Violet Jiménez Sims, Kerry Lord, Marlene Megos, and Ushawnda Mitchell describe a new approach to addressing the gap between the racial diversity of teachers and students in U.S. public schools. The Connecticut Teacher Residency program (CT-TRP) is a grow-your-own approach to teacher training, certification, and retention that combines an academic…

Research has shown that students of color benefit from having teachers who share their racial background. The paraprofessionals and education assistants currently working in schools represent one potential source of such teachers. Many of them are committed to schools and students but need support to obtain a teaching license. Laura Delgado,…

Understanding the early teacher pipeline, how many and what types of individuals are pursuing a teaching credential, is critically important. Unfortunately, as Dan Goldhaber and Kris Holden explain, the two national data collections that can be used to explore these areas provide incomplete and sometimes contrasting pictures about the number of…

Teacher residency programs (modeled after the clinical residency model in medical training) show great promise in helping local school systems build a highly capable and diverse teaching workforce. Jointly run by districts and nearby universities, these programs recruit teaching candidates, pair them with carefully selected mentor teachers, and…

In response to local districts' needs for certified teachers with community roots who understand local schools and students, the authors developed an innovative alternative route for paraprofessionals based on a traditional bachelor's program. Their goals were to provide a rigorous, research-based program that allows paraprofessionals to get a…

High Tech High School's teaching internship program blends on-the-job work with classroom theory. Interns spend two years working as full teachers as they take courses. The program serves three large purposes: Train new teachers and build capacity in the HTH organization; train teachers in and beyond HTH for success in a wide range of contexts;…

Two decades ago, at a time when much of the country faced looming teacher shortages, a number of states invested in comprehensive strategies for strengthening the teaching profession. For example, and drawing upon recommendations from the National Commission on Teaching & America's Future, both California and North Carolina built statewide…

Public schools have hired over 17,000 veterans who have participated in Troops to Teachers (TTT), a federal program designed to assist those leaving careers in the military to transition into teacher careers. Despite some educators' bias against former service members, the advantages of hiring veterans as teachers are manifold. Veterans typically…

Interviews with a broad swath of current and former Teach For America alumni and current corps members reveal a decided preference for school leaders whose personality traits are akin to superhero/ines--charismatic, courageous, demanding--and who have a tendency to try to usher in greater student achievement via primarily managerial agendas,…

In the teacher education debate, one camp argues for more traditional, college of education training, contending that teachers need to understand child psychology, pedagogy and practice before being left alone with students. The other side argues for bringing in people who have deeper content knowledge and less experience. Perhaps these opposing…

Fresh from teaching his first full school year the author reflects on his traditional teacher preparation path into the classroom and finds he was instilled with a common sense of ethics, compassion, a demand for reflective practice, and a robust guiding philosophy. As a college student, he learned theory and was able to augment that with…

In her article, Megan Hopkins offered that teaching residency can allow Teacher for America (TFA) to capitalize on its existing strengths and contribute more effectively to a better future for both low-income students and the schools that serve them. In this article, the author agrees with Hopkins' vision and asserts that the teaching residency…

This article presents speeches describing John McCain's position on education posted on the McCain campaign's official web site, www.johnmccain.com. These include McCain's speech to LaRaza convention, July 14; McCain's speech to the NAACP, July 16; McCain's speech at the Greater Columbus (Ohio) Convention Center, May 15; and McCain's speech at…

Teacher preparation and licensing are constantly under attack from both national and state policy makers. The extraordinary reporting requirements imposed on university-based teacher preparation programs through Title II of the Higher Education Act and the promotion of "alternative routes" to teacher licensure by the federal government…

Across America today, school districts face a problem of numbers: too many students, too few educators. In some areas, the shortage of classroom teachers is approaching crisis proportions. Attempts to address the problem of teacher supply have focused on either bringing new people into the field of education or keeping beginning teachers in the…