Teacher Preparation
Teacher preparation is the first stage of the formal teacher development process. The urgency of successful education in an increasingly sophisticated economy and society has generated intense questions and debates about teacher preparation:
- How much subject matter knowledge and how much pedagogical knowledge should teachers have?
- Should requirements for entry into and graduation from teacher education programs be more stringent?
- How successful are the various programs in adequately preparing the kinds of teachers we need?
Publications
Teaching as a Clinical Practice Profession: Implications for Teacher Preparation and State Policy
This brief describes five elements of a clinical practice profession and examines the work of teachers in relation to those elements.
Preparing Teachers Effectively for At-Risk Schools carolca(2009) (
Adobe® Reader® PDF 231 KB)
This Key Issue includes strategies used in the preparation of beginning teachers for at-risk schools.
The Value of Reliable Data (2008) ( Adobe Reader PDF 658 KB)
This brief outlines how to use the Interactive Data Tools from the TQ Center. These tools enable users to extract valuable customized information on teacher preparation and present several illustrations that reflect real questions and answers that the TQ Center has received from its constituents.
Teacher Quality and Student Achievement: Making the Most of Recent Research (2008) (Adobe Reader PDF 960 KB)
This brief culls the associations between teacher quality and student achievement, as identified in a research synthesis conducted by the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality. It identifies several teacher quality variables—including specific teacher qualifications, characteristics, and classroom practices—that are strong and consistent predictors of student achievement.
Lessons Learned: New Teachers Talk About Their Jobs, Challenges, and Long-Range Plans. Issue No. 3—Teaching in Changing Times (2008) (Adobe Reader PDF 1 MB)
The final report in this series by the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality and Public Agenda focuses on the strengths and possible deficits of new teacher training. The research described in this report points to two specific areas in which teacher training may be lacking: preparedness for the diversity of the contemporary American classroom and teaching students with special needs.
America’s Challenge: Effective Teachers for At-Risk Schools and Students (2007)
In the two years since the launch of the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality , a tremendous amount of information has been compiled about the availability, recruitment, and retention of teachers for at-risk schools and students. The National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality has compiled much of this learning in its inaugural biennial report.
Barriers to the Preparation of Highly Qualified Teachers in Reading (2007) ( Adobe® Reader® PDF)
This brief discusses scientifically based reading instruction in relation to federal policy mandates. It focuses on strategies and standards for ensuring that teachers are qualified to teach reading and provides recommendations for improving the teaching of reading.
The Teacher Preparation > Teacher Practices > Student Outcomes Relationship in Special Education: Missing Links and New Connections (2007) ( AdobeReader PDF 1 MB)
This brief examines the relationship between preservice teacher preparation, teacher inservice practice, and outcomes for students with special needs. Specific recommendations for program improvement and further research are provided.
Lessons Learned: New Teachers Talk About Their Jobs, Challenges and Long-Range Plans. Issue No. 2—Working Without a Net: How New Teachers From Three Prominent Alternate Route Programs Describe Their First Year on the Job (2007) ( Adobe® Reader® PDF 1.3 MB)
Working Without a Net provides additional results from the new-teacher survey conducted by Public Agenda. It focuses on new teachers in high-needs schools, comparing the perspectives of those from traditional teacher education versus those from three alternate-route programs: Teach for America, Troops to Teachers, and The New Teacher Project.
Lessons Learned: New Teachers Talk About Their Jobs, Challenges and Long-Range Plans. Issue No. 1—They're Not Little Kids Anymore: The Special Challenges of New Teachers in High Schools and Middle Schools (2007) ( Adobe Reader PDF 1.4 MB)
Generation Y teachers want to shake up the stagnant education system, according to a survey of first-year teachers commissioned by the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The freedom to be creative, the power to make a difference, opportunities to grow, rewards, and an end to the one-size-fits-all model of instruction is what new teachers say will improve the quality of education, according to the nationwide survey of 865 teachers in their first year in the classroom conducted by Public Agenda. Most telling is that 79 percent of the respondents would choose supportive administrators over significant salary increases. Most of the survey sample is younger than 29 years.
The Teacher Preparation > Teacher Practices > Student Outcomes Relationship in Special Education: Missing Links and New Steps. A Research Synthesis (2006)
This research synthesis is an in-depth review of the literature on the links between the content and form of preservice teacher preparation in special education, teachers' practice in classrooms, and the achievement outcomes of students with special needs. It documents the need for more research in this important area.
Prospects for the Profession: Public Opinion Research on Teachers (2006) Adobe Reader PDF 1 MB
This comprehensive review of 16 nationally representative public opinion polls conducted between 2000 and 2006 provides insight into how teachers, school administrators, parents, and the general public view the teaching profession.
Webcasts
The Use of Innovation Configurations to Improve Teacher Preparation in Critical Areas (January 16, 2009)
The Use of Innovation Configurations to Improve Teacher Preparation in Reading Instruction (December 19, 2008)
America's Challenge: Effective Teachers for At-Risk Schools and Students (October 11, 2007)
In the two short years since the launch of the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality , a tremendous amount of information has been compiled about the availability, recruitment, and retention of teachers for at-risk schools and students. The National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality has compiled much of this learning in its inaugural biennial report, America's Challenge: Effective Teachers for At-Risk Schools and Students, which was released on October 11, 2007.
Focusing Teacher Preparation for At-Risk and Hard-to-Staff Schools
On Thursday, September 21, 2006, the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality hosted a live, interactive webcast on the topic of preparing teachers for at-risk and hard-to-staff schools.
Events
New York Comprehensive Center Spring Seminar: Teacher Preparation for the 21st Century
The National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality (TQ Center), in collaboration with the New York Comprehensive Center (NYCC), hosted a spring seminar on May 9, 2008 in New York City on the future of teacher preparation. Participants explored how teacher education schools can most effectively meet the challenges posed by 21st century students as well as how to create effective education partnerships which support teacher quality.
Online Resources
TQ Source on Teacher Preparation
Teacher preparation is the first stage of the formal teacher development process. The purpose of the teacher preparation is to help policymakers, teacher educators, and others answer important questions and tap in to useful information about programs, data, policies, and the realities of teacher preparation across the country.
TQ Connection
The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) confirm that teachers need to be prepared and supported to meet the needs of all learners—both general education learners and learners with disabilities. In an effort to provide information to those who prepare and support teachers, the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality offers the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality Connection.
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