Improving Teacher Preparation Requires Less Tinkering, More Transformation

Nationally, enrollment in traditional teacher preparation programs is on the decline and interest in alternative routes, like Teach For America (TFA), is on the rise. Ed Week’s Stephen Sawchuk recently reported that—despite already having small undergraduate and master’s programs for aspiring teachers—Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education (HGSE) will launch the Harvard Teacher Fellows (HTF) program, a new alternative pathway to prepare undergraduates for careers as secondary teachers. The HTF initiative appears to respond to this larger trend—about 1 in 5 Harvard undergraduates applies to TFA—as well as to public and local criticism of TFA. Both HTF and TFA provide promising though different approaches to alternative preparation. While these programs continue to innovate upon traditional teacher preparation, they also draw attention to the urgent need for broader reform in this area.

Recruitment and Selection

HGSE Dean James E. Ryan does not see HTF as competing with TFA, since the programs intend to recruit individuals with different motivations. While TFA asks all recruits for a minimum two-year teaching commitment, it also encourages them to pursue leadership positions in education and other industries after completing that commitment. Ryan says many TFA recruits just want some exposure to teaching—about two-thirds continue teaching beyond two years, while most leave after five—whereas he hopes HTF applicants will stay in the profession for five to seven years. Still, it remains unclear whether HTF will require a longer-term commitment, if one at all, and if so, how the program would select for, incentivize, and help sustain it.

Meanwhile, as TFA has begun recruiting from a broader pool of colleges and universities—from over 600 in 2012 to over 850 in 2014—the organization has seen a drop in participation across Ivy Leagues and a rise in participation elsewhere. This shift appears to be paying off in increasing the diversity of TFA’s corps relative to the teaching profession overall—in 2014, 22 percent of recruits identified as African American and 13 percent identified as Hispanic compared to 7 and 6 percent nationally. HTF, however, is limited to Harvard’s undergraduate population—just 5 percent African American and 7 percent Hispanic as of 2012.

Preparation

The real crux of the HTF vs. TFA comparison lies in the programs’ approach to preparation. HTF will provide recruits with eight months of subject-specific training—a combination of coursework and student teaching—prior to entering the classroom, beginning in January of their senior year. After their initial training, HTF recruits will begin teaching part-time in the fall while engaging in continuous coursework and coaching from HGSE. The following year, fellows can earn preliminary licensure then begin teaching full-time. By contrast, TFA trains its recruits—not always in their subject placement—for five weeks before they begin leading a classroom, offers them some ongoing coaching support, and requires them to complete coursework toward initial licensure or certification while on the job.

Katherine K. Merseth, a HGSE faculty member involved in HTF’s design and a TFA critic, suggested that HTF will in fact compete with TFA by offering better training and ongoing support: “We intend it to be this great way to get into teaching, but to do it right” [emphasis added]. TFA has responded to much of this criticism by exploring several new policies. The organization will launch two pilots that lengthen and provide more robust teacher preparation. The first will provide 50 to 100 college seniors with full-year training. The second will promote a five-year teaching commitment across 12 sites and offer participants more intensive ongoing support. If successful, TFA should consider scaling and speeding up these worthy reforms.

Placement and Retention

HGSE intends to place its fellows within urban secondary schools in up to five U.S. cities, with the hope that fellows will remain at the same schools after transitioning to full-time teaching to maintain a collaborative teaching environment. One strategy HGSE plans to employ to boost satisfaction and retention is to place several fellows in each school to support each other. By contrast, TFA places recruits in various district, school, and subject settings—either individually or alongside other recruits. While research shows that collegiality matters for teacher support and retention, so does strong school leadership and culture—factors beyond both programs’ control.

Less Tinkering, More Transformation

Alternative programs like these currently prepare (or will prepare) a tiny fraction of teachers nationally.

Both HTF and TFA are rightfully responding to a national need for a new approach to traditional teacher preparation. Still, like my colleague Conor Williams recently argued, alternative programs like these currently prepare (or will prepare) a tiny fraction of teachers nationally. For example, HTF will prepare only 700 fellows over the course of the next decade. Thus, it is important to think critically about innovations in teacher preparation as new initiatives emerge. We should continue to debate the recruitment, preparation, and placement policies of programs like HTF and TFA while keeping their impact on the profession and limitations in context.

The more essential question, however, is how to improve traditional teacher preparation broadly, perhaps drawing lessons from new and innovative models. To recruit, prepare, and place a more capable, diverse teaching force in U.S. schools, the teacher preparation landscape needs less tinkering around the edges and more transformation. The federal government must help states raise the bar for their programs to increase demand and ensure all teachers are well-prepared to enter teaching and be successful. The U.S. Department of Education is slated to release new accountability regulations that promise to do just that sometime this fall. Then we can address what matters most: improving teacher preparation across all programs nationwide.