The Edutopia Poll
by Sara Bernard
Many fast-track paths to teacher certification, including prestigious programs such as Teach for America or New York Teaching Fellows, bring educators into classrooms after only a summer’s training, allowing them to complete their certification while they teach.
Proponents argue that this option gives highly educated and motivated professionals or college graduates a way to immediately bring their energy and expertise into the schools that need them the most. Critics, however, argue that this kind of "emergency" certification sends underprepared teachers into high-need classrooms, which can have a negative impact on student learning and lead to new-teacher burnout. Tell us what you think.
Do fast-track teacher certification programs benefit public education?
Yes. Traditional certification is not the only path for good teachers. These kinds of programs bring highly educated, highly motivated teachers into schools that need them and can increase the diversity of the teaching workforce.
39% (31 votes)
No. Too many of these programs do little more than throw poorly prepared teachers into underserved classrooms, which hinders student learning and contributes to high teacher-turnover rates.
25% (20 votes)
It depends on the program. Some underprepare their teachers, but others, such as Teach for America, have excellent track records.
32% (25 votes)
None of the above. (Comment below.)
4% (3 votes)
Total votes: 79
Fast track to certification
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on November 28, 2007 - 10:46.
I am a second career teacher that participated in a program that would be considered a fast track to certification. I am & always have been "highly qualified." I had to pass the PRAXIS & PLT for my areas. I believe that being the teacher, the one in charge of the class is the only thing that is going to get you that hands on experience that you need for good classroom management. I began in a poor performing school that was 99% minority. I felt at times I needed to bring a whistle as a gym teacher would to my classes that first year. It was a very rough school. No teacher certification program through a university could have taught me what I needed to know to survive there. These schools have a hard time getting teachers. They should not be further hindered in getting qualified teachers just because they have not been through a traditional education program. My brother-in-law is currently attending a very highly regarded university in a traditional teacher certification program. He does spend time visiting schools throughout his training & thus spends time in teachers classrooms. However, haven't we all spent years in classrooms? My brother-in-law will still have a rough first year, same as everyone entering the profession. The reason why is simply because it will be his first year to be in charge of the classroom. All the years of being in a classroom or student teaching or teacher shadowing, cannot give you that experience. Instead of figuring out ways to remove highly qualified teachers from the classroom, perhaps we should instead consider better mentoring programs and support programs for new teachers to help retention.
Classroom management and multisensory teaching techniques
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on November 21, 2007 - 17:02.
I am studying to work with children who have dyslexia. I am already realizing through my lesson planning and the time constraints of doing therapy with children that "newbees" desperately need mentoring from their veteran peers. No newbee wants to be shadowing their veteran peers for the rest of their career as
some may think but there must be a set period according to one's need for the "newbee" to be networking and learning various teaching techniques with multisensory methods. I recently borrowed an idea from my daughter's teacher for example. She did biography boxes with the fifth grade girls. First the girls had to pick out a biography of someone who made the world a better place to live in. For each chapter she had them write a summary of the chapter. Then she had them do a biography box (which is type of graphic organizer) that actually is presented as a cube made of paper with each side presenting important information about the person's life events and accomplishments etc. Things like this help me to provide interesting and meaningful ways to teach good reading comprehension and sequencing. It keeps the students excited about learning and pushing themselves to the next milestone. I hope when I start my alternative certification program, I will be welcomed into a group that provides little mini-workshops on various ideas for making learning meaningful and exciting.
I long to be back in the teaching environment and be around creative minds so we can feed off each others creativity.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Fast Track Certification
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on September 6, 2007 - 09:29.
I think there needs to be a balance. A new teacher should have the background knowledge of the subjects s/he will teach. You can't get that 'on the job', you need to study it - before you go in front of a group of students. But academic coursework alone will not prepare a new teacher to use effective strategies to help students learn. Skill in actually 'managing a classroom' only comes from real experience. Fast track certification programs too often shortchange the participants, which ends up cheating their eventual students.
Fast Track Certification
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on September 6, 2007 - 08:28.
I think there needs to be a balance. A new teacher should have the background knowledge of the subjects s/he will teach. You can't get that 'on the job', you need to study it - before you go in front of a group of students. But academic coursework alone will not prepare a new teacher to use effective strategies to help students learn. Skill in actually 'managing a classroom' only comes from real experience. Fast track certification programs too often shortchange the participants, which ends up cheating their eventual students.
School support for new teachers
Submitted by Michael Thompson (not verified) on August 19, 2007 - 06:24.
One of the major contributors to teacher turnover, especially with new teachers, is the lack of a support structure in most schools. New teachers are expected to go through some rite of passage by being shown their rooms and told to get your lesson plans in by the end of the week and I will see you at the next faculty meeting. What ever the source of the new teacher, there neds to be a strong structured support system in place to make success of this new teacher a priority.
Teacher Certification
Submitted by Chuck Fellows (not verified) on August 17, 2007 - 12:34.
What is a "good" teacher?
What do the customers (the students) think? Does anyone ever ask?
Education is not about learning. Please read "Experience and Education" by John Dewey and "Education for what is Real" by Kelly.
The system of education in America, and much of the rest of the world, is best described with a quote from "Blessed Unrest" by Hawken,
"remedies from above imposed upon the excluded."
Fast -Track Credentialing
Submitted by Leonard Isenberg (not verified) on August 16, 2007 - 18:12.
While I believe that being a good teacher is an inborn passion, some good preparation would be useful. The problem is that many programs are not well thought out or have other irrelevant motives and concerns.
Half the classes I took to become a teacher had to do with discipline rather than pedagogy. It has been my experience that students who are kept at grade-level learning as a condition for promotion to the next grade do not exhibit significant behavior issues- they are too busy learning. Therefore, the present emphasis on behavior problems in credentialing programs seems to be about adapting the teacher to dysfunctional public education, rife with social promotion, rather than visa versa.
Many credentialing programs and subsequent continuing education requirements seem more about filling seats in underfunded colleges and universities than it does about serving the needs of future teachers.
Teach For America is an excellent argument for quality over quantity of preparation, given that they are at least as successful as fully credentialed teachers.
Educator Preparation
Submitted by Hollis Lowery-Moore (not verified) on August 16, 2007 - 08:26.
It is very disconcerting to read the comments that indicate no need for educator preparation. Working with students of all ages requires knowledge and understanding of child, adolescent and adult development, learning theory, and proven strategies for engaging students. Most educator preparation courses provide the content and then provide opportunities to apply new knowledge in the field under the supervision of a mentor teacher. All of this occurs in approximately one year's time. When a university student completes an educator preparation program, they are a novice teacher. Support and in-service training must continue. Alternative certification programs usually require participants to gain the knowledge and apply it daily as the teacher-of-record in the classroom without a full-time mentor. This can be quite overwhelming for many of the participants. Most good teachers are lifetime learners who continue to expand their pedagogical knowledge and practices daily; however, as in any profession, they must have a knowledge base on which to build new understandings.
At the community
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on August 16, 2007 - 07:43.
At the community college/vocational college level faculty members are recruited from 'industry' assuring extensive practical knowledge and applications. However, that does not mean they are good teachers.
Necessary skills in supportive and appropriate communication, patience, understanding, lesson planning, appropriate supplemental material gathering, and the ability to create coursework from scratch (i.e.: syllabi, course outlines, etc.) is necessary.
At our college we have classes in education/teaching that new faculty members can take outside of their contract hours, thus receiving and immediately applying this new knowledge. In addition, new faculty members are assigned a faculty mentor within their department or division in addition to a senior faculty advisor. This supportive mechanism has produced excellent faculty while weeding out those who do not meet the student's needs.
The Bachelor in Vocational Education coursework I completed, was the first of it's kind. Access to a MVE is limited. I found the written information helpful and interaction with colleagues supportive and enlightening, however, the actual instruction was disappointing for the most part.
The ultimate challenge is presenting enough material to students to stimulate the analytical and cognitive functions, "feeding" more material as desired. We must also challenge students to think out of the box - while being fully aware the outcome may be something outside of our own knowledge base.
I fully agree that many programs fail to provide initial preparation and support for beginning teachers. Increasing pre-service may be a solution. However, many schools/institutions are bound by fiscal restrictions. Until the general public buys into fully supporting educational growth and evolution, we will be limited in what we can do while rapidly falling behind the rest of the world.
Teaching under emergency certification
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on August 16, 2007 - 04:40.
I have B.S. and M.S. degress in math and physical science with education courses that are over 18 years old and several years part-time college-level teaching experience. After trying for many years, I got a teaching position with a hometown school system last year under emergency certification. Some confusion occurred over course requirements I was to complete and now I must complete 40+ hours of college work in less than 2 years to earn a certificate to be able to continue teaching. I love teaching, but this is not a fast-track to certification. This may be the last year I get to teach, even though I keep hearing that qualified math teachers are needed.
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