacher preparation to increase the effectiveness of first-year teachers. To date, most reforms have done so through so-called inputs. These reforms try to precisely define who can become a teacher, and what sort of preparation she must complete before entering a classroom. Some states, for example, require that programs only admit teacher candidates with a certain GPA or SAT or ACT score. Other states impose coursework requirements, like specific content credits and clinical experiences.”(more)