Changes to Teacher Prep Needed

Teach Plus uses teacher leadership programs to improve results for urban students. A new Teach Plus poll of 1020 teachers from 35 states found that 77% of them did not feel fully prepared by their prep program to be highly effective teachers and meet their students’ needs.

The teachers who were polled suggested their programs would have been better if they had offered:

• More instruction in classroom management (55%)
• Differentiating instruction (53%)
• Teaching English language learners and special education students (47%)
• Longer clinical practice (39%) with more meaningful feedback (40%)

Celine Coggins, CEO of Teach Plus, commented “Improving how we prepare our nation’s teachers is both essential and long overdue since the vast majority of practicing teachers do not feel that their program adequately prepared them to meet the demands of the classroom and serve all of their students in their first year of teaching.”

A group of teacher leaders at Teach Plus have developed an agenda for changes that are needed to improve teacher preparation, including a high bar for entry into the profession and these programs, a foundation of robust clinical experience, a tiered licensing system and a higher caliber of mentors.

See the full agenda here.

 

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