Schools can no longer afford to rely solely on traditional preparation programs to train educators, says Eastside Elementary School Principal Rex Crabtree.
With qualified math and science teachers in short supply at his rural pre-K-8 school—located an hour north of Chattanooga, Tenn.—Crabtree has made it a priority to provide ongoing support for teachers, including professionals like a former accountant who transitioned into teaching math.
“The teachers that we’ve got, they’re what we’ve got,” said Crabtree. “We work hard with them with training, extra help, and resources wherever they’re struggling, whether it’s with content or classroom management.”
New teachers, particularly those from non-traditional pathways, need ongoing mentorship, Crabtree emphasized.
“They are already jumping into the deep end of the pool,” he said. “If you’ve not gone through student teaching, it really is a different world when you do step in that classroom and shut the door for the first time.”
Eastside is among five finalist schools for the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching annual Founder’s Award, which honors schools whose career development for teachers has spurred student achievement. All of the finalists serve a majority of low-income or high-need students, and their students have grown faster than average in their states. The group, which works with more than 11,000 schools nationwide, tapped the following schools as finalists for NIET’s award:
- Eastside Elementary School in Warren County, Tenn., public schools;
- Provencal Elementary/Junior High School in Natchitoches Parish public schools in Louisiana;
- Shenandoah Elementary School in the Shenandoah School Corp. district in Indiana;
- Somerset High School in Somerset Independent school district in Texas;
- Waterloo Elementary School in Laurens County, S.C.
While the majority of U.S. teachers still complete a traditional college-based degree program, the number of teachers completing these programs has declined 25 percent in the last decade, according to federal data. More teachers now enter the classroom through alternative licensing programs or emergency certification, which can put the onus on schools and districts to provide ongoing professional development.
“We know non-traditional teacher pathways are growing,” said NIET Chief Executive Officer Joshua Barnett. “Districts and schools need to focus on creating collaborative teams that ensure that every teacher—especially those new teachers—receives coaching and ongoing, sustained support, beyond getting just a mentor assigned to them.”
Several finalist schools, including Provencal and Waterloo, also have implemented advanced teacher leadership roles, both to give more support to new teachers and better career trajectories for veteran teachers.
At Waterloo Elementary, for example, teachers work in multi-grade teams, each supported by an instructional coach and a master teacher, who co-teaches, tests new instructional practices, and trains other teachers. Each week, the teams choose focus areas for development, such as improving questioning techniques or developing classroom assessments.
Having teacher-leadership teams “offers a deeper level of support for our teachers,” said Waterloo Principal Emily Parks. Two of the school’s 14 educators are new and another teaches under alternative certification.
“We operate under the motto of, ‘we go first,’” Parks continued. “Before we roll out any kind of new strategy or technique, our teaching specialists who have their own classes try it in their classrooms, and in turn, they can model successful ones for their teammates and the other teachers in the building.”
Administrators also need to provide structural support for teacher collaboration and training, Barnett said. For example, Shenandoah Elementary dedicates time each week to ongoing training chosen and led by the teachers.
“We want them to have an effective professional learning and coaching system, so they don’t have sporadic success but systematic success. And we want to see an ability for the school to create a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement,” Barnett said.
Each of NIET’s finalist schools receives $10,000, and the winner—to be announced at the end of the month—will receive $50,000.
