Can Teachers Measure Up?
Qualified teachers are in high demand, but critics say new accountability rules are full of loopholes
The rationale for crediting experience and pedagogical know-how is that mastering a subject on paper isn't the same as being able to teach it. Indeed, many veterans bristle at the suggestion that without more content courses, their expertise is lacking. "It's very humiliating," says Ellen Gervase, a teacher with 36 years' experience in Pomona, Calif., whose bachelor's is in special education and who lacks sufficient course work in each of the several subjects she covers with her secondary special-ed students to meet NCLB standards. Gervase clears California's bar based on her master's in English, years in the classroom, recognition as Pomona's Teacher of the Year, and time spent mentoring other teachers. She's expert, she says, at conveying academic content to her students on a level that puts it within their grasp.
As the debate continues, administrators in the trenches all over the country insist that they're making strides in the face of chronic shortages, particularly in math, science, and special education. The schools in rural Bridgewater and Emery, S.D., 6 miles apart, are prepping a plan to coordinate schedules and share teachers if they need to. In Richmond, Va., which three years ago began providing free courses so veterans could obtain 18 to 21 hours of credit in their fields, all are now highly qualified--about half through Virginia's alternate 180-point system. Harold Fitrer, the assistant superintendent who oversees hiring, points to gains in student achievement as a sign that his teachers know what they're doing: Two years ago, just half of schools made adequate yearly progress under NCLB; last year, 80 percent did.
In Chicago, Nancy Slavin, the district's director of recruitment and workforce planning, believes that this year well over 90 percent of classes will have highly qualified teachers--though she starts the year some 800 people short. She credits a combination of careful hiring and generous starting pay of nearly $42,000, "extremely aggressive" firing (500 nonqualified teachers have been axed over four years), a mentoring program that has improved job satisfaction, and the fact that plenty of her veterans have pursued course work in their disciplines.
Going strong. Like Chicago, many districts acknowledge that providing kids with better teachers isn't just about finding those instructors--it's also about keeping them happy. "What we've realized is that there are all kinds of teachers on the books who are highly qualified--they're just choosing not to teach," says Terry Knecht Dozier, director of the Center for Teacher Leadership at Virginia Commonwealth's ed school. Indeed, research shows that only about half of those who enter the classroom remain after five years. To better support beginners, about 100 districts around the country have committed to an intensive induction program, developed at the University of California- Santa Cruz, in which a mentor huddles weekly with each new teacher for two years--observing, coteaching, modeling techniques, and helping plan lessons. In Santa Cruz, some 88 percent of the program's grads are still going strong six years out.
Such efforts, and NCLB's clear expectations for new teachers, lead even critics to be hopeful about the future. There's no chance of meeting next spring's deadline with genuinely qualified teachers nationwide, says Kate Walsh, but "if you're looking 20 years out, we're better off."
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