The Current State of Teacher Preparation
There is a good deal of diversity among the approximately 1,200 institutions that prepare teachers in the United States.41 They vary significantly in size; the number of teachers they produce each year can range from one to nearly 2,000. They also vary in structure and quality. Unlike other professions that require national accreditation of professional schools, less than one-half of teacher education institutions—only about 500 institutions—are currently accredited by a national accrediting body.42
Teacher preparation programs are often underfunded and too focused on theory at the expense of classroom practice. They frequently are disconnected from the arts and sciences and from elementary and secondary schools. The National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF) report found "long-standing problems with traditional teacher education programs," including superficial curriculum and the teaching of theory separately from its applications. In addition, many of those preparing our nation’s teachers have not taught at the K-12 level in many years and thus have no experience with the range and depth of the problems that new teachers face in the classroom. More than 50 percent of teacher educators report that it has been more than 15 years since they were K-12 teachers.43
Standards for Teachers
Standards for entry into the teaching profession are generally low. While forty-four states require candidates for licenses to pass a standardized test, the examinations required, for the most part, are not rigorous, and pass scores tend to be low.44 In addition, the demand for teachers is such that states routinely waive their standards and allow districts to hire individuals who don’t meet licensure requirements. About 30 percent of newly hired teachers enter the profession without having fully met state standards for licensure.45
Even when teachers are fully qualified, they are too often required to teach subjects for which they have little or no academic preparation. Thirteen percent of public school teachers of core academic subjects in grades 7-12 are teaching "out of field" in their main teaching assignment.46 In high-poverty schools (those with more than 50 percent of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch), teachers are twice as likely to be out of field than in low-poverty schools (22 percent vs. 11 percent).47
Inadequate Support for Teachers
Teachers recognize the need for change. Most teachers do not feel adequately prepared for the realities of today's classrooms—addressing the needs of diverse students and those with special needs, integrating technology into instruction, and teaching to challenging standards.
The results reported in a 1999 National Center for Education Statistics report, Teacher Quality: A Report on the Preparation and Qualifications of Public School Teachers, are not surprising. The study asked teachers with three or fewer years of experience whether they were prepared to integrate technology; meet the needs of diverse students and those with limited English proficiency; address the needs of special education students; and implement curriculum and performance standards. In each case, fewer than 30 percent of the new teachers reported feeling "very well prepared."48
In addition to inadequate preparation, many new teachers do not receive the support they need in order to succeed. Too often, they are left to "sink or swim." Although more than 50 percent of first-year public school teachers participate in some type of induction program, the quality and scope of the programs range from comprehensive to cursory. Too often, new teachers are given the toughest assignments—the classes that no one else wants to teach and the extracurricular activities that other teachers do not want to supervise.49 No wonder approximately 22 percent of new public school teachers leave the profession in the first three years.50
Lack of Professional Development for Experienced Teachers
Experienced teachers have too few opportunities to improve their knowledge and skills, and their professional development opportunities are second rate. Professional development remains largely short-term, non-collaborative, and unrelated to their needs and the achievement challenges faced by their students. Teachers continue to be offered professional development opportunities that last fewer than 8 hours, despite the fact that teachers report that professional development with a longer duration is more effective.
U.S. teachers devote more time (57.8 hours in a two-week period) to direct teacher-student academic instruction than do teachers in Japan (44 hours) and Germany (38.5 hours).51 Our nation's schools typically spend only 1 percent to 3 percent of their resources on teacher development, compared to significantly higher expenditures by both American corporations and schools in other countries.52
