Facing Reality as We Embrace the Challenge of Overhauling K-12 Education, Part Two

Part Two:  Inadequacy of Traditional Teacher Preparation and the Need for Alternative Pathways

The inadequacy of traditional teaching training is one of the hard realities that we must face in order to proceed with the needed overhaul of K-12 education. Understanding how poorly K-12 teachers are prepared, and grasping the importance of alternative pathways to teacher certification, is necessary if we are to meet the educational needs of all of our young people in the Second Stage of the Civil Rights Movement. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Given the assertive efforts of Teach for America to establish a presence in Minnesota, and the provision in Minnesota Statute 122A.09 for an alternative path to licensure, we need a better understanding of the prevailing traditional pathway to teacher certification for judging comparative value of the emerging competitive routes.

An Overview of Teacher Training Programs in the Colleges and Universities of Minneapolis and St. Paul

There is a rough similarity among the major teacher preparation programs offered by colleges and universities in the Twin Cities. Programs that train large contingents of prospective teachers include the University of Minnesota/ Twin Cities, Augsburg College, and the universities of Concordia, Hamline, St. Catherine, and St. Thomas. At most of these institutions, prospective elementary school teachers major in elementary education; those who aspire to teach in secondary schools (middle school or high school) typically get a major in a relevant field such as history, political science, math, biology, or English while also taking a certain number of education courses to attain certification. But at some of the institutions that train teachers through the traditional route, getting a major in secondary education, with a specialty in one of the relevant disciplines, is also possible.

Once the college or university certification program is complete, prospective teachers must take exams that include a basic skills exam, a content-focused pedagogic exam, and a mathematics exam. Upon passing these exams, licensure is granted. The license is permanent, given the teacher’s ongoing demonstration of professional development through certified participation in teacher-in-service days, workshops, conferences, and the like; and with the option to pursue an advanced degree, typically a master’s of education in teaching elementary education or teaching a subject area such as math, social studies, science, or English.

Hamline is unique among the metro area institutions offering teacher preparation programs in requiring its aspiring elementary school teachers to get a degree in a discipline other than education. At Hamline, both prospective elementary and secondary teachers get majors in subjects such as economics, psychology, chemistry, math, or English literature while also getting a co-major in education. There is a certain similarity in the required courses for elementary and secondary aspirants, with both taking courses such as Educational Psychology, Diversity and Education, Theory to Practice, Schools and Society, and Exceptionality. A key difference is that those training to become secondary teachers take a course in Teaching Literacy in the Secondary School, while those preparing to be elementary teachers additionally take courses in Teaching Social Studies [Mathematics, Science] in the Elementary School. In the other institutions, any route similar to the one pursued at Hamline would come through the attainment of a double major, but this is not required.

The required education courses are similar from institution to institution. Elementary level aspirants at the University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development, for example, take courses called Social Studies [Language Arts, Mathematics, Science] Instruction in the Elementary Grades that parallel those given for Hamline. Courses at the University of Minnesota also include Schools and Society and those that incorporate matters of educational psychology, exceptionality [individual differences], and diversity. For both elementary and secondary teaching aspirants, a semester of student teaching is required, and courses include additional hours in the field, visiting and assisting in classrooms. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Comparing Teachers Trained Traditionally With Those Training Alternatively

How well trained are teachers who prepare for jobs in K-12 classrooms through such traditional teacher preparation? How does their performance compare to that of teachers who have gained licensure through alternative routes? Recently, a number of academic studies have pointed toward some summary statements about the relative efficacy of traditional versus alternative pathways.

Boyd, Grossman, Lankford, Loeb, and Wyckoff (2006) studied alternative pathways in New York City. There, mid-career professionals and recent college graduates in the NYC Teaching Fellows program (Fellows) did not do as well initially but over time did as well as traditionally prepared teachers. Teach for America (TFA) teachers tended to get better results in math, even initially, and over time made up an initial unfavorable differential in teaching language arts.

Another group of researchers (Kane, Rockoff, and Steiger, 2008) examine the same kind of data for New York City over a longer period of time, finding similarly few differences over time between traditionally prepared teachers and those who had pursued alternative pathways to licensure. And once again, the research team found that Teach for America members are more effective in math.

The research team of Xu, Hannaway, and Taylor (2011) focused on TFA teachers at the high school level in North Carolina, finding that TFA members outperformed traditionally prepared colleagues in math, science, and language arts by at least 13 standard deviation points; results were again particularly striking for TFA teachers in math, and even better for science.

In 2011, Georgia State University Department of Economics Professor Tim R. Sass focused on three of the multiple alternative paths to teacher certification in the state of Florida, amassing his data around school district alternative certification programs, the American Board of Certification of Teaching Excellence (ABCTE) program, and educational preparation institutes (EPI, generally located in community colleges).

The school district-based programs do not require participants to work toward an education degree, instead providing for an initial assessment of skills, an individualized training plan, mentoring, a training curriculum, and summative assessment. District programs also require candidates to take standard general knowledge and professional education certification exams.

The EPI programs do not result in a degree. They typically consist of seven required classes and a field experience component. Candidates must pass the standard certification exams to receive professional certification.

The ABCTE option requires a professional teacher knowledge exam and a subject area exam administered by the ABCTE. Candidates must also demonstrate professional competence in the classroom. They take no education courses at all.

In his study, which assessed value added to student performance by teachers who had undergone various types of training, Sass found that participants in the school district-based programs performed about the same as traditionally prepared teachers. Those who had prepared in the EPIs generally performed worse. Those who had exercised the ABCTE option in the aggregate got better results in math than did those of traditional preparation while not getting significantly different results from traditionally prepared teachers in reading.

For all of the alternative pathways studied by Sassman in Florida, the aspiring teachers had stronger academic credentials than did those who had gone through traditional programs. They had graduated from more competitive colleges, and they scored better on the certification exams. Teachers who had come through school district and EPI programs also had attained on average about 100 more points on the SAT than had traditionally prepared teachers; the differential for those who had pursued the ABCTE option was even greater, an average of 150 points.

Traditionally prepared elementary school teachers in Florida tend to have bachelor’s degrees in elementary education, whereas their counterpoints from alternative pathways tended toward degrees in business administration, criminal justice, and political science. Traditionally prepared high school teachers tended to have a degree in a sub-discipline of education such as mathematics education or social studies education; alternatively certified teachers were likely to have earned their degrees in a relevant subject area such as math or history.

Sass notes the similarity in results produced by Teach for America (TFA) and the American Board of Certification of Teaching Excellence (ABCTE), and also similarities in the nature of training and the participants in the programs. In both cases, candidates tend to graduate from highly competitive colleges and universities, and to have high test scores. They often outperform traditionally prepared teachers, producing particularly impressive results in math and science. Sass concludes with two highly provocative statements, backed up by the rigor of his regression analyses and other statistical measures.

Given the fact that the ABCTE program requires no coursework in education at all, and the TFA program does not (except as necessary to meet requirements for licensure in particular states) entail taking conventional courses in education, Sass says,

"It appears that the low entry requirements of both programs attract individuals with greater intellectual ability and (at least for math) this trumps any human capital enhancement that may accrue from coursework in education."

Sass continues,

"It does appear that certification programs with low entry requirements can produce teachers that are as productive, or more productive, than traditionally prepared teachers. Given the opportunity costs of a four-year degree in education, this implies that allowing some low-cost portals into the teaching profession would appear to be an efficient mechanism for increasing the supply of teachers."

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C. Emily Feistreitzer, president and CEO of the National Center for Education Information, has noted that multiple surveys show teachers reporting that what is most valuable to them in developing competence to teach are their actual teaching experiences, their work with other teachers and colleagues, and life experiences in general--- in that order. Courses in education methods, college faculty, and professional development activities are far down the list in such rankings. One-third of teachers currently gaining certification have pursued one of the 600 alternatives now available in the United States as a whole.

These alternatives, as Sass notes in conclusion upon his own work, are much cheaper than the traditional training rendered in schools, colleges, and departments of education. Feistritzer comments that the mere fact that the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) and U. S. News and World Report are preparing to investigate the efficacy of about 1,400 traditional training programs is causing quite a stir among those involved in traditional teacher training.

"The uproar," Feistrizer says, "is undoubtedly related to the fact that colleges of education are big enterprise, leading some analysts to call them the 'cash cows' of many a big university."

Indeed, the traditional teacher preparation programs of the University of Minnesota, Augsburg College, and the universities of Concordia, Hamline, St Catherine, and St. Thomas draw hundreds of students each year, first to undergraduate programs leading to certification, then to master’s of education programs. Total costs to students who prepare to teach by matriculating in these programs run to the tens of thousands of dollars.

These Twin Cities-based programs have not fared well when compared in national research reports to traditional programs in other states. And traditional programs in numerous locations have failed to demonstrate greater efficacy than alternative pathways. In fact, programs such as ABCTE and TFA have consistently produced better results in math and science, while performing on a par with traditional programs in language arts and reading.

All of this suggests strongly that in Minnesota, teachers and students, as opposed to the entrenched economic interests of adults who have roles in the traditional programs, have much to gain from the flourishing of Teach for America and the greater availability of other alternative teacher certification programs through accelerated recourse to the provisions of Minnesota Statute 122A.09. .....................................................................................................................................

Facing the Reality of Inadequate Traditional Teacher Preparation---  and Taking Action

There are some truly excellent teachers instructing our students in the Minneapolis Public Schools. But truly excellent teachers in my observation occur as only ten percent (10%) of the total teaching force. This is not enough. Mediocrity is the standard. Our children deserve better.

Facing the reality of a prevailing standard of mediocrity in our teaching force is necessary if we are to proceed with the revolution in K-12 education that we need so as to succeed at the Second Stage of the Civil Rights Movement.  Getting better quality teachers in the classroom is imperative. In the long run we need to overhaul teacher training programs in colleges, schools, and departments of education.

But we cannot wait in what will be a long and laborious struggle in overcoming entrenched interests. Therefore, we must immediately do the following:

1) recognize the value of alternative pathways to teacher certification;

2) undertake massive teacher retraining at the school district level.