Citing American students鈥� relatively poor showing in math and science on international tests such as PISA鈥攖he Program for International Student Assessment鈥攁 nationally renowned professor of education at Stanford University is calling for strengthening rather than bypassing teacher-preparation programs to improve student achievement.
At the annual conference of the Association for Teacher Educators, held here Feb. 18-22, Linda Darling-Hammond decried what she said were attempts by politicians such as former U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige to erode teacher preparation. Pointing out that student-achievement gains are more influenced by classroom teachers than any other factor, she said the focus should be on providing new teachers with enough tools to be successful.
鈥淲e need to be artistic in articulating how to prepare teachers, rather than lowering standards. It would be penny-wise and pound-foolish to bring people into teaching unarmed,鈥� she said.
As an example, Ms. Darling-Hammond pointed to Finland, where students have zoomed to the top on PISA. The Finns, she said, 鈥減ut most of their investment into teacher education. 鈥� They invest in the abilities of professionals.鈥�
To make her point that teacher education is 鈥渙ne of the most important and challenging fields,鈥� Ms. Darling-Hammond outlined a plot for a segment of the popular reality-television show 鈥淪urvivor鈥�: Six business people would be dropped into an elementary school that included high-needs students, some with ADHD and some who speak no English. They would be expected to multitask as every teacher does, from teaching students to documenting benchmarks to maintaining discipline. There would be no golf, except on Sundays, but that wouldn鈥檛 matter because they couldn鈥檛 afford to play anyway on their new salaries.
鈥淭he winner,鈥� she concluded to peals of laughter from the audience, 鈥渨ill be allowed to return to his or her job.鈥�
At Western Washington University in Bellingham, all teacher-education students are required to take an acting-skills class. By the end of the course, even the most socially awkward students are well on their way to becoming engaging teachers, Lauren G. McClanahan, one of the course鈥檚 founders and teachers, told her audience at one ATE session.
At the beginning of the acting class, students are asked to create an original pantomime between 3 minutes and 5 minutes long on teaching adolescents, parenting adolescents, or being an adolescent. Students are also challenged to project their voices effectively while maintaining eye contact with the audience.
Ms. McClanahan said students, although initially wary about taking the class, show great creativity once they are actually in it.
She showed video recordings of students at the start and end of the course to demonstrate the difference it made. In one instance, a gawky man who appears fidgety and afraid to make eye contact is transformed into a confident speaker.
The idea for the class, Ms. McClanahan said, originated with the realization that new teachers often fail to do well because of inadequate presentation skills.
At the end of their university program, she said, students often recall the acting-skills class as being their most memorable. 鈥淚t was not the most intellectually challenging, perhaps,鈥� Ms. McClanahan said, 鈥渂ut they say it was the most practical.鈥�
In the usual portrait, new teachers are so overwhelmed by the basics of the job, they can鈥檛 focus on individual students who are falling behind.
But Steven Z. Athanases, an education professor at the University of California, Davis, and Betty Achinstein, a researcher at the New Teacher Center of the University of California, Santa Cruz, challenged that view in a session here. They said that even first-year teachers who get the right mentoring can serve underperforming students better than they often do now.
Drawing on the 鈥渨isdom of practice鈥� provided by 37 teachers who lead new-teacher-induction programs and case studies of pairs of mentors and new teachers, the researchers detailed the wealth of knowledge mentors need to do the job. Mentors must be equally adept observers of the teacher鈥檚 students and of the teacher, for instance. They should also know the academic expectations for the teacher鈥檚 grade and subject, according to the researchers.
Especially important for mentors, the researchers said, is being ready with multiple ways of assessing both the progress of the teacher鈥檚 students and the skills of the teacher.
With the help of mentors, Ms. Achinstein said, 鈥渂eginning teachers were able to see how to use assessment to individualize instruction.鈥�
鈥淏etty and I firmly object to the notion,鈥� added Mr. Athanases, 鈥渢hat 鈥榮urvival mode鈥� must occur.鈥�
The research won the ATE鈥檚 distinguished-research award this year. A book building on that research, Mentors in the Making: Developing New Leaders for New Teachers, was published this year by Teachers College Press.
