EdResearch for Action releases report on teacher preparedness written by PhD candidate Matthew Truwit
Results for America and the Annenberg Institute at Brown University recently released a new EdResearch for Action brief, Increasing Teacher Preparedness Through Effective Student Teaching.
In the brief, Matthew Truwit, Marsal School PhD Candidate studying quantitative research methods in education, reviews the evidence on student teaching and highlights five strategies school districts and teacher training programs can use to ensure new teachers are ready to help all children succeed in school:
- Intentionally recruit and incentivize effective teachers to serve as mentors.
- Provide professional development on coaching to mentors.
- Require frequent feedback from the teacher training program and the mentor.
- Place teacher candidates in schools with low-turnover, effective faculty and collaborative environments.
- Place teacher candidates in grades, subjects and schools in which they may later teach.
The brief also details challenges and barriers to improving student teaching outcomes, as well as strategies that don’t work.
The stakes are high for new teachers: fewer are entering the profession than a decade ago and the students they will teach increasingly have complex academic and behavioral needs. We need new teachers entering the classroom confident and prepared on Day 1.