Can you believe that figure.  According to a University System of Georgia report, by 2010, Georgia will have to produce more than 2,000 middle school and high school science teachers.

In yesterday’s Atlanta Journal Constitution, one of the editors wrote an opinion piece entitled Classroom needs new infusion of applicants.  You would think that this was news.  But the truth is, this has been a problem for a long time.  And school districts and universities have been putting into practice nearly all of the recommendations that were identified in the article to bring more teachers to the classroom including fast-tracking applicants into the classroom, preparing candidates through a clinical training program, providing on-the-job training for new applicants, hiring applicants as interns to work with a certified teacher before the applicant is placed in a classroom, and others.  The article also talked about the “outdated” salary schedule that based on longevity, rather than performance.  All of these ideas have been around for years.

There is no one way for prospective candidates to become successful and outstanding teachers.  However, my own experience in teacher education is that educational programs for the preparation of teachers must be realistic, that is they must use experiential knowledge and clinical experiences as starting points, not theories of learning.  Teacher education that is rooted in experiential knowing will move prospective teachers along a continuum of learning in which they develop the pedagogical content knowledge (integrating content with pedagogy) that successful teachers possess.  A recent study (September, 2008) by Soonhye Park, the University of Iowa, and J. Steve Oliver, the University of Georgia published in the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, explores how teachers develop pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) which included:

• knowledge of instructional strategies for teaching science
• knowledge of assessment of science learning
• orientation to teaching science (beliefs about science and teaching science)
• knowledge of science curriculum
• knowledge of students understanding of science  

The authors of this research studied the effects of the National Board of Certification process on teachers PCK development.  What is interesting and important is that other research has shown that the National Board assessment of teachers is reliable in distinguishing between accomplished teachers and other teachers.  To be assessed as a National Board teacher, applicants create a portfolio comprised of five elements:

• reflection on practice
• implementation of new and /or innovative teaching strategies
• inquiry-oriented instruction
• assessment of students’ learning
• understanding of students as individuals

So here we have elements that characterize teachers who are assessed as National Board Certified teachers and these researchers found that the process has a significant impact on teachers’ PCK.  In fact, these researchers are suggesting the National Board process itself has a powerful impact on teachers’ learning.

So, now back to the fact that we need 1.5 million teachers over the next several years, and we need thousands of science teachers.  We know from experience that simply hiring career changing hopeful candidates and placing them in the classroom does not work as well as teachers who experience some kind of teacher education program.  As the research cited here shows, teaching expertise is much different than content knowledge of science, and one of the distinguishing characteristics of teacher education is helping candidates develop this expertise over time, indeed throughout their career.

The issue is how to attain the quality needed in teacher preparation, and at the same time deal with the enormous need that schools will face over the next decade.

I’ll explore teacher education more this week.  In the the meantime, how did you come to be a teacher?  How were you prepared?  What kind of program (if any) did you experience to become a teacher?  Do you think it is necessary for people to go through teacher preparation programs to enter the classroom as a professional teacher?