The Alternative Teacher Preparation Program

The differences were connected with a teacher’s original preparation for the teaching profession, licensing in the particular subject area to be taught, strength of the educational experience, and the degree of experience in teaching along with the demonstration of abilities through the National Board Certification, in which all of these facets can be addressed through policy (Darling-Hammond, 2010).America has not produced a national method containing supports and reasons to guarantee that teachers’ are adequately prepared and equipped to teach all children effectively when they first enter into the career of teaching. America also does not have a vast collection of methods available that will maintain the evaluation and continuing development of a teacher’s effectiveness in the classroom, or support decisions about entry into the field of teaching and the continuance in the profession of teaching (Darling-Hammond, 2010). n order to reach the belief that all students will be taught and learn to high standards calls for a makeover in the methods our system of education in order to be a magnet for, train, support or uphold, and cultivate effective teachers in more efficient ways. A makeover that is contingent in a certain degree of how the abilities or skills are comprehended (Darling-Hammond, 2010).In the last few years there has been increasing

Finally, teacher preparation programs must address field experiences. The idea of integrating coursework and field experiences is not new for teacher preparation programs. It has been happening for decades. However, the connections typically made between coursework and field experience are technical in nature. Teacher candidates learn methods for teaching subject area knowledge, or for managing classrooms, and are then sent to schools to practice those methods on real students. In these instances, schools are considered sites for practice, not sites for study. Schools are presented as natural and fixed. Teacher candidates learn how to function within schools as they currently are, and behave like the teachers who are already there. This approach does nothing more than perpetuate the status quo. What would be more effective is recasting schools not as entities in

The state of Arizona is facing a serious education crisis in the retention of qualified teachers. Personally, my school in Yuma, Arizona encountered an average of seven new teachers every year. Yuma High School District allowed for a teacher to teach chemistry when his/her Bachelor’s degree was in mathematics. According to the ‘No Child Left Behind Act’ enacted in 2001, schools are required to provide “highly qualified” teachers to teach at all times (Educator Excellence). Having quality, long-term teachers is imperative to develop students in becoming productive members of society. Unfortunately due to federal budget cuts directly affecting education, Timothy L. Ogle, executive director of the Arizona School Boards Association, says, “Arizona has faced the most dramatic cuts to K-12 education spending of any state in the nation” (Lopez). As a result, administration is forced to have teachers make up for the lack of a certain subject by teaching it without qualifications. Due to this, out-of-state teachers leave within the first 5 years, and 25% all leave within the first year. Some reasons for this include a

America has encountered a change within the teaching profession: concerning, experience, age, credentials, and ethnic background (Feistritzer, 2011). It is almost as if the year of 2005, overturned the trend of older employed teachers (Feistritzer, 2011). A six-year survey shows that the amount of teachers under the age of thirty has increased drastically, and that most teachers have earned master degrees. Also, although teaching has been a predominately white profession, more Hispanic and African American teachers were hired between the years of 2005 and 2011 (Feistritzer, 2011).

According to Celine Provini, from Education World, new teachers leave the profession for a variety of reasons including: Unrealistic federal and state mandates. Many new teachers feel as if the state and federal standards are not obtainable. Lack of support from fellow teachers, administration, and parents can also be a major

Overall, high rates of teacher turnover have direct monetary costs and alter the distribution of teacher experience and skill across districts. Dr. Maxwell, the Superintendent of PGCPS formed a Transition Team from which four subcommittees were formed one being the Teaching and Learning Committee (TL). The TL examined research on professional literature to answer the question and determined that in order for students to receive the high-quality education that prepares them to succeed in post-secondary opportunities, staff members must have instructional resources and professional learning opportunities to build their capacities

Teach for America is a non-profit organization. According to its website, it admits only the top applicants, recruiting teachers to work in low-income communities. It trains and supports the teachers

This is another factor which could lead to high teacher turnover in the United States. The current teacher average salary has just gone higher by less than 4 percent from the salary of nearly two decades ago. This way, the teachers are not able to cope with the high inflation and escalated cost of life with this pay. This makes teachers to have high mobility rate in search for better jobs or the so called greener pastures.

In Alternative Certification Teacher: Strategies for the Transition to a New Career, Mr. Evans discusses the stresses a teacher may face when becoming a new teacher through alternative certification. Some of these challenges include not going through the more traditional path of recieving teaching certification. These new teachers are contricted in the fact that they don't get the observational experience teachers receiving traditional certification do. (p33) Alternative certification is the process someone goes through when they have already obtained a

30, 2010, from Axia College, Week Three reading, aXcess, AED201—Teaching as a Profession Course Web site.

Traditionally, efforts to obtain effective teachers have focused primarily upon raising the entry bar via credential, licensure, or certification requirements. However, research has consistently demonstrated that credentials, licensure, and advanced degrees are of little value in predicting teacher effectiveness (Education Equality Project, 2010; Green & Forster, 2008).

It cannot be denied that traditional teacher education and alternative certification are effective in supplying high-quality teachers in urban school districts. However, there are still some challenges for these programs. For instance, traditional program cannot target district needs in specific subjects including science, special education, and etc. Also, candidates in alternative certification programs do not have enough clinical experiences before becoming a teacher of record (Berry, et al., 2008). Combining the components from both traditional teacher program and alternative certificate program, BTR is an innovative teacher preparation program that aims to “recruit, prepare, and sustain excellent teachers” with different structures and systems (Solomon, 2009).

Nationally, there appears to be a growing recognition that teacher education programs do not fully prepare beginning teachers for the rigors of school teaching. However, rather than attempt to defend the need for universities to be able to meet this demand, I believe that it is more important to realistically appraise what is possible in teacher preparation - and what is not. Hence, it is more than reasonable to assert that teacher preparation programs are, by nature, inadequate and incomplete.

Teacher turnover and students’ performance are the two main issues in the United States. The studies show that the American education spends more than a billion dollars to provide the value, quality and excellence for teachers in education. The reasons for teacher’s leaving the school it might be in the school district, funding, school condition in the area and the leadership system (Love & Kristina’s). The teachers turnover can effect on students’ performance or change their achievement includes the student 's goal. To decrease this issue, the suggestion depends on the compositional relationship between the teachers and principal, teachers with other school staff and teacher with students. According to Guin (2004) studied in the urban district, he did the research in 66 elementary schools to know the nature of the relationships between students’ performance and teacher turnover. He realized that the rate of students following the standards estimates in reading and math. The average in cons and pros, that schools with a low level in student’s achievement and performance have a high teacher turnover. The National Center for Education Statistics’ between the 2000 and 2004 school years, it was the most recent years for which is 84.9 % of teachers stay teach at the same school ,7.7% move to a different school, and 7.4 % teachers are leaving the school.

Correspondingly, 27% of first-year teachers in New York City's lower-performing schools do not return the following year, compared to 15% in schools of the highest quartile of student achievement (Boyd, Lankford, Wyckoff 2005). Highly qualified teachers are more likely to quit or transfer than less-qualified teachers, especially if they teach in low-achieving schools (Boyd, Lankford, Wyckoff 2005). 20% of new teachers in the top quartile on the general-knowledge certification exam leave high-achieving schools after 1 year, but 34% of those in low-achieving schools leave after 1 year (Boyd, Lankford, Wyckoff 2005). Further, 14% of bottom-quartile teachers leave high-achieving schools after 1 year, and 17% leave low-achieving schools (Boyd, Lankford, Wyckoff 2005). Similarly, Allensworth et. al (2009) found that Chicago elementary schools with 60% or more of their students meeting or exceeding state standards on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) retained about 84 to 87% of their teachers into the following year, but those with less than 30% of students meeting the standards only retained about 66% of their teachers (Allensworth et. al 2009). While students have a strong influence on how likely a teacher is to remain the next year, teachers’ relationships with their colleagues are also vital to how they perceive and react to their working environment.