The Higher Education Opportunity Act: Teachers Improving Their Education

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 new changes No Child Left Behind laws were passed earlier in 2010 stresses the importance of education has to be our main concern to ensure that our children are getting quality education. The legislation is called “Performance Counts,” It reevaluates tenure laws and evaluation. This means that teachers are evaluated and being laid off because of their performance in the classrooms. No matter how long the teacher has been in his/her position that still wouldn’t keep them in their position because of their low performance. Over the next 10 years the focus will be to prepare hundreds of new teachers in STEM science, technology, engineering, and math (Mclatchy, 2010). The program is to encourage students in the STEM field or alternative teacher certification programs to switch their careers if they choose to. For

Colorado’s population, employment, annual pay, and GDP have been above the national average and ranked top among the nation in 2015 (Leeds School of Business). This trend should continue, and Colorado’s economy is expected to grow within the next year (Leeds School of Business). However, to continue this growth Colorado must solve this teacher shortage problem, or it will begin to affect the

Since my first day of grade school I have dreamt of becoming a teacher. It was not until my junior year of high school that my dream grew into a passion for wanting to teaching in an urban environment. During a field tip to a Chicago Public School, I observed that the students where clearly in an underfunded and disadvantaged environment compared to my own experience in school. The moment that I saw that teacher earning respect and influencing her students, it was obvious to me that these teachers were the most influential factor in the classroom. The teacher’s attitude and ability to influence was more important than any other resource.

However, how we educate our teachers currently affects generations of people to come. Because of the influx of teachers, we need to metamorphose how we educate our educators. How are we doing in terms of educating our teachers now? Not as great as we could be doing. In a report by the National Council on Teacher Quality, going to a certain school for a teacher’s education could be a never-ending path of sorrow and pain.The failing college in undergraduate education for elementary teacher education was Jackson State University, a public university in Jackson, Mississippi. This university has a population of 9,802 and sits at #537 out of 660 universities on the Forbes Magazine America’s Top Colleges List. If a public university harbors such scores, it cannot be accepted as a viable path for teacher training. In a study done by Dan Goldhaber, Lesley Lavery, and Roddy Theobald (Goldhaber and Theobald of American Institutes for Research and Lavery of Macalester College) it was found that students in currently disadvantaged demographics in Washington State get the teachers with the least experience and of the lowest quality. The study judged disadvantagement in three ways: by race, by income, and by academic success. All the teachers that were put to these disadvantaged groups were deemed to be extremely novice and not effective at all. Experience is key, as a

Woullard’s and Coat’s (2004) article discusses the teacher shortage that has happened in the United States (Mississippi in particular), the causes of the shortage, and how a mentoring program for college students majoring in education can help to solve many of the issues that are causing the teacher shortage. The article begins by discussing the how the teacher shortage begin. According to Woullard and Coats (2004) it there was in increase in the amount of students who were attending elementary schools and secondary schools. However,

“The Teacher Retention Program is committed to supporting the development and retention of Arizona top teachers increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of Arizona’s school, and improving educational opportunities for all students” ("Teacher Retention Project," n.d., para. 1) . By retaining exciting dedicated educators who achieve in their field of expertise, the residents of Arizona will bring stability into the classroom which will result in higher academic test scores, increase graduation rates, and a positive school experience for our future citizen of the state of Arizona. This initiative will address the disastrous deterioration within the Arizona school district due to increasing numbers of teachers either relocating or vacating the teaching profession all together by providing a mentor program between effective teacher in high achieving schools with those in lower academic settings. As teachers leave the profession a void between seasoned experienced teacher and those beginning their career becomes noticeable, particularly in the low income school districts. By putting forward this initiative the residents of Arizona will comply with Brown vs. Board of Education ruling which address the issue of segregation in tangible

Another answer to the problem was described earlier, which is in the administration of school districts towards their less skilled, underperforming teachers. According to the report by Arne Duncan, “The Irreplaceables,” the rate at which teachers are leaving the field is the same for both high performing teachers and underperforming teachers. The percentage of the teaching population is similar between both sides of this, about 20% of teachers are considered high performing and 20% underperforming. While it may not be practical now to mandate that the school district become stricter on the performance of its teachers, if financial incentives are given to the high performing teachers, a larger population of them would stay and, possibly, a larger amount of them would come to the city of Detroit. If this were to happen, then it would suddenly be practical for Detroit to have its schools be stricter on underperforming teachers, producing a sort of snowballing effect of improvement on Detroit’s school system.

Many have voiced their concerns over the many issues within the teaching profession. Heather Voke of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum responds to one issue, the teacher shortage, by researching the nature of the shortage, its probable causes, problems resulting from the shortage, and frequently recommended policy changes. According to Voke (2003), 42 percent of all teachers leaving depart for lack of job satisfaction, to pursue another career, or better career opportunities. Low salaries and lack of public respect also impacts teacher retention. Policy recommendations to retain teachers include: salary increases, high quality induction programs, prohibit out-of-field teaching, include teachers in decision making, developing current teachers, collaboration with universities to attract and train teachers, and reduce class size. Voke suggests that policy makers and educational leaders do not understand the nature of the teacher shortage. Moreover, developing programs to attract candidates and not properly train them risks wasting valuable resources.

This particular article compares traditionally certified to alternatively certified program graduates with others carrying out a carefully constructed alternatively certified program. There are some AC programs that give teachers who are lacking proper credentials a provisional status and allow them to teach while obtaining the college credits that are equivalent to standard requirements for teacher certification programs. Some states permit Arts and Sciences graduates to go through intensified

Darling-Hammond, L., & Berry, B. (2006). Highly Qualified Teachers for All. Educational Leadership, 64(3), 14.

Creating advanced strategies, techniques and methodologies can optimize participation. The pool of qualified and interested candidates will increase with a multifaceted sourcing approach. It is meaningful to offer elaborate training and development programs, this investment will assure substitute teachers that they are valuable and unreplaceable assets. These educators can happily excel when they have received adequate support, training, incentive, acceptance and trust. They will feel empowered, self-assured, hopeful and

“Teacher shortages are essentially a problem of distribution (Darling-Hammond, 2001; Ingersoll, 2001; National Association of State Boards of Education, 1998; Olson, 2000; Reeves, 2003; Voke, 2002). According to recent studies, hardest to find are teachers who are both qualified and willing to teach in hard-to-staff schools, which included those in

The purpose of the literary review, was to explore the causes of abnormally high teacher attrition within the majority of America’s urban schools. The articles reviewed focus on challenges of staffing teachers within an urban school, the challenges of teaching within an urban school, as well as qualities a teacher must possess in order to succeed when teaching within an urban school. Also, one question was asked of two teachers of ten or more years experience within a North Tulsa urban school, as well as two assistant principals. What one quality must a teacher possess, in order to be considered a “ High Quality” teacher within an urban school. Hence, a study of essential urban teacher qualities that may enhance the benefit of