Opinion
Education Letter to the Editor

Teach Teachers How to Individualize Instruction

June 21, 2005 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To the Editor:

Regarding the June 8, 2005, front-page article “Teacher Education Homing In on Content”:

I find it absolutely amazing that Bank Street College of Education, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, and the RAND Corp., among others, are focusing on improving professional development for teachers and investigating how teacher training could be made to parallel that of medical doctors through the formation of education “residencies” for new teachers.

If these influential entities want professional educators to adopt the training and practices of the medical profession, why not teach all new educators how to individualize their instruction?

Doctors do not take 20 patients into an office and treat them all for the same ailment. So why not educate new teachers in how to differentiate their caseloads through individualized instruction? That could go a long way toward professionalizing the field, instead of leaving it to wallow in its current civil-service state of mediocrity.

Paul Hoss

Scituate, Mass.

Events

Artificial Intelligence K-12 Essentials Forum How AI Use Is Expanding in K-12 Schools
Join this free virtual event to explore how AI technology is—and is not—improving K-12 teaching and learning.
Federal Webinar The Trump Budget and Schools: Subscriber Exclusive Quick Hit
EdWeek subscribers, join this 30-minute webinar to find out what the latest federal policy changes mean for K-12 education.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Curriculum Webinar
End Student Boredom: K-12 Publisher's Guide to 70% Engagement Boost
Calling all K-12 Publishers! Student engagement flatlining? Learn how to boost it by up to 70%.
Content provided by KITABOO

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Quiz Are You Keeping Up With Trump’s Big Changes to K-12 Funding? Take This Weekly Quiz
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
Education Quiz How Is Trump Changing School Discipline Rules? Take This Week’s Quiz
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
Education Briefly Stated: April 30, 2025
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Quiz What Is Trump’s New AI Plan for K-12 Schools? Take This Weekly Quiz
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
Illustration of tasks assisted with AI.
Canva