Foundations of Education Student Text Tenth Edition

8/9/2019 Foundations of Education Student Text Tenth Edition

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P A R T O N E

Understanding the

Teaching Profession


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2

C H A P T E R 1

Motivation, Preparation, and

Conditions for the Entering Teacher

ome of your relatives or friends may have questioned you about

your interest in becoming a teacher. Are you sure you want to deal

with kids? Or Why dont you pick a business specialty with a big

salary and forget about children unless you have some of your own?

Perhaps you tried to explain the importance of helping children

and young people become capable and responsible adults. You may have

pointed out that teachers in todays schools are gaining more power

and more responsibilities, not to mention higher salaries. Of course,

you may still be pondering your own motives for teaching, as well as

the potential opportunities, rewards, and difficulties of a teaching ca-

reer. This chapter will examine such topics, including motivations for

becoming a teacher, teacher supply and demand, pay scales, career

preparation, and efforts to improve the teaching work force and to give

teachers more decision-making power. To help focus your thoughts,

keep the following questions in mind:

F O C U S Q U E S T I O N S What are the usual reasons for becoming a teacher, and how do your

reasons compare with them?

What are the current employment trends for teachers?

What salaries and benefits do teachers earn? How do these compare with

other occupations?

How are teachers prepared? How are they certified?

What are the current trends in teacher education?

What do teachers find satisfying and dissatisfying about their work?

What are some current developments in teacher work-force quality and

teaching conditions?

S


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Choosing a Career in Teaching

The path to becoming a teacher starts when you first choose teaching as

a career. In this section, well review some motives for choosing a teach-

ing career and the challenges that accompany this choice. Well also ex-

amine the growing concern that too few minority college students are

becoming teachers.

Motivations for Choosing Teaching

We have many motives, both idealistic and practical, for choosing a career in teach-

ing. Often, a persons reasons for wanting to teach stem from his or herpersonal phi-

losophy of education, a topic we will revisit throughout the book. If you are thinking

of entering the teaching profession, ask yourself why. Your motives may include

(1) love of children, (2) desire to impart knowledge, (3) interest in and excitement

about teaching, and (4) desire to perform a valuable service to society. Perhaps you

hope for job security, pension benefits, and relative ease in preparing for teaching

compared with the training required by some other professions.

One study asked future teachers from a representative sample of seventy-sixschools and colleges of teacher education to state their reasons for selecting the

teaching profession. Ninety percent of the respondents cited helping children

grow and learn as a reason. Next highest was seems to be a challenging field (63

percent), followed closely by like work conditions (54 percent), inspired by fa-

vorite teachers (53 percent), and sense of vocation and honor of teaching (52

percent). These reasons resembled those cited in several other studies conducted

during the past twenty years. Some of these studies also concluded that admiration

for ones elementary and secondary teachers is often important in shaping decisions

to become a teacher.1 This chapters From Preservice to Practice box also looks at the

reasons people decide to become teachers.

The Challenge of Teaching All Students

You probably are strongly motivated to perform effectively when you become a

teacher, but you are likely to encounter some difficulties in achieving this goal when

you begin teaching. As we point out below and in subsequent chapters: There will

be numerous jobs open in the schools, but many of them will require teaching dis-

advantaged students who live in difficult circumstances with which you may be

unfamiliar.

Many of these jobs will involve working with special-education populations,

students who are just learning English, and/or distinctive racial or ethnic minority

groups with whom you may have had little contact. You probably will be well pre-

pared to teach subject matter in your chosen field, but many of the students you en-

counter will be performing poorly in reading comprehension and will need much

help to improve their understanding and learn how to learn.

Choosing a Career in Teaching 3

How do your reasons for becoming a

teacher compare with those of the teachers

surveyed? Does your list rank the reasons in the

same order? What other reasons might you add

to this list?

R E F O C U S

Reasons for teaching

Reasons for entering theprofession

Challenges in teaching all

students

1Donald B. Cruickshank,Research That Informs Teachers and Teacher Educators (Bloomington,Ind.: Phi Delta Kappa, 1990); Sonia M. Nieto, What Keeps Teachers Going? (New York: TeachersCollege Press, 2003);MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, 20042005 (New York: Metropoli-tan Life, 2005), available atwww.metlife.com; Why Teacher? We Asked and Were Over-whelmed,Edutopia (February/March 2005), available atwww.edutopia.org/teachers;and Jane G. Coggshall, Prospects for the Profession, TQ Research & Policy Brief (October2006), available atwww.ncctq.org.
http://www.metlife.com/http://www.metlife.com/http://www.edutopia.org/teachershttp://www.edutopia.org/teachershttp://www.ncctq.org/http://www.ncctq.org/http://www.ncctq.org/http://www.edutopia.org/teachershttp://www.metlife.com/


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Despite the difficulties inherent or implicit in these kinds of situations, you will

be expected to help make sure that all students perform at an adequate level in ac-

cordance with national and state laws, particularly the federal No Child Left Behind

Act. Although historically there have been few schools and classrooms with signifi-cant numbers of hard-to-teach students in which all (or nearly all) of them are per-

forming adequately, the number has been growing in recent years. We devote

attention to these schools and classrooms in subsequent material dealing with ef-

fective teaching and with unusually effective schools.

Teaching Force Diversity: A Growing Concern

Although the U.S. school population is becoming increasingly diverse, the teach-

ing force has not kept pace. For example, African American, Asian American, and

4 Chapter 1 Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for the Entering Teacher

F R O M P R E S E R V I C E T O P R A C T I C E

A

re each of you certain that you want to enter the

teaching profession? asked Professor Johnson. Re-

member the challenges of the profession often be-

come stressors. About half of the teachers who enter the

profession leave within a few years. So, tell me why you

want to become a teacher,Josephine?

My grandmother was a teacher, and my mother is a

teacher. Both of them have told me how rewarding the ca-

reer can be. I like children. Ive loved my experiences with

children in summer camps, so now Im choosing elemen-

tary school teaching.

I want to coach and teach, said Mark. Some of the

best times in my life have been when I played basketball or

tennis.The coaches made it their business to see that I fol-

lowed their discipline and that I paid attention to acade-

mics, too. These experiences taught me new values and

new disciplines and gave me a vision for what I want to do

with my life. I want to work at the high-school level.

I dont have any great yearning to teach, said Patricia.

I have to support myself after I graduatemy parents

made it plain that Im on my own financially after next year.

I want to be an artist, and I think I can do that if at first I sup-

port myself by teaching. There are several galleries in the

area, and if I could get a job teaching junior or senior high,

maybe I could get some work shown locally, earn a few

commissions,and be on my way.

I know I wont get rich, said Peter, but there is some-

thing compelling about watching the ahaexperience in a

students face. Ive taught swimming and diving during the

summers. When a skill finally clicks in, the triumph of that

young boy or girl makes it all worthwhile. I want to teach

physical education in an elementary school.

Each of you seems to have considered this choice for

some time. I will share a few other reasons mentioned by

other students. Teaching is one profession you can use to

travel the world. International schools and foreign private

schools search regularly for people such as you. Teaching

English as a second language has given many a free ticket

to China,Japan, and Korea.Or you can teach as a missionary

in church schools.

Another primary consideration is that state retirement

systems usually provide fairly secure long-term benefits.

That kind of security can be hard to find in the business

world today.

As a follow-up to this discussion, write a reflection pa-

per about the discussion and your reasons for choosing ed-

ucation.Bring it to class next week.

Considerations

Questions1. Why is it important that preservice teachers reflect on their motivations for selecting the teaching profession?

2. Why are you choosing the teaching profession?

3. Geographically,where do you think you might want to teach? Why? What are the projected job opportunities in that

area at the time you finish your education?


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Hispanic American students make up almost 40 percent of the public-school stu-

dent population, but the proportion of elementary and secondary teachers from

these minority groups is generally estimated at 15 percent or less. The disparity is

particularly acute in the largest urban districts, where minority students sometimes

comprise 90 percent or more of enrollment.

This underrepresentation of minority groups in the teaching force is expected

to grow even more severe in the future. Currently, only about 10 percent of teacher-

education majors are African American or Latino; yet members of these minority

groups are predicted to constitute a still higher percentage of elementary and sec-

ondary students in the near future. In recent years the shortage of Asian American

teachers has also become an important problem. Asian Americans now constitute

nearly 4 percent of the population of K12 students, but they account for only

2 percent of the teaching force.2

Increasing teaching force diversity to better reflect the student population is

widely viewed as an important goal. For one thing, teachers from a cultural or eth-

nic minority group generally are in a better position than are nonminority teachers

to serve as positive role models for minority students. In many cases, minority

teachers also may have a better understanding of minority students expectations

and learning styles (see the chapter on Social Class, Race, and School Achievement

and the chapter on Providing Equal Educational Opportunity), particularly if

minority teachers working with low-income students grew up in working-class

homes themselves. For example, Lisa Delpit and other analysts have pointed out

that many African American teachers may be less prone than nonminority teachers

to mistakenly assume that black students will respond well to a teacher who is

overly friendly. In addition, teachers from Asian American, Latino, and other mi-

nority groups are in demand for working with students who have limited Eng-

lish skills.3

Officials of the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Educa-

tion (AACTE) have stated that data on the low proportion of minority

teachers constitute a devastating crisis. Along with other organiza-

tions, the AACTE has proposed and helped initiate legislation for various

new programs to increase the number of minority teachers: increasing fi-

nancial aid for prospective minority teachers, enhancing recruitment of

minority candidates, and initiating precollegiate programs to attract mi-

nority students.4

Choosing a Career in Teaching 5

Need for teacher diversity

Reasons for increasing

teacher diversity

Proposals for promoting

diversity

2Jennifer McNulty, Breaking Down the Barriers That Keep Asian Americans Out of Teach-ing, UC Santa Cruz Currents, February 14, 2000, available atwww.ucsc.edu/currents/99-00/02-14; Rona F. Flippo and Julie G. Caniff, Who Is Not Teaching Our Children?Multicultural Perspectives (Issue 2, 2003); and Profile of Teachers in the US, 2005, 2005 paper

posted at the Internet site of the Nation Center for Education Information, available atwww.ncei.com.3Lisa D. Delpit, The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other PeoplesChildren,Harvard Educational Review(August 1988), pp. 280298; Gilbert Brown, The Roleof the African-American Teacher,Black Collegian (October 2000), pp. 8891; Thomas S. Dee,The Race Connection,Education Next, no. 2 (2004), available atwww.educationnext.org;and Gloria J. Ladson-Billings, Is the Team All Right?Journal of Teacher Education (May/June2005), pp. 229234.4Minority Teacher Supply and Demand(Washington, D.C.: American Association of Colleges ofTeacher Education, 1990), p. 3. See also Susan Melnick and Kenneth Zeichner, TeacherEducation Responsibilities to Address Diversity Issues, Theory into Practice (Spring 1998); andReg Weaver, Schools Changing Faces, NEA Today(September 2006), available atwww.nea.org/neatoday.

What do you think might make

teaching a more attractive career option for

todays college students, minority and non-

minority? If you are a member of a minoritygroup, what attracts you to teaching? How will

you prepare to work with students who may

have a different ethnic or socioeconomic

background from your own?

R E F O C U S
http://www.ucsc.edu/currents/99-00/02-14http://www.ucsc.edu/currents/99-00/02-14http://www.ucsc.edu/currents/99-00/02-14http://www.ncei.com/http://www.educationnext.org/http://www.educationnext.org/http://www.nea.org/neatodayhttp://www.nea.org/neatodayhttp://www.educationnext.org/http://www.ncei.com/http://www.ucsc.edu/currents/99-00/02-14http://www.ucsc.edu/currents/99-00/02-14


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Supply/Demand and Salaries

Will you find work as a teacher? How much money will you earn? These two ques-

tions are related, following the economic principle of supply and demand. When

the supply of teachers exceeds demand, salaries tend to decline. Conversely, highdemand and low supply tend to increase salaries. As discussed in the chapter on The

Teaching Profession, supply and demand also affect the social status and prestige ac-

corded to a particular occupation.

Job Opportunities

In the 1960s and 1970s, a falling birthrate resulted in a surplus of teachers. As college

students and teacher educators recognized the substantial oversupply, enrollment in

teacher-education programs decreased, and the percentage of college freshmen in-


O V E R V I E W 1 . 1

Ways to Improve Your Employment ProspectsAdvance

Preparation

Check your states

certification require-

ments and follow

them correctly.

Acquire adjunct skills

that make you multi-

dimensional, ready to

assist in activities

such as coaching or

supervising the

student newspaper.

Maintain an up-to-

date file listing all

your professionalactivities,accom-

plishments, and

awards.

Keep well-organized

notes on what you

learn from classroom

observations.

Begin a journal

specifically related to

teaching concerns.

Use it to reflect onwhat you see and

hear and to develop

your own ideas.

Scouting and

Planning

Collect information

on school districts

that have vacant

positions. Possible

sources of informa-

tion include your

career planning or

placement office and

the state education

departments officeof teacher employ-

ment.Look into

computerized jobbanks operated by

professional organi-

zations or available

elsewhere on the

Internet.

Visit, call, or write to

school districts in

which you are partic-

ularly interested.

Plan your application

strategy in advance.

Assembling

Materials

Prepare a neat, accu-

rate,clear rsum.

Prepare a profes-

sional portfolio in-

cluding lesson plans,

peer critiques,de-

scriptions of relevant

experience,supervi-

sorsevaluations,and,

if possible, a video-

tape of you teaching.

Ask your career plan-

ning or placement

office for advice onother materials to

include with the

credentials you will

submit.

Applying

for a Job

Begin applying for

teaching jobs as soon

as possible.

Apply for several

vacancies at once.

Preparing for

an Interview

Take time to clarify

your philosophy of

education and learn-

ing.Know what you

believe, and be able

to explain it.

Be prepared for other

interview questions

as well. In particular,

anticipate questions

that deal with class-

room management,

lesson design,andyour employment

history.

Learn as much as you

can about the school

district before the

interview: for in-

stance,its organiza-

tion, its levels of

teaching positions, its

types of schools,and

its use of technology.

Changing pattern


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terested in becoming teachers declined from 23 percent in 1968 to 5 percent in 1982.

Since then, the trend has reversed. The percentage of college students interested in

teaching rose by nearly 100 percent during the late 1980s and 1990s and has re-

mained relatively high since then.5

Analysts predict many candidates in upcoming years, but also many teaching

jobs. Several million new teachers will be needed in the next decade, for the follow-

ing reasons:6

1. When the postWorld War II baby boom generation began to produce its

own children, a mini baby boom developed. Those children are now in

K12 schools. In addition, many immigrant families have entered the United

States in recent years. As a result, school enrollment has been increasing (see

Table 1.1).

2. A significant proportion of the current teaching force will reach retirement age

in the coming decade.

3. Educational reformers in many locations are attempting to reduce class size,

expand preschool education, place greater emphasis on science and mathe-

matics, and introduce other changes that require more teachers.

4. Higher standards for becoming a teacher are limiting the supply. Many states

are requiring more teachers to be certified for the courses they teach.

Other educators, however, argue against a widespread shortage of teachers in the

next ten years. For one thing, recent shortages have mainly involved large urban dis-

tricts and specialized fields such as math and science; many districts have reported

no general shortage of potential teachers. In addition, it may be that fewer teachers

are leaving the profession than in earlier years, and increased enrollment of students

may be leveling off. Improved salaries may also bring ex-teachers back to the schools

and attract people who trained as teachers but did not enter the profession.7

Given the arguments on each side of the issue, it is difficult to determine

whether major teacher shortages will be widespread in the next decade. However,

Supply/Demand and Salaries 7

Reasons to expect a teacher

shortage

Private as

Total Public Private Percentage of Total

1990 46.4 41.2 5.2 11.2

2000 53.1 47.7 5.9 11.12015 (projected) 58.1 51.2 6.9 11.9

Note: Data include most kindergarten and some pre-kindergarten students.

Source: William J.Hussar and Tabitha M. Bailey, Projections of Education Statistics to 2015. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office,2006),Table 1.

Public- and Private-School Kindergarten Through Grade 12 Enrollments, 1990 to 2015 (in millions)Table 1.1

Standards & Assessment

Reasons to expect no

shortage

5Somini Sepgupta, A Traditional Career Gains New Class, New York Times, August 3, 1997;and Pat Cochran, Survey and Analysis of Teacher Salary Trends 2004 (Washington, D.C.: Ameri-can Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, 2005), available atwww.aft.org.6Richard W. Riley, High Quality Teachers for Every Classroom, Teaching K8 (January1999), p. 6; Claudia Graziano, Schools Out,Edutopia (February 2005), available atwww.edutopia.org; and Gene A. Budig, A Perfect Storm,Phi Delta Kappan (October 2006),pp. 114116.7Patrick Murphy and Michael DeArmond, A National Crisis or Localized Problems?Educa-tion Policy Analysis Archives,July 31, 2003, available athttp://epaa.asu.edu.

Shortages in special-needs

fields
http://www.aft.org/http://www.aft.org/http://www.edutopia.org/http://www.edutopia.org/http://www.edutopia.org/http://epaa.asu.edu/http://epaa.asu.edu/http://epaa.asu.edu/http://www.edutopia.org/http://www.edutopia.org/http://www.aft.org/


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shortages should continue to exist in special-needs fields such as education of stu-

dents with disabilities, remedial education, bilingual education, science and mathe-

matics, and foreign languages. In addition, teachers will remain in short supply in

many rural areas and in some city and suburban communities that register signifi-

cant population growth, particularly in the South and Southwest.8

Opportunities in Nonpublic Schools Prospective teachers may find numerous job

opportunities in nonpublic schools during the next decade. As Table 1.1 shows, pri-vate schools enroll more than 10 percent of the nations elementary and secondary

students. Like the public schools, many private schools are upgrading their in-

structional programs, often by hiring more teachers who specialize in such areas

as science, math, computers, education of children with disabilities, and bilin-

gual education.

In the past three decades, Catholic school enrollment has declined, but many

other nonpublic schools have been established. Enrollment has increased most in

the independent (nonreligious) sector and in schools sponsored by evangelical and

fundamentalist church groups. Moreover, many Catholic schools have been in-

creasing the percentage of lay teachers on their faculties, and this trend is likely

to continue.9

Regardless of whether a large teacher shortage does or does not de-velop in the next ten years, astute prospective teachers will take certain

steps to enhance their opportunities for rewarding employment. Some of

these are outlined in Overview 1.1.

Pay Scales and Trends

Traditionally, teachers had relatively low salaries. In 1963, for example, the average

teacher salary in current dollars was less than $36,000. By 2005 this figure had risen

to more than $46,000. Today experienced teachers in wealthy school districts fre-

quently earn $80,000 to $100,000. Moreover, teachers have opportunities to sup-

plement their income by supervising after-school programs, athletics, drama, and

other extracurricular activities, and some advance to administrative positions withannual salaries well over $100,000. In addition, keep in mind that public-school

teachers usually have excellent benefits (such as pensions and health insurance)

compared to other workers.10

Teaching pay varies considerably among and within states. Figure 1.1 shows the

range of variation among states. Average overall salaries in the three highest-paying

states (California, Connecticut, and Michigan) were much higher than those in the

three lowest-paying states (North Dakota, Mississippi, and South Dakota). Of course,


Upgraded programs

Changing enrollment

patterns

Are you preparing to enter a high-

demand teaching specialty? If not, what can you

do to improve your employment prospects?

R E F O C U S

Increase in salaries

8Elizabeth F. Fideler, Elizabeth D. Foster, and Shirley Schwartz, The Urban Teacher Challenge(Washington, D.C.: Council of Great City Schools, 2000); Andrew J. Rotherham, The Wrong

Teacher Shortage,Blueprint(March/April 2003), available atwww.ndol.org/blueprint;and Erling E. Boe and Lynne H. Cook, The Chronic and Increasing Shortage of Fully Certi-fied Teachers in Special and General Education,Exceptional Children (Summer 2006),pp. 443460.9David Baker and Cornelius Riordan, The Eliting of the Common American CatholicSchool and the National Education Crisis,Phi Delta Kappa (September 1998), pp. 1623;G. Jeffrey MacDonald, Prep Schools Open Their Doors Wider, Christian Science Monitor,October 28, 2003; and Roseanne L. Williby, Hiring and Retaining High-Quality Teachers,Catholic Education (December 2004), pp. 175193.10Jay Chambers and Sharon Bobbitt, The Patterns of Teacher Compensation (Washington, D.C.:U.S. Department of Education, 1996); and Are Teachers Underpaid? 2006 debate postedby the National Council on Teacher Quality, available atwww.nctq.org/nctq/publications/debate.jsp.

Differences among states
http://www.ndol.org/blueprinthttp://www.ndol.org/blueprinthttp://www.nctq.org/nctq/publications/debate.jsphttp://www.nctq.org/nctq/publications/debate.jsphttp://www.nctq.org/nctq/publications/debate.jsphttp://www.nctq.org/nctq/publications/debate.jsphttp://www.nctq.org/nctq/publications/debate.jsphttp://www.ndol.org/blueprint


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we must take into account comparative living costs. It is much more expensive to

live in New York, for example, than to live in the northern plains states. Salaries dif-

fer widely within states, too, where average state pay scales are high. Salary schedules

in wealthy suburban districts generally are substantially higher than those in most

other school districts.

The greatest variation in salaries relates to years of experience and education.

Teachers with more experience and more education earn more than those with less

of either. Table 1.2 shows the range based on years of experience and additional

Supply/Demand and Salaries 9

Average Teacher Salaries in the United States, by State QuintilesFigure 1.1

Source: Adapted from Rankings & Estimates Update (Washington D.C.: National Education Association,2006) Table 1.

Salaries vary with experience

and education

Masters Degree Masters Degree

Bachelors Degree Masters Degree and and

and or Advanced Certificate Advanced CertificateStandard Certificate Advanced Certificate +15 Approved Hours +51 Approved Hours

First year $40,055 $42,270 $43,386 $45,608

Fifth year 42,083 45,526 47,245 52,522

Tenth year 50,794 53,086 56,013 61,240

Thirtieth year 56,474 69,167 72,173 77,354

Note: All teachers must earn an advanced certificate within ten years of initial state certification.

Source: Internet site of the St.Marys County,Maryland,Public Schools atwww.smcps.k12.md.us.

Selected Steps in the Salary Schedule for the St. Marys County,Maryland,Public Schools,2007Table 1.2
http://www.smcps.k12.md.us/http://www.smcps.k12.md.us/http://www.smcps.k12.md.us/


10/27

education in a typical salary schedulethat of the St. Marys County, Maryland,

public schools. The salary schedule negotiated for 2007 provided $40,055 for the

first-year teacher with a standard certificate and $77,354 for a teacher at the highest

level of experience and education. Although numbers change from district to dis-

trict and state to state, the wide difference between upper and lower pay levels is

fairly common.

Although a teacher at the top of the salary schedule can earn an attractive salary

(especially considering that the academic year is less than ten months long), start-

ing salaries still tend to be lower than in some other professions. Recognizing this

problem, many political and educational leaders have been working to increase

salaries for both first-year and experienced teachers in order to attract and retain

high-quality staff. Figure 1.2 shows the results of such efforts. During the inflation-

ary 1970s, teachers salaries declined relative to inflation and to the aver-

age salary of all workers, but gains in both these measures have been

registered since 1980.

Preparing Teachers

During the U.S. colonial period and well into the early nineteenth century, anyone

who wanted to become a teacher usually obtained approval from a local minister or

a board of trustees associated with a religious institution. A high school or college

diploma was considered unnecessary. If you could read, write, and spell and were of

good moral character, you could teach school. By the 1820s, future teachers had be-

gun attending normal schools (discussed in the chapter on Historical Development

of American Education), although formal certification remained unnecessary. Even-

tually, the normal schools became teacher colleges, and most of the teacher colleges

are now diversified colleges and universities. Today, all public school teachers must

be certified. Except for alternative certification or temporary certification, all states

require a bachelors degree or five years of college work for entrance into teaching.

Certification

Prospective teachers who wish to teach in a U.S. public school must be certified by the

state in their chosen subject areas or grade levels. At one time, most states granted

certification based on documentation that the candidate possessed appropriate pro-

fessional preparation and good moral character. However, increasing public dissatis-

faction with the quality of education led to changes in certification practices.11

In past decades teaching certificates usually were issued for life. Now some

states issue certificates valid for only three to five years. Although teachers currently

holding life certificates are unaffected, those with renewable certificates usually

must furnish proof of positive evaluations or university coursework to have their

certificates renewed.Variation in Certification Requirements Certification requirements vary widely

from state to state. The resulting variance in teacher-preparation programs leads

to problems in determining how well prepared entering teachers are. The required


Starting salaries

What do you expect to earn in your

first teaching position?

R E F O C U S

Evolution of teacher training


Requirements for

certification

Renewable certificates

11Elizabeth A. Kaye, ed.,Requirements for Certification of Teachers, Counselors, Librarians, andAdministrators of Elementary and Secondary Schools, 20072008, 72nd ed. (Chicago: Universityof Chicago Press, 2007).

Wide differences among

states


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semester hours in general education (that is, arts and sciences) for a secondary cer-

tificate varies nationwide from about thirty hours to about seventy-five hours. The

minimum hours required in professional teacher-education courses and the number

of semester or quarter hours needed to teach an academic subject also vary in ac-

cordance with state requirements. Add to this the fact that courses with the same

title may have drastically different content from one institution to another, and

youll see why state and institutional requirements, even when taken together, do

not guarantee that teachers have studied a uniform set of skills and concepts.

Reciprocity of Teacher Certificates Differences in certification requirements be-

tween states also traditionally inhibited the movement of teachers throughout thecountry. If you were certified to teach in New York, for example, you

might not meet the requirements for teaching in Illinois. Organizations

concerned with the quality of education generally criticized this lack of

reciprocity among states. Many educators argued that easing interstate

movement of teachers would help (1) balance teacher supply and de-

mand, (2) improve opportunities for teachers, (3) reduce inbreeding

and provincialism in local school systems, and (4) increase morale

among teachers.

Preparing Teachers 11

Average Annual Earnings of Teachers, Government Workers, and All Workers in the United States,

in Constant 2004 DollarsFigure 1.2

Source: Adapted from Pat Cochran, Survey and Analysis of Teacher Salary Trends 2004 (Washington, D.C.: American Federation of Teachers,

AFL-CIO,2005), Table 12, available atwww.aft.org.

Interstate movement of

teachers

Does your state participate in

regional teacher-education agreements with

other states? If yes, are graduates of your

institution automatically qualified to apply for

teaching positions in cooperating states? If not,

in which nearby states could you most easily

obtain a teaching certificate?

R E F O C U S
http://www.aft.org/http://www.aft.org/http://www.aft.org/


12/27

Reciprocity compacts of varying success were established between some states

as early as 1900. In recent years, regional agreements have developed that recognize

preparation requirements across states. Most states have signed interstate contracts

in which they agree to issue comparable certificates or licenses to teachers who have

completed a state-approved program at an institution accredited by the region cov-

ered in the contract. In addition, various organizations are developing nationwide

approaches to improve teachers geographic mobility.12

Alternative Certification Most states have introduced alternative certification

programs, partly to attract more talented candidates to teaching and partly in reac-

tion to current or anticipated shortages in teaching fields such as science and math.

These programs help prospective teachers pursue certification without following the

traditional preparation path at schools and colleges of education. A New Jersey pro-

gram, for example, seeks to attract talented persons who did not study education

in college. Nationwide, more than 200,000 teachers have been certified through al-

ternative certification programs. Many new teachers within this group pursue teach-

ing careers after leaving the armed forces.13

Alternative certification programs promote intense supervision and compressed

formal coursework during the first few years of teaching assignment. Such programs

almost always require professional development activities and courses while learn-ing to teach. Several systematic examinations of alternative certification programs

have provided some encouraging indications that they often attract well-educated

individuals and frequently meet their goal of intense supervision. However, some

assessments have raised questions. For example, data on several alternative cer-

tification programs indicate that many participants received little or none of the

training or supervision that school districts were supposed to provide. Some partic-

ipants acquired large debts and were unable to find teaching jobs afterward. In ad-

dition, mentoring for alternatively certified teachers can place a heavy burden on

school districts.14

Probably the best-known alternative certification program is a national effort

called Teach for America. Designed to attract recent graduates from colleges at

which students have high achievement scores, Teach for America has spent tens ofmillions of dollars to recruit potential teachers, train them intensively for eight

weeks, and place them in school districts with severe urban problems. Some initial

reports were promising. For example, in some years more than one-quarter of the

participants were minority individuals, and many of the secondary-school partici-

pants had much-needed skills in math or science. Tens of thousands of teachers

have been trained, and many are still teaching or have other jobs in school districts.


Nontraditional preparation

Regional certificates

Critiques of alternative

certification

Teach for America

12The organizations include the National Association of State Directors of TeacherEducation Certification (NASDTEC), the Council of Chief State School Officers, and theEducational Testing Service. See the NASDTEC Communicatorand other documents available

at www.nasdtec.org.13C. Emily Feistritzer, Alternative Teacher Certification: A State-by-State Analysis, 2006summary available atwww.ncei.com.14Albert Cortez, Prepared Teachers Needed,IDRA Newsletter(April 2003), available atwww.idra.org; R. Clarke Fowler, The Massachusetts Signing Bonus Program for NewTeachers,Education Policy Analysis Archives, April 22, 2003, available athttp://epaa.asu.edu; Barnett Berry, Mandy Hoke, and Eric Hirsch, The Search for HighlyQualified Teachers,Phi Delta Kappan (May 2004), pp. 684689; Susan Moore Johnson,Sarah E. Birkeland, and Heather G. Peske, A Difficult Balance, 2005 paper prepared forthe Project on the Next Generation of Teachers, available atwww.gse.harvard.edu;Licensing and Certification,American School Board Journal (November 2006), available atwww.asbj.com; and Sharilyn C. Steadman and John S. Simmons, The Cost of MentoringNon-University-Certified Teachers,Phi Delta Kappan (January 2007), pp. 364368.
http://www.nasdtec.org/http://www.ncei.com/http://www.ncei.com/http://www.idra.org/http://epaa.asu.edu/http://www.gse.harvard.edu/http://www.gse.harvard.edu/http://www.asbj.com/http://www.asbj.com/http://www.gse.harvard.edu/http://epaa.asu.edu/http://www.idra.org/http://www.ncei.com/http://www.nasdtec.org/


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Several studies have reported promising results regarding the contributions of TFA

participants. But other studies indicated that many of these potential new teachers

were frustrated by conditions in difficult schools and/or withdrew before complet-

ing their teaching assignments.15

Despite the growing popularity of alternative certification programs, most

teachers attend more traditional teacher-education programs. The Taking Issue box

presents some arguments for and against alternative certification programs.


15Ildiko Laczko-Kerr and David C. Berliner, The Effectiveness of Teach for America andOther Under-Certified Teachers on Student Academic Achievement,Education Policy AnalysisArchives, September 6, 2003, available athttp://epaa.asu.edu; Linda Darling-Hammond etal., Does Teacher Preparation Matter? Teacher Certification, Teach for America, and TeacherEffectiveness, 2005 paper prepared for the School Redesign Network, available athttp://schoolredesign.net/srn; Ashley Halliday, Teach for America, eJournal of Educa-tion Policy (Winter 2006), available athttp://jep.csus.edu; and Thomas J. Kane, Jonah E.Rockoff, and Douglas O. Staiger, Photo Finish,Education Next, no. 1 (2007), available atwww.educationnext.org.

Alternative CertificationMany states have introduced alternative certification programs that bypass traditional teacher-education requirements.

In general,these programs help orient college graduates to the teaching experience and then place them in full-time

teaching positions, where they receive training that leads to certification while they learn about teaching and education.

Question

Should we encourage alternative certification programs that bypass traditional teacher-education requirements?

T A K I N G I S S U E

Arguments PRO

1 Learning to teach on the job can provide better oppor-

tunities to determine what does and doesnt work in

the real world and to talk with, observe, and emulate

successful teachers.

2 Professional studies integrated with full-time teach-

ing are likely to be more meaningful and practicalthan studies presented in largely theoretical college

courses.

3 Alternative programs, which avoid years of study for

certification, can attract teacher candidates to shortage

areas such as mathematics, science, and bilingual

education.

4 Alternative programs help attract minority teachers,

retired persons with special skills in technical subjects,

and other candidates who can make important con-

tributions in improving the education system.

5 Competing alternative programs will stimulate colleges

and universities to improve their teacher-training

programs.

Arguments CON

1 Learning to teach on the job frequently proves unsuc-

cessful because many participants find the immediate

demands overwhelming and fail to develop and hone

their skills adequately.

2 Initial data on several alternative certification programs

show that, in practice, school districts either lack suffi-cient resources to provide professional studies for

participants or have other priorities.

3 These programs offer short-term relief only. Many

participants realize they are unsuited for or not inter-

ested in the work and withdraw during or soon after

the first year.

4 Alternative certification reinforces inequity in educa-

tion because it often places inexperienced persons at

inner-city schools, which have high turnover and the

most need for well-trained and experienced faculty.

5 Competing alternative programs may distract colleges

and universities from offering training that develops

the understanding and skills of reflective teachers over

several years of study.
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Trends in Preservice Education

Over the past two decades, many teacher-education programs have

placed significant emphasis on earlier field experience. In recent years

major developments also have included movements toward fifth-year

and five-year programs; increased emphasis on producing reflective

teachers; growing use of computers and other technology; requirements that future

teachers learn about methods for teaching students with disabilities and other spe-cial populations; and programs to prepare teaching candidates for the diverse cul-

tural and ethnic settings of contemporary American schools.

Early Field Experience Many teacher-education programs have become more prac-

tical by requiring future teachers to spend a significant amount of time in elemen-

tary or secondary schools early in their preparation. If you are a student in one of

these programs, you will likely find that your professional courses, which address

subjects such as educational psychology or pedagogical methods, coordinate closely

with classroom observation, assignments as a teacher aide, or other field experi-

ences in local schools. Institutions that require early and continual field experience

have constructed a sequence by which students move from observation to service as

a teachers aide and into relatively full-scale teaching responsibility, much as in thetraditional practice teaching semester.16

Fifth-Year and Five-Year Programs During the 1980s several states and numerous

schools and colleges of education either introduced fifth-year programs or expanded

teacher education across five years of preparation.Fifth-year programs include few or

no professional-study components during the four years in which the future teacher

earns a bachelors degree; professional preparation is concentrated in the fifth year.

In contrast, five-year programs spread professional preparation across the undergradu-

ate years and focus increasingly on clinical experience and training.17

Reflective Teaching In accordance with recent emphasis on improving students

thinking and comprehension skills, many institutions emphasize reflective teach-

ingas a central theme in teacher education. Reflective teachers frequently observeand think about the results of their teaching and adjust their methods accordingly.

Closely related terms such as inquiry-oriented teacher education, expert decision mak-

ing, and higher-order self-reflection also describe this concept. Hundreds of schools

of education have reorganized their programs to prepare reflective teachers, but

the programs are diverse and show little agreement on what reflective teaching

should mean.18

Computer and Technology Use Most likely, your teacher-education program offers

yousome trainingand access to a computer lab. Nationalsurveysof teacher-education


What are the certification

requirements in the state where you wish to

teach? How can you find out? How might you

prepare yourself for geographic mobility during

your teaching career?

R E F O C U S

Early assignments in schools

Scheduling professional-

study components

Thoughtful practitioners

Technology training for

teachers

16Judy Swanson, Systemic Reform in the Professionalism of Educators,Phi Delta Kappan

(September 1995), pp. 3639; David C. Berliner, A Personal Response to Those Who BashTeacher Education,Journal of Teacher Education (NovemberDecember 2000), pp. 358371;and Anders Hove and Brian Gill, The Benedum Collaborative Model of Teacher Education (Wash-ington, D.C.: ERIC Document Reproduction Service, 2003), available athttp://eric.ed.govsearch for ED469940.17Linda Darling-Hammond, Teachers and Teaching,Educational Researcher(JanuaryFebruary1998), pp. 515; and Teacher Preparation and Induction, The Progress of Education Reform19992001 (OctoberNovember 2000), available atwww.ecs.org.18Dorothy K. Stewart, Reflective Teaching in Preservice Teacher Education,Journal ofTeacher Education (September 1994), pp. 298302; Victoria J. Risko, Carol Vukelich, and Kath-leen Roskos, Preparing Teachers for Reflective Practice,Language Arts (November 2002),pp. 134145; and Kara Dawson, Teacher Inquiry,Journal of Research on Technology in Educa-tion (Spring 2006), pp. 265293.
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programs indicate that more than 90 percent have established computer or technol-

ogy laboratories. These laboratories encompass a wide variety of activities and objec-

tives, such as orienting future teachers in computer use, introducing hardware and

software developed for elementary and secondary schools, and strengthening interest

and capability in technology for lesson design or delivery. Many students also en-

counter technology in their teaching methods courses. Some programs, however, ap-

parently lack sufficient funds and/or workable institutional arrangements needed to

succeed in preparing future teachers for using contemporary technologies.19

Requirements for Teaching Disabled Students Many states and teacher-training

institutions now require that all future teachers receive some preparation in work-

ing with students who have significant disabilities. As a teacher, you will likely have

special-needs students in your classes. The law demands that disabled students be

mainstreamedin regular classes as much as is possible and feasible, and the growing

trend is toward full inclusion of disabled students no matter how extensive their spe-

cial needs. (See the chapter on Providing Equal Educational Opportunity for infor-

mation about mainstreaming, inclusion, and related topics.) As a consequence,

most teachers can expect certain responsibilities for working with special-needs stu-

dents. Typical teacher-training requirements involve the following:20

Cooperative, interdisciplinary efforts in which both higher-education faculty

and knowledgeable field educators help future teachers learn approaches for

working with students with disabilities

Requirements in many states that all future teachers complete one or more

courses in education for special-needs students and/or that existing courses

incorporate substantial amounts of material on the subject

Preparation for Teaching in Diverse Settings Increasing enrollment of racial and

ethnic minority students in U.S. schools is prompting programs to prepare future

teachers by adding components to help candidates function successfully in di-

verse settings. Similar efforts are underway in teacher licensing. For example, the

Praxis III teacher performance assessment approach, developed by the Educational

Testing Service (ETS), specifies that a candidate for a teaching license should be able

to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of why it is important to become

familiar with students background knowledge and experiences.21

Adequacy of Preparation Programs

It is difficult if not impossible to characterize the overall adequacy and effectiveness

of the myriad of teacher preparation programs in the United States. They range


19American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education,Log On or Lose Out: Technology in

21st Century Teacher Education (Washington, D.C.: AACTE, 2000); Kristen Loschert, Are YouReady? NEA Today(April 2003), available atwww.nea.org/neatoday; and Sara Dexter,Aaron H. Doering, and Eric S. Riedel, Content Area Specific Technology Integration,Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, no. 2 (2006), pp. 325345.20Denise Littleton, Preparing Teachers for Hard-to-Staff Schools, State Education Leader(SpringSummer 2000); and Connie Titone, The Philosophy of Inclusion,Journal ofEducational Thought(Spring 2005), pp. 732.21G. Pritchy Smith, Common Sense About Uncommon Knowledge (Washington, D.C.:American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, 1998); Carla Claycomb, High-Quality Urban School Teachers, The State Education Standard(Winter 2000), availableat www.nasbc.org/Standard; and Nancy L. Commins and Ofelia B. Miramontes, Ad-dressing Linguistic Diversity from the Outset,Journal of Teacher Education (May/June 2006),pp. 240246.


Preparation for

mainstreaming and inclusion

Typical requirements

Preparing for multicultural

classrooms
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from very large to tiny, from relatively well funded to financially skimpy, and from

brand new to nearly a century old. Nevertheless, analysts are trying.

For example, a group of business and civic leaders called The Teaching Com-

mission examined various aspects of teacher quality and issued a major report titled

Teaching at Risk. Regarding a perceived need to reinvent teacher preparation

programs, the Commission assigned a grade of C for effort and a grade of D for re-

sults. Among other findings, it concluded that too many teachers have too little

knowledge of mathematics, science, and other subjects they are teaching, that al-

ternative certification programs are not adequately providing skilled teachers where

needs are greatest, and that the training of future teachers adds far too little value

to their skills and capabilities.22

An organization named the Education Schools Project similarly released the re-

sults of a five-year study of teacher education programs. Its report, titled Educating

School Teachers, concluded that as many as one-quarter to one-third do an excel-

lent job, but that most future teachers are being prepared in programs that too often

have inadequate curricula, low standards, and faculty out of touch with the schools.

The report included recommendations (among others) that failing schools of ed-

ucation should be closed, quality programs should be expanded, scholarships

should be provided to attract the best and brightest into teaching, and quality

control should be strengthened.23

As indicated in the preceding paragraphs, critics of teacher education generally

admit that there are many excellent programs and training components among the

more than one thousand institutions that prepare teachers in the United States.

Some descriptions and analyses of excellent programs and promising practices

can be found at the Internet sites of the National Commission on Teaching and

Americas Future (www.nctaf.org/strategies/assure/index.htm), the Rand

Corporation (www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG506), and the Education

Schools Project (www.edschools.org/pdf/Educating_Teachers_Report.pdf).

A former president of the American Educational Research Association has identified

ten encouraging, emerging trends that typify exemplary programs; these

include the following: viewing teacher preparation as an all-university

responsibility; recognizing multiple pathways into teaching; using re-

search to guide the curriculum; and going beyond test scores to measure

program effectiveness.24

Prospective Teachers: Abilities and Testing

In recent years, much discussion has centered on improving the quality of the

teaching work force, particularly on improving the abilities of prospective teachers

and on testing their competence for teaching.

Teacher Abilities

Discussions of the quality of the teaching work force frequently focus on ability

scores derived from standardized tests such as the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT)


Teaching at Risk

Ed Schools Project

Exemplary programs

What trends listed here especially

describe your teacher-education program? Doany of the trends describe directions in which

you wish your program would head?

R E F O C U S


22Bess Keller, Group Signs Off with Progress Report on Teacher Quality;Education Week,April 5, 2006; Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., et al., Teaching at Risk: Progress and Potholes (New York:The Teaching Commission, 2006).23Arthur Levine,Educating School Teachers (Washington, D.C.: Education Schools Project,2006), available atwww.edschools.org.24Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Ten Promising Trends (and Three Big Worries),EducationalLeadership (March 2006).

Standardized test scores
http://www.nctaf.org/strategies/assure/index.htmhttp://www.nctaf.org/strategies/assure/index.htmhttp://www.nctaf.org/strategies/assure/index.htmhttp://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG506http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG506http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG506http://www.edschools.org/pdf/Educating_Teachers_Report.pdfhttp://www.edschools.org/pdf/Educating_Teachers_Report.pdfhttp://www.edschools.org/pdf/Educating_Teachers_Report.pdfhttp://www.edschools.org/http://www.edschools.org/http://www.edschools.org/http://www.edschools.org/pdf/Educating_Teachers_Report.pdfhttp://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG506http://www.nctaf.org/strategies/assure/index.htm


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and the American College Test (ACT). Among potential teachers, such test scores de-

clined in the 1970s, as they did for students majoring in business and numerous other

subjects. For example, between 1973 and 1981, the average SAT verbal score of college

students intending to teach fell from 418 to 397. Since 1982, however, test scores of

college students who say they intend to become teachers have appreciably increased

and generally resemble those of students majoring in business, psychology, and the

health professions. In addition, some recent studies have found that teachers average

test scores are about the same as those of other college-educated adults.25

Testing Teachers

Some efforts to improve the teaching force focus on basic skills testingof preser-

vice teachers, new teachers, and sometimes experienced teachers. Drawing on the

argument that teachers low in reading, mathematics, communications, and/or pro-

fessional knowledge probably are ineffective in their teaching, many states have in-

troduced requirements that prospective teachers pass some form of minimum skills

test in reading and language, math, subject-area specialty, and/or professional

knowledge. More than forty states now use the Praxis test developed by the Educa-

tional Testing Service for this purpose. To become a certified teacher, you likely will

need to pass a series of Praxis exams.26

Testing of prospective and current teachers remains a controversial topic. Many

political leaders see testing as one of the few feasible steps they can take to improve

public confidence in the teaching force. Opponents argue that the process unjusti-

fiably excludes people who do poorly on paper-and-pencil tests. Many opponents

believe that existing tests are biased against minorities and other candidates not

from the cultural mainstream. Critics also cite data indicating that scores on stan-

dardized tests taken by future teachers correlate poorly with subsequent on-the-job

measures of teaching effectiveness.27

Proponents of testing generally counter that all or nearly all teachers must be

able to demonstrate that they can function at least at the seventh- or eighth-grade

level in reading, writing, and maththe minimum level currently specified on

some teststo perform effectively in their jobs. Many proponents also argue that re-

search has provided enough information to justify minimum standards and to al-

low for the creation of more valid exams.28 In any case, testing remains highly

popular, and you should make sure that your teacher preparation program and gen-

eral studies help you prepare to pass any exams that you must take.

Prospective Teachers: Abilities and Testing 17

Testing basic skills

Praxis examination

Criticisms of testing

In support of testing

25Catherine E. Cardina and John K. Roden, Academic Proficiency of Students Who ReportedIntentions of Majoring in Education,Journal of Teacher Education ( JanuaryFebruary 1998),pp. 3846; Barbara A. Brusch and Richard J. Coley,How Teachers Compare (Princeton, N.J.:

Educational Testing Service, 2000), available atwww.ets.org;and Teresa Mendez, WhyThey Teach, Christian Science Monitor, March 8, 2005.26Linda Darling-Hammond, The Evolution of Teacher Policy(Santa Monica, Calif.: Rand, 1998);and David Imig, National Test Is a Good Plan, USA Today, February 25, 2003.27Ayres G. DCosta, The Impact of Courts on Teacher Competence Testing, Theory intoPractice (Spring 1993), pp. 104112; Ann Bradley, National Research Panel Tepid over Testsfor Licensing Teachers,Education Week, March 15, 2000; and Cassandra M. Guarino, Lucre-cia Santibanez, and Glenn A. Daley, Teacher Recruitment and Retention,Review of Educa-tional Research (Summer 2006), pp. 173208.28Richard J. Murname, The Case for Performance-Based Licensing, Phi Delta Kappan (Octo-ber 1991), pp. 137142; Allen Glenn, Passing the Test,AACTE Briefs, August 10, 1998; KateZernike, Teachers Union Proposes a National Test for Recruits, New York Times, April 14,2000; and Peter Youngs, Allan Odden, and Andrew C. Porter, State Policy Related to TeacherLicensure,Educational Policy(May 2003), pp. 217236.
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Controversy regarding testing of prospective teachers became na-

tionally prominent in 1998 after Massachusetts administered its first

statewide test for this purpose. Thirty percent of the candidates failed the

reading and writing test, and 63 percent of candidates for mathematics

certification failed the subject-matter test in their field. After the chair-

man of the state board of education stated that the real story . . . is that so many

prospective public school teachers failed a test that a bright 10th grader could pass

without difficulty and that no responsible person would subject anyones chil-

dren, much less his own, to teachers who had failed these topics, legislators and ed-

ucators in Massachusetts and elsewhere initiated ongoing debates and arguments

concerning appropriate test performance levels for entering and exiting teacher-

preparation programs and for obtaining and retaining teaching certificates.29

Job Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction

Are people who become teachers generally satisfied with their work? Job conditions

strongly affect satisfaction, and, as well see in this section, job conditions are

changing in response to many calls for educational reform. Several of these changes

seem likely to improve teachers job satisfaction.

Teacher Satisfaction

In polls conducted for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, teachers have

been asked, All in all, how satisfied would you say you are with teaching as a ca-

reer? Most of the respondents have answered either very satisfied or somewhat

satisfied. About half have reported that they were more enthusiastic about teach-

ing than when they began their careers. Furthermore, the percentage of satisfied

teachers has increased from 33 percent in 1986 to 56 percent in 2006. Similar results

have been documented in several other recent polls.30

One important reason for teachers job satisfaction is that they often feel suc-

cessful in advancing their students learning and growth. Recent increases in teacher

salaries, widespread recognition of teachers expertise, and the quality of their inter-

personal relationships with students and parents also promote satisfaction. Because

teachers appear mostly positive about these and other aspects of their jobs, it is not

surprising that they generally indicate they have high satisfaction in their work.

Many teachers do, however, report dissatisfaction with their work. Nationwide

surveys show that significant percentages believe they have insufficient time for

counseling students, planning lessons, and other instructional functions. Other


Controversy in Massachusetts

National surveys

Reasons for satisfaction

Reasons for dissatisfaction

29John Silber, Those Who Cant Teach, New York Times,July 7, 1998. See also David J. Hoff,Massachusetts to Put Math Teachers to the Test,Education Week, May 31, 2000; andLarry H. Ludlow, Teacher Test Accountability,Education Policy Analysis Archives, Febru-ary 22, 2001, available athttp://epaa.asu.edu.30National Center for Education Statistics,Americas Teachers Ten Years After A Nation at Risk(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, 1995); Andrew S. Latham, Teacher Satis-faction,Educational Leadership (February 1998) pp. 8283; Steve Farkas, Jean Johnson, andAnn Duffett, Stand By Me, 2003 paper prepared for Public Agenda, available atwww.publicagenda.org/PDFStore/pdfs/stand_by_me.pdf; and Jack Buckley, Mark Schneider,and Yi Shang, The Effects of School Facility Quality on Teacher Retention in Urban Dis-tricts, 2004 paper posted by the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities, availableat www.edfacilities.org.

Are teachers in your state required

to pass a test? If yes, what are the requirements?

What are the passing and failing rates in your

state and at your institution?

R E F O C U S
http://epaa.asu.edu/http://epaa.asu.edu/http://www.publicagenda.org/PDFStore/pdfs/stand_by_me.pdfhttp://www.publicagenda.org/PDFStore/pdfs/stand_by_me.pdfhttp://www.publicagenda.org/PDFStore/pdfs/stand_by_me.pdfhttp://www.edfacilities.org/http://www.edfacilities.org/http://www.publicagenda.org/PDFStore/pdfs/stand_by_me.pdfhttp://www.publicagenda.org/PDFStore/pdfs/stand_by_me.pdfhttp://epaa.asu.edu/


19/27

complaints include ambiguity in supervisors expectations; unresponsive adminis-

trators, decrepit facilities, and obligations to participate in staff development per-

ceived as irrelevant or ineffective; lack of supplies and equipment; extensive

paperwork and record keeping; and insufficient input on organizational decisions.

Improvements in teacher salaries and teaching conditions may reduce these aspects

of dissatisfaction in the future.31

State and District Standards and Teacher Stress

Teaching is a difficult profession that usually involves significant stress. In recent

years the introduction of state and district standards for student performance has

substantially increased this stress. Standards are often accompanied by accountabil-

ity mechanisms involving standardized testing and publication of achievement

scores for schools and, sometimes, individual classrooms. All states now require

some degree of uniform testing in all school districts. Many of these tests carry

high stakes, such as whether students pass from one grade to another, become el-

igible to graduate, or must attend summer school, and whether or not schools may

be closed or intensely scrutinized because of low test scores.

With such consequences, many teachers feel severe pressure to improve their

students test scores. This reaction is particularly prevalent at low-performing

schools, but it also occurs even at some high-performing schools in locations where

states or districts set high requirements for improved performance every year. Faculty

in many schools wind up devoting much of the school year to preparing for tests and

to emphasizing test-preparation materials in obtaining and using teaching resources,

practices known collectively as teaching to the test. As we point out elsewhere in

this book, this situation has raised controversial questions as to whether the stan-

dards movement facilitates or impedes improvements in student performance, as

teachers narrow their instructional focus to the tested skills. Although some teachers

report finding ways to provide engaging, quality instruction within frameworks that

require continuous attention to the many learning objectives specified on state and

Job Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction 19


High-stakes tests

After reading this section, watch Teacher Accountability: A Student Teachers Perspective.

This video shows a roundtable discussion about how teachers approach account-

ability in a positive and nonthreatening way that benefits both teachers and stu-

dents. After watching the video,answer the following questions:

This chapter describes some of the stresses of the teaching professionsuch asbeing accountable for student progress and performance. What specific strategies

are used by the educational professionals in the video to cope with the challenges of

the accountability movement?

Based on your reading and on this video, do you agree with the master teachersin this video case who believe that standardized testing offers the opportunity to re-

flect upon your teaching practice? Why or why not?

V I D E O C A S E :

Teacher

Accountability:

A Student Teachers

Perspective

Teaching to the tests

Online Study Center

31Connie Anderson, Time Well Spent, Teaching K8 (January 1999), pp. 8081; Wade A.Carpenter, Ten Years of Silver Bullets,Phi Delta Kappan (January 2000), pp. 383389; andHeather Rose, Jon Sonstelie, and Ray Reinhard, School Resources and Academic Standardsin California, 2006 report prepared for the Public Policy Institute of California, available atwww.ppic.org.
http://www.ppic.org/http://www.ppic.org/


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district tests, even these teachers typically experience high-level stress as they learn

to function effectively within such frameworks.32

Coping with Stress

As weve seen, teaching has its difficult and stressful moments. Research also indicates

that elementary and secondary teaching has become more stressful in recent years. In

response, many professional organizations and school districts offer courses or work-

shops emphasizing coping techniques and other stress-reduction approaches.

In national surveys, most teachers express satisfaction with their careers.

Common frustrations of teachers, however, include insufficient time, am-

biguous expectations, and new demands for teacher accountability. The first

year of teaching can be especially stressful, and new teachers should make

stress-reducing activities a priority. (Elizabeth Crews)

Counselors point out that exercise, rest, hobbies, good nutrition, meditation

or other relaxation techniques, efficient scheduling of personal affairs, and vacations

can help individuals cope with high-stress jobs. You may also reduce stress if you par-

ticipate in professional renewal activities or support groups, separate your job from

your home life, and keep an open mind attitude toward change. Because first-year

teachers experience special stress as they enter new jobs, professional organizations,

school districts, and even the U.S. Department of Education offer supportive pro-

grams. The Technology @ School box in this chapter describes one such effort.

Reforming Schools by Improving TeacherQualifications and Functioning

As you see, most teachers are motivated by a desire to work with young people and

to enter a challenging and honorable field and most are satisfied with most aspects

of their jobs. Some dissatisfaction arises, however, mostly with various nonteach-ing considerations and with the demands imposed by the contemporary move-

ment to raise standards of performance. As we shall see next, nationwide efforts are

under way to address some of the conditions that teachers find difficult and to re-

form schools by improving teachers qualifications and functioning.

National Reports

Among many calls for educational reform over the past two decades, the most

widely known come from a series of national reports on the state of education in

the United States. One of the most prominent reform efforts is the federal No Child

Left Behind Act. This and other reform efforts that we describe here have changed,

and will continue to change, job conditions for teachers in fundamental ways.Since the mid-1980s numerous reports have focused on problems of education in

the United States.A Nation at Risk (1983), the best known and most influential of the


Teaching can be stressful

Coping techniques

32Linda McNeil, Creating New Inequalities,Phi Delta Kappan ( June 2000), pp. 729734;Stuart S. Yeh, Limiting the Unintended Consequences of High-Stakes Testing,EducationalPolicy Analysis Archives, October 28, 2005, available athttp://epaa.asu.edu; and Lori Conradand Kelly Hupfeld, From Surviving to Thriving, 2006 paper prepared for the Public Educa-tion and Business Coalition, available atwww.pebc.org.

Problems identified inA

Nation at Risk
http://epaa.asu.edu/http://epaa.asu.edu/http://epaa.asu.edu/http://www.pebc.org/http://www.pebc.org/http://www.pebc.org/http://epaa.asu.edu/


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national reports, was prepared by the National Commission on Excellence in Educa-

tion sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. Arguing that the United States

is at risk in the sense that its once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, in-

dustry, service, and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors

throughout the world, the commission concluded that one major aspect of declinehas been a rising tide of mediocrity in the schools. Here, we should note the reports

suggestions for making teaching a more rewarding and respected profession:33

Reforming Schools by Improving Teacher Qualifications and Functioning 21

T E C H N O L O G Y @ S C H O O L

An Internet Location for Prospective Teachers

G

o towww.ed.gov/inits/teachers/archive-

wantobe.html and open a screen headed So You

Want to Be a Teacher? Clickable hypertext head-ings on this page include

Teacher Recruitment Clearinghouse is an online re-

source for prospective teachers seeking jobs and for

schools, districts,and states seeking qualified teachers.

What to Expect Your First Year of Teaching offers a

compilation of frank discussions by award-winning

first-year teachers.

Survival Guide for New Teachers, available at www

.ed.gov/teachers/become/about/survivalguide/

index.html, offers a collection of reflections by award-winning first-year teachers. Sections in this document

advise you on how to work with veteran teachers, par-

ents, and principals. Here is an excerpt from the intro-

ductory message.

What Does Sink or Swim Mean?

To start with, first-year teachers are still liable to be as-

signed the most challenging coursesthe ones with

a heavy developmental emphasis and students who

need additional expertise to teach. Moreover, many

new teachers receive little more than a quick orien-

tation on school policies and procedures before they start

their jobs.And there is often no time in the dayor week,

for that matterallotted for sitting down with colleagues

to discuss pedagogical methods,daily dilemmas like time

and classroom management,and coping strategies. . . .

Fortunately, some promising new initiatives are al-

ready under way. For example, 100 percent of the grad-

uates of a program for first-year teachers from TexasA&M UniversityCorpus Christi, Texas, have stayed on

the job after five years of teaching. Meanwhile, the

statewide retention rate is about 50 percent after

5 years,according to the university.

Texass Induction Year Program is designed to pro-

vide support and instruction to first-year teachers while

getting them started toward masters level professional

development. The program focuses on practical issues

such as classroom management, communication skills,

and discipline. Also, faculty members regularly visit

the classes of participants to evaluate the teachers

performance. . . .In addition to university teacher-preparation pro-

grams,school districts are doing more to make first-year

teaching a success. Districts from Delaware to Colum-

bus, Ohio, to Omaha, Nebraska, have instituted induc-

tion programs for new teachers that include mentoring,

peer assistance, and other forms of guidance and

support.

You will also find headings for links to state departments

of education and an Educational Resources Information

Center (ERIC) document, So You Want to Be a Teacher.

In addition to digesting the information and suggestionsprovided in these documents, you can discuss their mean-

ing and implications with other prospective teachers or

familiarize yourself with information on certification and

assistance possibilities in your own or other states.

33National Commission on Excellence in Education,A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educa-tion Reform (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, 1983), p. 5; and Paul D. Hous-ton, Do We Suffer from Educational Glaucoma? School Administrator(January 1999). Seealso The Full Circle: Building a Coherent Teacher Preparation System (Washington, D.C.: NationalAssociation of State Boards of Education, 2000).
http://www.ed.gov/inits/teachers/archive-wantobe.htmlhttp://www.ed.gov/inits/teachers/archive-wantobe.htmlhttp://www.ed.gov/inits/teachers/archive-wantobe.htmlhttp://www.ed.gov/teachers/become/about/survivalguide/index.htmlhttp://www.ed.gov/teachers/become/about/survivalguide/index.htmlhttp://www.ed.gov/teachers/become/about/survivalguide/index.htmlhttp://www.ed.gov/teachers/become/about/survivalguide/index.htmlhttp://www.ed.gov/teachers/become/about/survivalguide/index.htmlhttp://www.ed.gov/teachers/become/about/survivalguide/index.htmlhttp://www.ed.gov/teachers/become/about/survivalguide/index.htmlhttp://www.ed.gov/teachers/become/about/survivalguide/index.htmlhttp://www.ed.gov/inits/teachers/archive-wantobe.htmlhttp://www.ed.gov/inits/teachers/archive-wantobe.html


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Set higher standards for entry into the profession

Improve teacher salaries so they are professionally competitive, market-

sensitive, and performance-based, thus making them part of a system that

rewards superior teachers (in other words, institute merit pay, a practice dis-

cussed in the chapter on The Teaching Profession)

Add an additional month of teacher employment with pay

Institute a career ladderso that qualified people progress from beginningteacher to experienced teacher and finally to the level of masterteacher

Involve master teachers in preparing and supervising probationary teachers

The No Child Left Behind Act

In 2001 teacher-quality-improvement activities became an integral part of the na-

tional school reform movement with passage of the No Child Left Behind Act

(NCLBA). We will discuss major components of NCLB dealing with student achieve-

ment elsewhere, particularly in the chapter on Providing Equal Educational Oppor-

tunity. Here we review the key sections dealing with requirements that teachers in

school districts receiving federal funding must be highly qualified.

Requirements in these sections were explained in a 2004 U.S. Department of Edu-

cation document (see A Toolkit for Teachers, available atwww.ed.gov/teachers/

nclbguide/nclb-teachers-toolkit.pdf).The toolkit notes that the NCLBA rep-

resents a sweeping overhaul of federal efforts to support elementary and secondary

education and sets the goal of having every child making the grade on state-defined

education standards by the end of the 201314 school year. As part of the overhaul,

NCLB outlines the minimum qualifications needed by teachers and paraprofes-

sionals who work on any facet of classroom instruction. It requires that states de-

velop plans to achieve the goal that all teachers of core academic subjects be highly

qualified by the end of the 200506 school year.34

Under NCLB, a highly qualified teacher must have (1) a bachelors degree,

(2) full state certification and licensure as defined by the state, and (3) demon-

strated competency as defined by the state in each core academic subject he or

she teaches.

New elementary teachers can demonstrate competency by passing a rigorous

state test on subject knowledge and teaching skills in reading or language arts, writ-

ing, mathematics and other areas of the basic elementary school curriculum. New

middle- and high-school teachers can demonstrate competency either by passing a

rigorous state test in each subject they teach, or by holding an academic major

or course work equivalent to an academic major, an advanced degree or advanced

certification or credentials. Those already employed as teachers at any level can

demonstrate competency by meeting the requirements for new teachers or by

meeting a state-defined high, objective, uniform state standard of evaluation

(HOUSSE). States have defined and established their HOUSSE standards for com-petency among current teachers. Many are using point systems that allow teachers

to count a combination of years of successful classroom experience, participation in



No Child Left Behind Act

Highly qualified teachers

Proposals for the teaching

profession

Three requirements

Defining competency

34National Commission on Excellence in Education,A Nation at Risk: The Imperativefor Education Reform (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, 1983), p. 5; and PaulD. Houston, Do We Suffer from Educational Glaucoma? School Administrator( January 1999), available atwww.aasa.org. See also Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., et al., Teaching atRisk: Progress and Potholes (New York: The Teaching Commission, 2006), available atwww.theteachingcommission.org.
http://www.ed.gov/teachers/nclbguide/nclb-teachers-toolkit.pdfhttp://www.ed.gov/teachers/nclbguide/nclb-teachers-toolkit.pdfhttp://www.ed.gov/teachers/nclbguide/nclb-teachers-toolkit.pdfhttp://www.ed.gov/teachers/nclbguide/nclb-teachers-toolkit.pdfhttp://www.aasa.org/http://www.aasa.org/http://www.theteachingcommission.org/http://www.theteachingcommission.org/http://www.aasa.org/http://www.ed.gov/teachers/nclbguide/nclb-teachers-toolkit.pdfhttp://www.ed.gov/teachers/nclbguide/nclb-teachers-toolkit.pdf


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high-quality professional development that evaluates what the teacher has learned,

service on curriculum development teams, and other activities related to developing

knowledge in an academic area.

Developments with respect to implementation of NCLB teacher-quality goals

have included the following:35

The federal government has begun to distribute millions of dollars for activi-

ties such as devising and implementing alternative certification programs forteachers and administrators, establishing teacher merit pay, providing bonus

pay for teaching in high-need subjects and high-poverty schools, testing

teachers in their subjects, and forming a Teacher Assistance Corps to help

states carry out their quality-improvement initiatives.

In 2006 Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings issued aFifth Annual Report

on Teacher Quality, in which she provided data on state efforts to comply with

the NCBLA. She acknowledged that states had not been able to meet the goal

of providing a highly qualified teacher in every classroom. Some excerpts from

the report include the following:

Forty-four states require new teachers to pass at least one assessment for

teacher certification. Academic content-related tests constitute the

largest share of the testing (nearly 60 percent) reported. . . .

There is little difference between the assessments required for tradi-

tional and alternative route program completers within a given state;

their pass rates are also comparable. . . .

Even though the overall teacher pass rate on state assessments is at

96 percent, the minimum passing scores remain generally lower than

the national median scores for these tests.

Much controversy has arisen regarding state progress toward ensuring highly

qualified teachers in all classrooms. For example, although many states have

reported that more than 90 percent of courses are taught by highly qualified

teachers, some observers have cited various data indicating that numerous

staff teaching science, math, and other specialty subjects were working out-of-field, or teaching in areas where they had not demonstrated competency,

particularly in high-poverty schools. They have concluded that either the state

data were incorrect or criteria for defining highly qualified had been set very

low, or both.

Many organizations and individuals have expressed impatience and/or skepti-

cism regarding NLCB implementation regarding teacher quality. For example,

the Education Trust has criticized the federal government for doing little to

ensure that teachers in urban schools are becoming truly qualified to raise the

achievement of low-income students and minority students. Observers also

point out that many rural districts face insuperable difficulties in meeting

NCLB requirements for highly qualified teachers, and that action involving

HOUSSE implementation generally has ignored or perhaps even magnifiedproblems in the recruitment of minority teachers.

Reforming Schools by Improving Teacher Qualifications and Functioning 23

Early developments

Progress report

Controversy over data

Impatience and skepticism

35Bess Keller, States Claim Teachers Are Qualified,Education Week, October 29, 2003;Leaving Teachers Behind, 2003 paper prepared for ACORN, available atwww.acorn.org;Meeting the Highly Qualified Teacher Challenge, 200

Documents

Foundations of Education Student Text Tenth Edition