A "snapshot" study by the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality and Public Agenda-Lesson Learned: New Teachers Talk About Their Jobs, Challenges and Long-Range Plans presents seven findings based on interviews of new teachers from three prominent alternative route programs and teachers from traditional teacher education programs about their first year on the job.
I will present the findings in toto below, but first I want to highlight three quotes from the introduction which I believe confirm again how to improve the quality of teaching in our schools.
On the one hand, very few principals (18 percent)
and superintendents (12 percent) believe that
traditional certification provides full assurance
that an individual has what it takes to be a good
classroom teacher. Most say it guarantees only
“a minimum of skills” or “very little.”
On the other hand, relatively few teachers, princi-
pals or superintendents view alternate routes
as a pivotal breakthrough for improving the
field. Majorities say better mentoring and pro-
fessional development once the teacher is in
the school are more effective ways to improve
teaching, although in reality, these approaches
can easily exist alongside either traditional or
alternate training paths
the study also raises ques-
tions about the number of new teachers left to
tackle tough assignments and solve problems
with minimal support—regardless of how
they entered the field.
I guess we all know what it's going to take to improve the quality of teaching, but are we willing to do it?
Finding One: Idealism and a strong desire to help
Nearly all new teachers are idealistic and believe that good teachers
can help all children learn, even those from disadvantaged
backgrounds. But new teachers from Teach for America, Troops to
Teachers and the New Teachers Project/Baltimore were even more
likely to say this. These new alt-route teachers were also more likely
to say that wanting to help underprivileged youngsters was their main
reason for becoming teachers
Finding Two: Day one in the classroom…the most difficult
classes and needing more support
The majority of the alt-route teachers surveyed here say they
believe that as a new teacher they have been assigned to teach the
hardest-to-reach students. They are also more likely than traditionally
trained teachers to see lack of support by administrators as the major
drawback of teaching
Finding Three: Doing a tough job with minimal backup
The new alt-route teachers surveyed here are more likely than
traditionally trained teachers to give their administrators low ratings
for their instructional leadership and support on discipline issues.
They are also more likely to give their fellow teachers lower marks
for supporting and advising them
Finding Four:Less satisfied with their preparation and
cooperating teachers
The vast majority of new teachers feel comfortable with their subject
matter, but there is a substantial difference between the alt-routes
and the traditionally trained when it comes to how they view their
readiness for the classroom and the kind of guidance they received
from their cooperating teacher during their preparation
Finding Five: Aspirations and exit plans
The alternate route teachers surveyed here are less likely to say that
teaching is their lifelong career goal and more likely to plan on leaving
classroom teaching in the next two years. Surprisingly, however,
nearly half of the alternate route teachers say they are considering
another job in education. All in all, nearly two-thirds of the teachers
from the three alt-route programs voice a long-term interest in
working in education
Finding Six: Agreement on ways to improve teachers
Despite their differing experiences as new teachers, both alt-routes
and traditionally trained teachers back similar ideas for improving
teacher quality
Finding Seven: The subtle story on money
All new teachers agree that it is possible to make a decent living as
a new teacher, and a majority see raising salaries as a way to improve
teachers’ performance, though other ideas were seen as considerably
more effective. The alt-route teachers from the three programs we
interviewed were somewhat more likely to think that not being
rewarded for superior performance was a problem, yet as with
the traditionally trained teachers, performance pay was toward
the bottom of the list as a way to improve the profession