Supporting Beginner Teachers: A National Imperative Paula Lancaster, Ph.D. Grand Valley State University

Focusing on the day-to-day work of teaching with children, think back to your early days as a teacher… What are some teaching practices that you learned on the job that you wish you would have learned to do well before you entered your first classroom?

What I wish I had learned… Classroom management – too permissive Pencil sharpener – organizational routines and procedures? How to lead a discussion Organization of many, many tasks Over-focused on student problems Understanding Teacher’s Edition, selecting text

By the numbers… Approximately 50,000,000 children and youth attend schools in the US; 78,000,000 under the age of 18. Approximately 4,000,000 teachers teach them. Over the next 5 years, 1.5 million new teachers will begin their careers. A majority of these new teachers will work in low income, high poverty settings.

By the numbers… Having a moderately effective to highly effective teacher has academic and financial implications. 83rd percentile versus 29th percentile. One year with a moderately effective teacher can increase the life-time earnings of an individual by $11,000. A classroom of 25 students = 275,000 Ten years of teaching = 2,750,000; ten teachers = 20,750,000 The difference in achievement in math and literacy between children living at 10th economic percentile and below and those at 90th percentile and above is nearly four grade levels.

Barriers to Realizing Our Power External factors: Legislators and policy makers? Structures and systems? Values toward education vary? Other? There are more than 3,000 independent education preparation programs in the country. Few, if any, have the same standards of practice for beginner-level teachers. We treat skillful teaching as an anomaly So, what can we do about these barriers.

Barriers to Realizing Our Power Internal Factors: Teacher preparation programs vary tremendously. We lack agreement on what skillful teaching is. We talk about skillful teaching as innate. We treat skillful teaching as an anomaly rather than a right for every child. The teaching force is massive and turns over frequently. There are more than 3,000 independent education preparation programs in the country. Few, if any, have the same standards of practice for beginner-level teachers. We treat skillful teaching as an anomaly So, what can we do about these barriers.

CEC/CEEDAR High-Leverage Practices What every special educator needs to know on Day 1! 22 HLPs Collaboration Assessment Social/emotional/behavioral Instruction

Special Education HLPs Collaboration Ex. Collaborate with families to support student learning and secure needed services Assessment Ex. Use student assessment, analyze instructional practices, and make necessary adjustments that improve student outcomes. Social/Emotional/Behavioral Ex. Provide positive and constructive feedback to guide students’ learning and behavior Instruction Ex. Use strategies to promote active student engagement

High-leverage Practices TeachingWorks at the University of Michigan - TeachingWorks.org 1. Leading a group discussion 11. Talking about a student with parents or other caregivers 2. Explaining and modeling content practices, and strategies 12. Learning about students’ cultural, religious, family, intellectual, and personal experiences and resources for use in instruction 2. Eliciting and interpreting individual students’ thinking 13. Setting long- and short-term learning goals for students 4. Diagnosing particular common patterns of student thinking and development in a subject matter domain 14. Designing single lessons and sequences of lessons 5. Implementing norms and routines for classroom discourse and work 15. Checking student understanding during and at the conclusion of lessons 6. Coordinating and adjusting instruction during a lesson 16. Selecting and designing formal assessments of student learning 7. Specifying and reinforcing productive student behavior 17. Interpreting the results of student work, including routine assignments, quizzes, tests, projects, and standardized assessments 8. Implementing organizational routines 18. Providing oral and written feedback to students 9. Setting up and managing small group work 19. Analyzing instruction for the purpose of improving it 10. Building respectful relationships with students Take a look at the core practice consortium website to get a sense for work being done in other settings and situations.

High-Leverage/Core Practices Are: Basic fundamentals of teaching Used daily or almost daily by teachers Critical in helping students to learn content or skills Used across content areas, grade levels, and contexts Consequential for student learning Basic for advancing skill in teaching Fundamental to many different curricula or approaches to teaching . Here are the warrants or rationales for why they were chosen. You have a copies of the general education practices on your table. I would like to give you a few minutes to look them over and then quietly to yourself, prioritize five that you think are absolute non-negotiables.

Overcoming the Barriers Acknowledge the work of skillful teaching. Make the moral argument. Push for professional agreement on beginner-level standards. Let’s work together on our clinical preparation and teaching practice.

Focus on what we CAN Change… Fifty million lives depend on it! Thank you so much.

About Grand Valley Nearly 25,000 students Students from all Michigan counties, dozens of other states, and many foreign countries 81 undergraduate and 32 graduate degree programs Campuses in Allendale, Grand Rapids, and Holland, and regional centers in Muskegon and Traverse City.

About College of Education Quality educator preparation program since 1964 Nationally recognized by NCATE since 1987 25 undergraduate areas and 18 graduate degree programs Approximately 4,000 students Our Mission: Teaching, Leading, and Learning in a Democratic Society