Better Class of Teachers
This Wall Street Journal article a few weeks back addressed the two options -- alternative certification and the Teach for America program -- that seem to be working vis a vis improving the quality of teachers. Great, finally some improvement on the horizon!
New York offers a model here. To address large teacher shortages for math, science and English as a second language, the state enacted alternative certification in 2000. Its Teaching Fellows Program has since proven "incredibly successful" at bringing professionals into the classrooms in highest-need districts, says Saul Cohen, a member of the state Board of Regents. As chairman of the committee responsible for licensing teachers, Mr. Cohen finds that "the people these programs attract to teaching are of very high intellectual caliber." This year 2,200 professionals will seek certification through the fellows program.
Teach For America, a non-profit program that places recent liberal arts graduates as teachers in failing schools, is another success story. The Center for Research on Education Outcomes finds that TFA teachers succeeded in boosting student achievement in Houston's Independent Schools District between 1996 and 2000. And Secretary Paige's report says there is evidence that TFA teachers "may in fact elicit greater academic gains from their students than non-TFA teachers."