<p>My own teachers education program, which came out of U.Mass Amherst 25 years ago, is, I think, an example of the kind of program you are describing. The program recruited only 25 students. We were all required to have bachelors degrees in our field (math, science, and English). Most of my fellow students had worked in their fields, done stints in the Peace Corps, and otherwise lived real lives before coming into teaching. While I don’t honestly know how selective the program was, everyone I can remember had graduated from a good college. </p>
<p>We did an intensive semester’s worth of education classes the first summer, then taught summer school. There, we were taught how to teach in the morning by a master teacher, then observed as we taught in the afternoons. We then spent a half-year teaching high school and a half-year teaching in industry, under continual observation by our master teacher from summer school; an education school faculty member; and our school’s department heads. We took night school classes while we were teaching, and finished up our coursework in another intensive summer. The combination of the meaningful classwork, the life experience and education of the students, and, most importantly, the instruction and constant critique from skilled master teachers was really an unbeatable introduction to teaching. And they paid us for our work in the schools and industry, essentially underwriting our tuition. </p>
<p>Another example: The Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia changed its ed. school program many years ago to a 5-year program; students simultaneously earn a bachelors degree from the College of Arts and Sciences and a graduate level education degree.</p>
<p>Many schools of education have been doing the right thing for a long time. And, again, while those lazy teachers who abuse union rules to stay in jobs they should have left years before are an embarrassment to the profession, they do not represent the majority of teachers. In my own small town, which you would think would not attract the best teachers in the state, recent hires have been uniformly excellent. The less qualified teachers who’ve lived here all their lives and assumed they’d slide into a job immediately upon graduation from college are employed–as substitute teachers.</p>
<p>I second wcmom–let’s talk about the way mediocre, expensive, politically or religiously correct required textbooks; spiralling health care costs that lead to drastic program cuts; and mandatory testing are sucking the soul out of American education.</p>
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