Saturday
September 20, 2008
by desertjim
The time may have come in which teaching is recognized for the service it provides to the nation. In recent speeches and interviews both presidential candidates have cited teaching as an example of the kind of community or national service that they support. Senator Obama recently spoke of his plan to help universities partner with school districts to provide stronger field experiences for prospective teachers who agree to serve in high-need schools. He stressed the need for math and science teachers in particular. Senator McCain, meanwhile, stressed his own community-service plan that would use Americorps and Senior Corps volunteer to help address high dropout rates in some high school by serving as tutors and mentors. McCain also spoke highly of Teach For America as, “probably one of the lead organizations in America today.”
Obama, in response to questions on the Teach For America website stated that his proposed Service Scholarship program would prioritize the recruitment of of high quality math and science teachers and focus on successful teaching and effective [school] leadership. McCain’s responses supported programs such as charter schools that allow the recruitment and hiring of teaching staffs whose skills reflect the mission and goals of the organization rather than, “State or district imposed management interference such as tenure laws.” Both want to see the brightest graduates in all fields of study brought into teaching. A greater national stress on the recruitment of teachers seems to be in the cards regardless of the outcome of the election in November.
Not everyone is waiting for the next national administration to put a new program in place. In Illinois, the governor recently signed into law the Golden Apple Illinois Future Teacher Corps Partnership. The law will create a consolidated program that will assist prospective teachers who will teach in hard-to-staff schools throughout the state. This consolidation of the Golden Apple Scholars program and the Illinois Future Teachers Corps will result in scholarships for up to 200 future teachers a year (3). The scholarship students will be required to pursue teaching degrees in Illinois universities and pledge to teach in needy schools. In another attempt to attract people to teaching, Illinois and other states have created alternative certification routes for adults with degrees in other fields to gain teacher certification. The Golden Apple Foundation is proud to have been instrumental in creating the first alternative certifcation program in Illinois.
Now that the presidential candidates have put teaching front and center as a form of national service perhaps we can attract more of the best and the brightest to the profession. I guess the question we need to ask is which of these methods will be most effective in improving public education. Are all these approaches likely to be equally as effective? Should we be hoping for increased volunteerism, as advocated by McCain, student loan forgiveness and scholarships as advocated by Obama or alternative certification routes for adults?
Labels:
