Every time I get a burning desire to write in my blog, it is due to my passion for this work: Teacher Education.
I heard something deeply disturbing to me in a meeting today. I met with a university partner and my national organization executive to discuss my partnership with this university. We were sharing how our partnership is two-way--that there is a give and take. We help them with gathering their recruits, and they help us with developing our programs that will help our students succeed. One way we have partnered is by holding practice certification tests on our campus that this university provides, administers and sponsors free to our students. Then they also collect and analyze data for our program so that we can help our students succeed in these tests. The purpose of this test not only helps the student, but also the university and our community college. It truly is a win-win-win all around. When given some data about the test and content areas that were low, a faculty member from another partnership with this same university said, "That's not our problem if your students test low in our content area." This saddened me. I immediately realized that this faculty member just doesn't get it. First of all, this university is doing work that is exactly what teacher training programs need to do in our nation today. According to the Learning Policy Institute, "Nationally in 2013-2014, on average high minority schools had four times as many uncertified teachers as low-minority schools. . . . When there are not enough teachers to go around, the schools with the fewest resources and least desirable working conditions are the ones left with vacancies" (Sutcher, L., Darling-Hammond, L. and Carver-Thomas, D., 2016). This university is reaching out to these types of school districts in desperate need for highly qualified teachers to teach at their schools. For every year a student is taught by an unqualified teacher, he is robbed of one year of his education. How long does this have to happen before he falls through the cracks? Does this affect only those students and those districts who have these issues? No, it affects our entire society. Do we want to continue to produce more and more students who will fall into a life of crime, lead an unproductive life or continue to hinder our society from progressing and becoming leaders globally because they weren't given the education that they needed? Do we want US education to continue to fall behind many other countries in all academic areas? Effective teacher recruitment is part of the solution. I understand that there are numerous variables as to why students fall through the cracks, but effective teachers in all classrooms can help solve these issues. If only that faculty member could understand this snowball effect. If we care about our teacher recruits and their training, then we care about those students they will teaching; likewise, if we care about students and educational equity and access, then we need to care about the types of teachers who are placed in their classrooms. If the faculty member would help that student pass that content area, in whatever capacity he can, then he is being part of the solution in helping pre-service teachers, who have a heart for teaching and students, acquire a teaching position that high poverty, high minority schools desperately need. This faculty member needs to see the bigger picture. We all are responsible for solving this problem--not just the educator preparation programs. We can't live and work in silos when it comes to US education and the success of our students. We all have to work together now--the government, the districts, community colleges and universities--we must all work together to produce the best teacher recruits possible. Our children need them! I know that we all want to live in a better society. Therefore, we all have to care, and we all have to want to be part of the solution. References: Sutcher, L. Darling-Hammond, L. & Carver-Thomas, D. (2016). A coming crisis in teaching? Teacher supply, demand, and shortages in the U.S.. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute.
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AuthorProfessor of Education at Lone Star College-CyFair Archives
April 2017
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