In the last decade, teachers and institutions of education have experienced enormous, amped-up pressure to be the point of departure for youth. More than ever, educators are expected to yank individuals off of pathways to hardship and groom them to become degree-holding workers in a technology-dependent world. If teachers have to be better, faster, stronger, then so do teacher preparation programs, say advocates for education reform.
In a series by Alleen Brown, the Daily Planet tackles the topic of teacher preparation, exploring how Minnesotans have responded to the push to professionalize and diversify the field of teaching. We explore new licensure pathways, from alternative certification to teacher residency programs, and look at what traditional programs are doing to bring non-traditional teachers into the classroom. Who are the teachers that urban Minnesotans needs? Do the pathways exist for them to land in front a class full of kids? Read on to find out.
Week of December 8:
Licensure, language complicate St. Paul principal’s search for teachers (published December 8)
Getting through the first year in St. Paul Riverview (published December 9)
A community expert hits roadblocks to licensure (published December 9)
‘A teacher who looks like them’ pushes kids to learn (published December 10)
Week of December 15:
The long road to alternative licensure
Student teaching, an unaffordable necessity (published December 16)
Innovative residency program provides solid support (published December 15)
Comment