A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Making Teaching a True Profession
October 1997

[ Letter from Terry Dozier | Background Information | Focus Group Questions ]

Greetings and welcome to our "Teaching as a True Profession" homepage!

On October 6, the 1997 State Teachers of the Year and other award-winning public and private school teachers from across the country are coming to Washington, D.C. to attend the fifth annual National Teacher Forum. Each year the U.S. Department of Education hosts the Teacher Forum to seek teachers' perspectives on important educational issues and to promote teacher leadership in education reform. This year the Forum will focus on determining what role teachers play in making teaching a true profession.

Teachers will be asked five questions during focus group sessions. Below is a background paper which sets the context for our discussions. I invite teachers and others to respond below to the same questions.

We hope that in considering these questions, the teachers who attend our Forum in Washington, D.C., and those of you who respond via this special homepage, will see ways to take action in your school and community that will help to make teaching a true profession.

Terry Dozier
Special Advisor on Teaching to the Secretary of Education

After two years of extensive research, the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future in September 1996 issued a major report on the condition of the teaching profession in America. The report, What Matters Most: Teaching and America's Future, underscores what we all know, that the quality of teachers is at the center of the quest to improve schools. The disturbing statistics below show the urgent need for national attention to issues of teacher quality and support:

America will need to hire two million teachers in the next decade due to increased student enrollment and the retirement of an aging teaching force.
Almost 30% of our student population is minority, while minorities comprise only 13% of our teaching force. Over 40% of schools in the U.S. do not have a person of color on their faculty.
22% of all new teachers leave the profession in the first three years because of a lack of support and a "sink or swim" approach to induction.
Although no state will permit a person to write wills, practice medicine, fix plumbing, or style hair without completing training and passing an examination, more than 40 states allow districts to hire teachers who have not met these basic requirements.
Roughly one-fourth of newly hired teachers lack the qualifications for their jobs.
75% of urban districts admit hiring teachers without proper qualifications.
Nearly one-fourth (23%) of all secondary teachers do not have even a minor in their main teaching field. This is true for more than 30% of mathematics teachers. In schools with the highest minority enrollments, students have less than a 50% chance of getting a science or mathematics teacher who holds a license and a degree in the field he or she teaches.

Responding to the Commission's report and others, President Clinton called on the American people to ensure that there is a talented, dedicated, and well-prepared teacher in every classroom. The highest academic standards, the best facilities, the strongest accountability measures, and the latest technology will do little good if we do not have a teaching force of the highest quality. Today we have a window of opportunity to get it right -- to dramatically change the ways in which we recruit, prepare, induct, and support the ongoing learning of teachers. We must insist on the highest standards for our teachers and ensure that they get the best training and ongoing support to teach to world-class standards.

At least 12 states have committed to implementing the recommendations of the National Commission. Many others are looking seriously at policies and practices that support or hinder excellence and accountability in teaching. The Department has introduced legislation that focuses on recruiting, preparing, and supporting new teachers for high-poverty rural and urban areas. The Department also is working to expand its support for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, improve existing professional development programs such as the Dwight D. Eisenhower Program, develop indicators of teacher quality through the National Center for Education Statistics, and strengthen support for research and development around these critical issues.

While the attention of policymakers to the teaching profession is welcomed and needed, if teaching is to be a true profession, teachers must play a central role in making it so. Unfortunately, in most American communities teachers lack the most basic requirements of professionals -- respect, responsibility, and autonomy. By taking advantage of the national focus on the quality of our teaching force, teachers have an opportunity to change this situation. This will require, however, that teachers ask themselves what role they play in ensuring that there is a talented, dedicated, and well-prepared teacher in every classroom. For example:

What role do teachers play in recruiting high-quality individuals into the profession? In screening for quality "up front?"
How do we make sure that candidates get the best preparation program possible and that they have the knowledge and skills to teach before they enter our classrooms?
What role do veteran teachers play in supporting beginning teachers? How do we change a system that gives our newest teachers the most difficult classes and the extracurricular activities that no one else wants?
How do we help our colleagues improve their practice?
How do we open our own practice to examination?
How do we ensure that teachers are given opportunities to grow and to develop as professionals?
How do we encourage and reward excellence?
What do we do about the poorly performing teacher?

These are questions that teachers are not accustomed to asking themselves, but if teachers are to assume responsibility for the profession, teachers must address them. Both NEA and AFT are moving in this direction. Bob Chase, the new President of the National Education Association, has called for a new union, and recently NEA endorsed peer review. The American Federation of Teachers has long been a leader in pushing for high standards for students and teachers. But while the national union leadership can talk about these issues, it will be their members that will turn this talk into action.

With a national focus on the quality of America's teaching force, teachers can take a leadership role in these discussions and the subsequent actions taken to ensure quality, or they can retreat to the security of their classrooms and allow others to determine the future of their profession. Promoting and supporting teacher leadership has been a part of the mission of the Teacher Forum from its inception. Last year the Teacher Forum focused on the importance of teacher leadership in education reform. This year, we want to build on efforts around the country to respond to the National Commission's report and focus our discussions on teacher leadership within the profession. What role must teachers play in ensuring quality -- in making teaching a true profession?

Current Activity at The State And Local Levels:

(The U.S. Department of Education does not control the contents of the sites pointed to below. The currency of data, comprehensiveness, and relevancy of the information on all other site pages are entirely the responsibility of the webmaster of the site visited.)

INTASC (Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium)-- developing performance-based assessment for the initial licensing of teachers
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards -- establishing voluntary standards for highly accomplished teaching; many states and districts are providing support for teachers to undergo the rigorous procedure to become board certified.
NCATE (National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education) -- establishing standards for Colleges of Education that will be recognized as a voluntary national accreditation system
PRAXIS -- designing tests of content and professional knowledge for prospective teachers that states may use to screen candidates
Holmes Partnership, the Center for Educational Renewal, the Renaissance Group and others -- partnerships between higher education and K-12 schools to reform teacher education
National Commission on Teaching and America's Future -- issued a major report, What Matters Most: Teaching For America's Future, on teacher quality and working in partnership with 12 states who have committed to implementing the recommendations of the Commission. They are designing a policy inventory that states can use as a starting point to develop a comprehensive strategy to improve the quality of their teaching force.

Find out what other teachers have to say about making teaching a true profession!

Or...

Use this form to add your own response to "Making Teaching a True Profession"

(Please try to limit your responses to 100 words per question and be sure to post only once. You may respond to any of the questions, or all of them, if you wish. Fields in bold are required.)

Name:

School:

City:

State:

E-mail Address:

1. What role must teachers play in the support of beginning teachers?

2. What role must teachers play in helping all teachers improve their teaching?

3. What role must teachers play in encouraging and rewarding excellence in teaching?

4. What role must teachers play with poorly performing teachers?

5. What is one thing I can do, or one step I can take, to ensure that there is a talented, dedicated, and well-prepared teacher in every classroom?

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