to touch on issues such as legal and professional
development while catering to student teachers
with specific content such as planning assistance,
classroom management, and an introduction to our
Career Center to help teacher candidates to find
future employment.
Policymakers should invest much more time and
resources into learning about the science of teaching
and how individual teachers actually develop their
skillset - and how long it takes to develop some of
those skills - and what changes are needed. Policies
currently reflect the fact that we know far more
about a teacher after they enter the classroom than
before. Important benchmarks that we should look at
besides program completion are data on those who
actually enter the field of education and teach, as
well as those who remain for several years. However,
change may be on the horizon for the profession.
A NEW MODEL
The University of Michigan is making some
interesting changes, and moving to end the longtime
practice of sending educators into their classrooms
after just a few months of student teaching.
Elizabeth Moje, dean of the school of education at
the University of Michigan, is offering an innovative
method, based on the way doctors are trained, that
will extend teacher training through their first three
years on the job, supporting them as they take on
the daunting responsibility of educating children. The
teacher intern program at Michigan would be the first
dramatic upheaval in the way teachers are trained
in this country in at least a generation - an upheaval
that has been a long time coming.
In a nutshell, the new approach is like a teaching
hospital, where future teachers - called interns -
will train together under a single roof. They will
complete their student teaching there. Then, instead
of heading out in search of a job in another school,
they will stay on for three more years as full-time,
fully certified teaching “residents.” Residents won’t
be trainees. They will be real classroom teachers
working with real children and making a real salary
- the same as any other first-, second-, or third-year
teacher. But, unlike their peers in traditional schools,
they will continue to learn from their professors and
will work closely with the veteran teachers - called
attendings - who will make up most of the school’s
teaching staff.
This innovative solutions is one that Professional
Educators of Tennessee has been working on with
the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System
(CMCSS). The district, in partnership with Austin
Peay State University (APSU), has a cohort of 40
future teachers who will earn a free bachelor’s
degree in only three years, become dual certified
in a critical shortage area plus special education,
and participate in a multi-year residency experience
while being a full-time employed paraprofessional
earning a salary, health insurance, and retirement
contributions.
In addition, the district plans to partner with
Lipscomb University to offer up to 20 future teachers
a licensure program that includes a one-year full-
time paid residency and dual certification (K-5 and
special education) at no cost to the teacher. Through
this initiative, these future teachers will also earn
a master’s degree in this partnership between
Lipscomb and the district. This solution will likely be
replicated by districts across the state.
Cathy Kolb, state president of Professional Educators
of Tennessee, has long advocated for and assists
with the program to recruit and retain educators into
public education classrooms. “We believe it is a win-
win for our district and our students,” Kolb advises.
I would echo the words of CMCSS Chief Academic
Officer Sean Impeartrice, “This is the future of
teacher recruitment and preparation.” Kolb believes
this effort will help “ensure
that quality educators
enter and remain in the
profession in the future.”
This is also a critical
part of the agenda that
Tennessee Commissioner
of
Education
Penny
Schwinn wants to see
expanded.
Schwinn
stated, “If you want to be
an educator, you should
be in Tennessee. We now
have districts where you
can get paid to become a
teacher, graduate debt free
and be better prepared by
spending multiple years
in a residency under the
mentorship of a great
classroom leader,” stated
Schwinn. “I look forward to
replicating this innovative
“Grow Your Own” model
across the state.”