Foundations of Education

TENTH EDITION

Foundations
of Education
Allan C. Ornstein
St. John’s University

Daniel U. Levine
Emeritus, University of Missouri at Kansas City and
University of Nebraska at Omaha

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 BRIEF CONTENTS

PART ONE: Understanding the Teaching Profession 1

Chapter 1 Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for the Entering Teacher 2
Chapter 2 The Teaching Profession 30

PART TWO: Historical and Philosophical Foundations 53

Chapter 3 World Roots of American Education 54
Chapter 4 Pioneers of Modern Teaching 92
Chapter 5 Historical Development of American Education 122
Chapter 6 Philosophical Roots of Education 159

PART THREE: Political, Economic, and Legal Foundations 199

Chapter 7 Governing and Administering Public Education 200
Chapter 8 Financing Public Education 225
Chapter 9 Legal Aspects of Education 248

PART FOUR: Social Foundations 289

Chapter 10 Culture, Socialization, and Education 290
Chapter 11 Social Class, Race, and School Achievement 321
Chapter 12 Providing Equal Educational Opportunity 353

PART FIVE: Curricular Foundations 393

Chapter 13 The Purposes of Education 394
Chapter 14 Curriculum and Instruction 413

PART SIX : Effective Education: International and American Perspectives 445

Chapter 15 International Education 446
Chapter 16 School Effectiveness and Reform in the United States 471

Glossary 509

Index I-1
 CONTENTS

Preface xv School Reform and Teacher Empowerment 26

Outlook for Teaching 27
PART ONE: CHAPTER 2 The Teaching Profession 30
Understanding the Teaching Profession 1 Is Teaching a Profession? 31
A Defined Body of Knowledge 32
CHAPTER 1 Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for Controlling Requirements for Entry and Licensing 33
the Entering Teacher 2 Autonomy in Deciding About Spheres of Work 34
Choosing a Career in Teaching 3 High Prestige and Economic Standing 34
Motivations for Choosing Teaching 3 Trends Toward Professionalism 36
The Challenge of Teaching All Students 3 The Scope of Collective Bargaining 36
From Preservice to Practice: Considerations 4 Professional Practice Boards 36
Teaching Force Diversity: A Growing Concern 4 Mediated Entry 37
Overview 1.1: Ways to Improve Your Employment Video Case: Teacher Accountability: A Student Teacher’s
Prospects 6 Perspective 38
Supply/Demand and Salaries 6 Staff Development 39
Job Opportunities 6 Technology @ School: Professional and Development
Pay Scales and Trends 8 Opportunities on the World Wide Web 40
Merit Pay 40
Preparing Teachers 10
School-Based Management 41
Certification 10
Taking Issue: Merit Pay 42
Taking Issue: Alternative Certification 13
Video Case: Teaching as a Profession: Collaboration
Trends in Preservice Education 14
with Colleagues 43
Adequacy of Preparation Programs 15
Teacher Organizations 43
Prospective Teachers: Abilities and Testing 16
From Preservice to Practice: The SBDM Team 44
Teacher Abilities 16
Overview 2.1: Comparison of the National Educations
Testing Teachers 17
Assodiation (NEA) and the American Federation of
Job Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction 18 Teachers (AFT) 45
Teacher Satisfaction 18 National Education Association (NEA) 45
State and District Standards and Teacher Stress 19 American Federation of Teachers (AFT) 46
Coping with Stress 20 Specialized Professional Organizations 47
Reforming Schools by Improving Teacher Religious Education Organizations 47
Qualifications and Functioning 20 Parent-Teacher Groups 47
National Reports 20 Overview 2.2: Major Specialized Professional Organizations
Technology @ School: An Internet Location for for Teachers 48
Prospective Teachers 21 Overview 2.3: Professional Organizations Students
The No Child Left Behind Act 22 Can Join 49
The NBPTS and the INTASC 24 Organizations for Prospective Teachers 49
Holmes and Other Groups 24
Reactions to the National Reforms 25
viii ■ Contents

Principles of Teaching and Learning 98

PART TWO:
Education and Schooling 99
Historical and Philosophical Foundations 53 Influence on Educational Practices Today 99
Video Case: Elementary School Language Arts: Inquiry
CHAPTER 3 World Roots of American Education 54 Learning 99
Education in Preliterate Societies 55 Pestalozzi: Educator of the
From Preservice to Practice: Connecting the Past Senses and Emotions 100
and the Present 56 Principles of Teaching and Learning 100
Education in Ancient Chinese Civilization 56 Education and Schooling 101
Confucian Education 57 Influence on Educational Practices Today 101
Overview 3.1: Key Periods in Educational History 58 Herbart: Systematizing Teaching 102
China’s Contribution to World and Western Education 61 Principles of Teaching and Learning 102
Education in Ancient Egypt 62 Education and Schooling 102
Religious and Secular Concerns 62 Influence on Educational Practices Today 102
Egypt’s Historical Controversies 63 Froebel: The Kindergarten Movement 103
The Hebraic Tradition in Education 63 Principles of Teaching and Learning 103
Education and Schooling 104
Education in Ancient Greek and
Influence on Educational Practices Today 104
Roman Civilizations 65
The Sophists 67 Spencer: Social Darwinist and Utilitarian
Socrates: Education by Self-Examination 68 Educator 105
Taking Issue: Universal Truth or Cultural Relativism? 69 Principles of Teaching and Learning 105
Plato: Eternal Truths and Values 70 Education and Schooling 106
Aristotle: Cultivation of Rationality 71 Influence on Educational Practices Today 106
Isocrates: Oratory and Rhetoric 73 Dewey: Learning Through Experience 106
Education in Ancient Rome 73 Principles of Teaching and Learning 107
The Greek and Roman Contributions to Taking Issue: Dewey’s Learning by Experience 108
Western Education 75 Education and Schooling 108
Islam, Arabic Learning, and Education 75 Influence on Educational Practices Today 109
Medieval Culture and Education 77 Addams: Socialized Education 109
Aquinas: Scholastic Education 78 Principles of Teaching and Learning 110
The Medieval Contribution to Western Education 79 Education and Schooling 110
Influence on Educational Practices Today 111
Renaissance Classical Humanism 79
Overview 3.2: Major Educational Theorists to A.D. 1600 80 Montessori: The Prepared Environment 111
Erasmus: Critic and Humanist 81 Principles of Teaching and Learning 111
Overview 3.3: Significant Events in the History of Western Education and Schooling 112
Education to A.D. 1650 82 Influence on Educational Practices Today 112
The Renaissance Contribution to Western Education 84 Piaget: Developmental Growth 113
The Religious Reformation and Education 84 Principles of Teaching and Learning 113
Luther: Protestant Reformer 86 Education and Schooling 114
The Reformation’s Contribution to Western Education 87 From Preservice to Practice: A New Lesson 115
Influence on Educational Practices Today 116
The Enlightenment’s Influence on Education 87
Freire: Liberation Pedagogy 116
CHAPTER 4 Pioneers of Modern Teaching 92 Principles of Teaching and Learning 116
Education and Schooling 117
Comenius: The Search for a New Method 93
Influence on Educational Practices Today 117
Principles of Teaching and Learning 94
Technology @ School: Building Your Philosophy of
Education and Schooling 95
Technology in Education 118
Influence on Educational Practices Today 95
Rousseau: Educating the Natural Person 95 Thinking About Pioneers in Education as Historical
Overview 4.1: Educational Pioneers 96
Mentors 118
 Contents ■ ix

CHAPTER 5 Historical Development of American CHAPTER 6 Philosophical Roots of Education 159

Education 122 Special Terminology 161
The Colonial Period 123 Overview 6.1: Philosophies of Education 163
New England Colonies 123 Idealism 164
Overview 5.1: Significant Events in the History of American Key Concepts 164
Education 124 The Basic Questions 165
Middle Atlantic Colonies 126 Implications for Today’s Classroom Teacher 166
Southern Colonies 127 Realism 166
Colonial Education: A Summary View 128 Key Concepts 167
The Early National Period 128 The Basic Questions 168
Franklin: The Academy 129 Implications for Today’s Classroom Teacher 169
Jefferson: Education for Citizenship 129 Pragmatism 169
Taking Issue: Schools and American Culture 130 Key Concepts 170
Benjamin Rush: Church-Related Schools 131 The Basic Questions 171
Webster: Schoolmaster of the Republic 131 Video Case: Middle School Science Instruction: Inquiry
The Movement Toward Public Schooling 132 Learning 171
The Common School 132 Technology @ School: The Debate over Standardized
Mann: The Struggle for Public Schools 133 Testing 172
Normal Schools and Women’s Education 134 Implications for Today’s Classroom Teacher 172
Catharine Beecher: Preparing Women as Teachers 134 Existentialism 173
The One-Room School 135 Key Concepts 173
Technology @ School: Studying the One-Room The Basic Questions 174
School 136 Implications for Today’s Classroom Teacher 175
The McGuffey Readers 136 An Existentialist School: Summerhill 175
The Development of American Secondary Postmodernism 176
Schools 137 Key Concepts 177
The Academy: Forerunner of the High School 137 The Basic Questions 178
The High School 137 Implications for Today’s Classroom Teacher 179
Secondary-School Organization 139
Educational Theories 180
The Development of Educational Technology 140
Overview 6.2: Theories of Education 180
Video Case: Multimedia Literacy: Integrating Technology into
the Middle School Curriculum 141 Essentialism 181
The Basic Questions 182
The American College and University 141
Implications for Today’s Classroom Teacher 183
Education in a Culturally Diverse Society 142
Perennialism 183
African Americans 142
The Paideia Proposal 185
Native Americans 145
The Basic Questions 185
Latino Americans 146
Implications for Today’s Classroom Teacher 185
Asian Americans 148
Taking Issue: Education: Child Centered or
From Preservice to Practice: Some Differing Viewpoints 149
Subject Matter? 186
Arab Americans 151
Progressivism 187
Historical Trends 152
Key Concepts 188
The Immigration Controversy 152
The Basic Questions 188
A Persistent Issue: Teaching About Evolution 152
Implications for Today’s Classroom Teacher 190
Gender Equity 153
Educating Students with Disabilities 154 Critical Theory 191
The U.S. Department of Education 154 Key Concepts 191
Reducing School Violence 154 The Basic Questions 192
War on Terrorism 154 Implications for Today’s Classroom Teacher 193
x ■ Contents

From Preservice to Practice: Students’ Perceptions and Taking Issue: Expanding Funding for Public Education 231
Feelings and the Official Curriculum 194 States’ Ability to Finance Education 232
Constructing Your Personal Philosophy of State Aid to Local School Districts 234
Education 195 The Courts and School Finance Reform 234
From Preservice to Practice: Funding Woes 235
Federal Education Funding 236
PART THREE: Current Trends in Federal Aid to Education 237
Political, Economic, and Legal School Finance Trends 239
Foundations 199 Taxpayer Resistance 239
The Accountability Movement 239
CHAPTER 7 Governing and Administering Public Technology @ School: Finding School Financing Information
Education 200 on the Web 240
Tuition Tax Credits, Educational Vouchers, and
Local Responsibilities and Activities 201
School Choice 241
Characteristics of Local School Boards 201
Streamlining School Budgets 242
From Preservice to Practice: A Partnership in
School Infrastructure and Environmental Problems 244
Decision Making? 202
School Board Responsibilities 204
The School Superintendent and Central Office Staff 205
CHAPTER 9 Legal Aspects of Education 248
The Principal and the School 206 The Court System 249
Parent and Community Involvement 209 State Courts 249
Video Case: Parental Involvement in School Culture: Federal Courts 249
A Literacy Project 210 Teachers’ Rights and Responsibilities 251
Taking Issue: Charter Schools as Public School Reform 211 Testing and Investigation of Applicants for Certification
Size of Schools and School Districts 212 or Employment 251
Intermediate Units 214 Employment Contracts and Tenure 252
Taking Issue: Tenure for Teachers 253
State Responsibilities and Activities 215
Due Process in Dismissal of Teachers 253
The Governor and State Legislature 215
Negotiation and Strikes 254
The State Board of Education 217
Protection Against Assault 255
The State Department of Education 217
Freedom of Expression 255
The Chief State School Officer 218
Overview 9.1: Selected U.S. Supreme Court Decisions
The Federal Role in Education 218 Affecting Teachers’ Rights and Responsibilities 256
Federal Educational Agencies 218 Academic Freedom 257
Returning Responsibility to the Federal Government 219 Teacher as Exemplar or Role Model 258
Technology @ School: School Governance Information Video Case: Legal and Ethical Dimensions of Teaching:
Available on the Internet 220 Reflections from Today’s Educators 259
Nonpublic Schools 220 Tort Liability and Negligence 259
Video Case: Foundations: Aligning Instruction with Federal Reporting Child Abuse 261
Legislation 221 Copyright Laws 261
Overview 9.2: Selected U.S. Supreme Court Decisions
CHAPTER 8:Financing Public Education 225 Affecting Students’ Rights and Responsibilities 264
Tax Sources of School Revenues 226 Students’ Rights and Responsibilities 264
Local Financing for Public Schools 227 From Preservice to Practice: Advising a Student
Property Tax 227 Newspaper 265
Overview 8.1: Other Income Sources by Level and Spending Freedom of Expression 265
Pattern 228 Technology @ School: Legal Issues Involving Technology
Other Sources of Local Funding 228 in Schools 268
Local Resources and Disparities 229 Suspension and Expulsion 268
Video Case: Classroom Management: Handling a Student
State Financing of Public Schools 230
with Behavior Problems 270
State Revenue Sources 230
 Contents ■ xi

Protection from Violence 270 Teenage Pregnancy 315

Search and Seizure 271 Delinquency and Violence 316
Classroom Discipline and Corporal Punishment 273 Effects on Schools 317
Sexual Harassment or Molestation of Students 275
Student Records and Privacy Rights 276 CHAPTER 11 Social Class, Race, and School
Compulsory Attendance and Home Schooling 277 Achievement 321
Need for Balance Between Rights and
Social Class and Success in School 322
Responsibilities 278
Categories of Social Class 322
Religion and the Schools 278 Research on Social Class and School Success 323
Prayer, Bible Reading, and Religious Blessings and
Race, Ethnicity, and School Success 326
Displays 279
The Special Problem of Minority Status
Access to Public Schools for Religious Groups 280
Plus Urban Poverty 328
Pledge of Allegiance 281
From Preservice to Practice: Hoping for Success 329
Religious Objections Regarding Curriculum 281
Comparing the Influence of Social Class and
Teaching About Religion 283
Ethnicity 331
Government Guidelines Regarding Prayer and Religion
in Schools 283 Reasons for Low Achievement Among Low-Status
Overview 9.3: Guidelines on Religion in the Schools, from Students 332
the U.S. Department of Education 284 Home Environment 332
Government Regulation and Support of Nonpublic Overview 11.1: Obstacles to Achievement for Working-Class
Schools 285 Students by Area of Influence 333
The Heredity-Versus-Environment Debate 336
Obstacles in the Classroom 338
PART FOUR: Taking Issue: Homogeneous Grouping 339
Social Foundations 289 Do Schools Equalize Opportunity? 345
Traditional Versus Revisionist Interpretations 347
CHAPTER 10 Culture, Socialization, and The Traditional View 347
Education 290 The Revisionist View and Critical Pedagogy 348
Technology @ School: Dealing with the Digital Divide 349
Agents of Socialization 291
An Intermediate Viewpoint 349
The Family 291
Overview 10.1: Effects of Major Socializing Institutions 292
From Preservice to Practice: Tuning In 297
CHAPTER 12 Providing Equal Educational
The Peer Group 298 Opportunity 353
Video Case: Social and Emotional Development: Desegregation 354
The Influence of Peer Groups 300 A Brief History of Segregation in American
School Culture 301 Education 354
Video Case: Developing Student Self-Esteem: Peer Editing The Progress of Desegregation Efforts 356
Process 301 Desegregation Plans 359
Television and Digital Media 306 Taking Issue: Magnet Schools and Desegregation 360
Taking Issue: The Influence of Television 307 Nonblack Minorities 360
Technology @ School: Helping Students Develop Media Effects on Student Performance and Attitudes 361
Literacy 310 Compensatory Education 362
Gender Roles and Sex Differences 310 Technology @ School: An Internet Location About Successful
Sex Differences in Achievement and Ability 311 Title 1 Schools 363
Video Case: Gender Equity in the Classroom: Girls Early Childhood Compensatory Education 364
and Science 312 Comprehensive Ecological Intervention 365
Educational and Occupational Attainment of The No Child Left Behind Act 365
Women 313 Questions About Compensatory Education 368
Adolescent and Youth Problems 314 Multicultural Education 370
Drugs and Drinking 314 Video Case: Culturally Responsive Teaching: A Multicultural
Suicide 315 Lesson for Elementary Students 371
xii ■ Contents

Overview 12.1: Pros and Cons of Alternatives for Teaching Computerized Instruction 434
English Language Learners 372 Video Case: Integrating Internet Research: High School Social
Multicultural Instruction 372 Studies 435
Video Case: Bilingual Education: An Elementary Two-Way Video and Satellite Systems 436
Immersion Program 375 Emerging Curriculum Trends: An Agenda
Multiculturalism for the Future 379 for the Future 438
Education for Students with Disabilities 380 Words of Caution 442
From Preservice to Practice: Meeting All Needs 383
Classification and Labeling of Students 384
Disproportionate Placement of Minority Students 385
PART SIX :
Issues and Dilemmas 386 Effective Education: International and American
Perspectives 445
PART FIVE:
CHAPTER 15 International Education 446
Curricular Foundations 393 Commonalities in Educational Systems 447
Overview 15.1: Areas of Similarities and Differences Among
CHAPTER 13 The Purposes of Education 394 Educational Systems of the World 447
Establishing Goals and Objectives 395 Social-Class Origins and School Outcomes 448
Goals 396 Multicultural Populations and Problems 448
From Preservice to Practice: Goals and Objectives 398 From Preservice to Practice: New Perspectives 449
Objectives 398 Teaching Approaches and Conditions 450
Overview 13.1: Goals and Objectives of Education 399
Differences in Educational Systems
Historical Perspective 400 and Outcomes 450
Video Case: Foundations: Aligning Instruction with Federal Resources Devoted to Education 450
Legislation 403 Extent of Centralization 454
The Call for Excellence 404 Curriculum Content and Instructional Emphasis 454
Overview of Policy Reports 404 Taking Issue: Establishment of a National Curriculum 455
Technology @ School: Finding and Assessing National, State, Vocational Versus Academic Education 455
and Local School District Goals 405 Enrollment in Higher Education 456
Taking Issue: National Reports: Are They Useful? 408 Nonpublic Schools 457
Swings of the Pendulum 410 Achievement Levels 458
Problems and Prospects in Developing
CHAPTER 14 Curriculum and Instruction 413 Countries 461
Curriculum Organization 414 Exemplary Reforms: A Selection 461
Subject-Centered Curricula 414 Early Childhood Education in France 462
Taking Issue: State Competency Tests for Students 418 Elementary-School Reading and Mathematics
Student-Centered Curricula 420 in England 463
From Preservice to Practice: Curriculum Choices 423 Mathematics and Science Education in Japan 463
Overview 14.1: Curriculum Organization Approaches 425 Technology @ School: An Internet Site Dealing with School
Technology @ School: Protecting Students from Undesirable Reform in England 464
Material on the Web 426 Multicultural Education in Europe and
Curriculum Contrasts: An Overview 426 North America 467
Issues in Curriculum Development 427 Conclusion: U.S. Schools in an International
Instructional Approaches 429 Context 468
Individualized Instruction 429
Cooperative Learning 430 CHAPTER 16 School Effectiveness and Reform in the
Video Case: Cooperative Learning in the Elementary Grades: United States 471
Jigsaw Model 431 Imperatives to Improve the Schools 472
Mastery Instruction 432
Characteristics of Effective Classrooms and
Critical Thinking 433
Schools 473
 Contents ■ xiii

Classroom Management 473 Related Efforts and Aspects Involving Educational

Video Case: Elementary Classroom Management: Basic Effectiveness 487
Strategies 474 Cooperation and Participation with Business, Community,
Time-on-Task 474 and Other Institutions 487
Questioning 474 Overview 16.1: Examples and Trends Involving Efforts at
Direct Instruction and Explicit Teaching 475 School Reform or Imrovement 488
Explicit Comprehension Instruction 475 Technology in School Reform 489
Cognitive Instruction for Low-Achieving Students 476 Rural Education 493
Effective Schools Research 477 Gifted and Talented Students 494
Elementary Schools 477 Increasing Teaching and Learning Time 495
High Schools 478 Taking Issue: More Time in School 496
Evaluation of Effective Schools Research 479 School Choice 497
Characteristics of Successful School Reforms 480 Controversy About School Choice 499
Improvement Approaches Across Grade Levels 482 Systemic Restructuring and Standards-Based
From Preservice to Practice: School Reform 483 Reform 502
Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) Program 484 State-Level Systemic Reform 502
Success for All 484 Technology @ School: Accessing Information on State
Degrees of Reading Power Comprehension Development Assessment and Accountability Practices 503
Approach 484 District-Level Systemic Reform 504
Comer School Development Program 485 Conclusion: The Challenge for Education 505
The Equity 2000 and Algebra Projects 485
Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) 485 Glossary 509
Advancement Via Individual Determination Program
(AVID) 486 Index I-1
Reform Programs to Improve Whole Schools 486
PREFACE

Mission Statement:
At Houghton Mifflin Education, we are dedicated to the preparation and train-
ing of educators. To this end, we provide quality content, technology, and ser-
vices to ensure that new teachers are prepared for the realities of the classroom.
Our aim is to bridge the gap from preservice to practice to foster teachers’ life-
long career success.

By providing a clear understanding of the teaching profession and a balanced treat-

ment of controversial issues, the Tenth Edition of Foundations of Education is a com-
prehensive body of knowledge on the various foundations of education that helps
students prepare for the realities of the classroom.

Goals and Themes of the Tenth Edition

As Foundations of Education enters its Tenth edition, three goals directed the revision:

Goal #1. Include contemporary and substantive subject matter To meet this goal,
we have worked to refine the themes that recur throughout the book:
■ Diversity We continue to place emphasis, throughout this revision, on
student diversity and multiculturalism. We discuss the importance of diverse
populations in the teaching profession, the current status of desegregation
and other important equal opportunity trends, and educational responses to
the increasing diversity of students in the United States. In light of current
world and U.S. events, we have expanded the information on Muslim
populations.
■ Technology We have systematically placed emphasis on the growing role of
technology in education. Our emphasis on technology includes sections on
the history of technology in education, the place of technology in school
reform, and the effects of digital technologies on children.
■ Standards and Accountability We have added new information to several
chapters that addresses the growing emphasis on holding students, teachers,
and schools accountable for performing at levels specified by local, state, and
national standards. We also provide basic information in several chapters on
the No Child Left Behind Act and its provisions dealing with accountability
and educational reform.
■ Developing One’s Own Philosophy of Education In this edition, we con-
tinue to stress, in several sections throughout the book, the development of a
personal philosophy of education and the relevance of a personal philosophy
to the realities of day-to-day teaching.
xvi ■ Preface

New coverage includes:

Chapter 1: New sections on “Adequacy of Preparation Programs” in teacher
education, “Job Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction” among teachers, “Reforming
Schools by Improving Teacher Qualifications and Functioning,” and “School
Reform and Teacher Empowerment.”
Chapter 9: New section on “Intelligent Design,”
Chapter 10: New section on the “Media Effects on the Socialization of Girls.”
Chapter 16: New section on The Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) and the
Advancement Via Individual Determination Program (AVID).

Other current and important topics that receive particular emphasis in the
Tenth Edition include professional development, school-based management, char-
acter education, the history of education in China and India, legal protections re-
garding assaults on teachers and students, school choice and charter schools,
curriculum and testing standards, promising instructional innovations and inter-
ventions, approaches for helping disadvantaged students and for equalizing educa-
tional opportunity, collaboration between schools and other institutions, research
on class size, and international achievement patterns.
We have also worked diligently to obtain the latest available data on contem-
porary topics such as teacher employment trends, student and school demograph-
ics, school finance trends, school governance changes, developments regarding
school choice, and student performance.

Goal #2. Increase the effectiveness of the text for student learning and to further
bridge the gap between preservice and practice and provide material that instruc-
tors need when preparing their students for teaching careers. The Tenth Edition
of Foundations of Education includes many special features designed to help students
easily understand and master the material in the text and provide professors with the
tools to create in-depth and lively classroom discussions.
■ NEW! Video Case feature boxes refer to the online HM Video Cases (available
at college.hmco.com/pic/ornstein10e) and provide questions to help stu-
dents relate key chapter topics to video content, to certification exams, and to
their own practice as teachers.

Online Study Center Watch “Social and Emotional Development: The Influence of Peer Groups.” In this video,
you’ll see a guidance counselor meet with a group of seventh-grade boys to discuss
their feelings and then generate a list of coping strategies. As you’re watching the
VIDEO CASE:
video, think about ways as a teacher that you will be able to recognize the anger felt
Social and Emotional by some adolescent boys and how you will be able to help them devise solutions that
will help them deal with their emotions. After watching the video, answer the follow-
Development:
ing questions:
The Influence of
This chapter states that schools should foster positive peer relationships that
Peer Groups support student learning. How does Voncille Ross, the teacher in this video case,
achieve this? Cite some specific examples.
 In the video case, the students and teacher discuss the issue of peer pressure through
drama and class discussion. What insights did you gain about peer culture within schools
today after watching this video case?

**This Video Case reinforces key concepts found in Part I: Students as Learners of the Praxis II Exam.**

■ Focus and Refocus Questions. Focus Questions appear at the beginning of

each chapter to provide students with an advance organizer of chapter mater-
ial. Related to the Focus questions, Refocus Questions, which appear after
 Preface ■ xvii

major sections of chapters, are designed to help students reinforce their com-
prehension by connecting the concepts discussed in the book to their own
personal situations

FOCUS QUESTIONS
■ What trends show that teaching is becoming a full-fledged profession?
■ In what ways is teaching not fully a profession?

REFOCUS Is your institution accredited by

NCATE? Find out and learn more about the
NCATE standards at their website
www.ncate.org.

■ NEW! The From Preservice to Practice feature (previously titled In this Case)
helps students apply and think critically about concepts discussed in each
chapter. In these boxed inserts, students read vignettes that describe situations
in which new teachers might find themselves and answer questions that en-
courage critical and applied thinking about how they might best respond in
each situation.

FROM PRESERVICE TO PRACTICE

Funding Woes

W
hy did our school district lose state money this fall?” “Homeowners here are carrying a large share of the
Karen said. “We live and work in a property-poor budget through the property tax, too,” noted Lemuel.“That
school district, Lemuel! We should be getting more affects us renters. My landlord just sent around a letter
state money per pupil than the wealthy districts. That’s telling his tenants that his property taxes had increased 12
what the equity lawsuits were all about!” percent. That’s a huge increase, and he says he has to pass
“You’re right, Karen, it’s not fair. But that’s the way it is.We along the costs by raising our rent. Most of the increase
both chose to work here,” replied Lemuel,“but I know that comes with the new school district tax rate. The hospital
loss of low-income families has decreased our state money. and utility districts increased their taxes, too, but not much
The new housing development for seniors is nice, but it cer- compared to the school district.”
tainly has caused our student enrollment to decline. My “Even with more from local taxes,” noted Karen,“I think
principal, Mr. Schoebel, says that we’ve lost more than two our school district still has less than other area schools. How
hundred students.” will the administration respond to all of this? I’m guessing
“We’ll also lose federal money,” he went on. “Many of they’ll increase class sizes in the upper grades and maybe
these students qualify for free and reduced lunches and Title postpone or cancel building renovations.”
I programs, and others are eligible for after-school tutoring “I’ll bet you’re right, Karen,” agreed Lemuel.“Wealthy dis-
based on No Child Left Behind funding. Other federal pro- tricts have figured out ways to generate local money be-
grams that bring money to this district link to low-income yond property taxes. Several of them have established
students as well. I think disabled students and bilingual stu- foundations. The millionaires that live in the community
dents benefit from federal funds, but I’m not sure if there is contribute heavily each year and get a tax write-off.”
any link between these groups and the low-income group.” “Too bad we don’t have a few more generous million-
Karen sighed, “I just wish that education received the aires!” laughed Karen. Then, turning serious, she asked,“Do
priority it needs to serve all students well. I know that the you think the revenue loss will affect us, as beginning
money comes from local, state, and federal sources, but it teachers?”
seems that in this state, local government is paying more “Probably not this year, but it may in the future. Most of
and more as time goes on.” No Child Left Behind legislation a school’s budget is in personnel. That’s you and me. In the
has helped with funds for improving student academic meantime, I guess the best thing we can do is just keep fo-
performance and in guaranteeing every child a “highly cusing on the students.”
qualified teacher.”

Questions
1. Why is it important for beginning teachers like Karen and Lemuel to have a basic understanding of school finance?
2. How does student enrollment relate to school financing in your state?
3. How does school district wealth relate to school financing in your state?
4. What percentages of your local school district’s money are derived from local sources? From state sources? From fed-
eral sources? If you don’t know, estimate the amounts.Then check to see how close your estimates are.
xviii ■ Preface

■ Topical overview charts, found in every chapter of the text, summarize and
compare key topics giving students a concise tool for reviewing important
chapter concepts.

OVERVIEW 8.1
Other Income Sources by Level and Spending Pattern
Level Income Sources Spending Patterns
Local • Property tax Funding goes to local schools in the district. Districts vary
• Product rights widely in their ability to fund their schools, and state aid does
not always equalize the discrepancies.
• Special taxes and user fees
• Personal income tax
State • Sales tax States vary in ability to finance education. Local districts are
• Other taxes: excise taxes, severance taxes funded using combinations of four plans: flat grant, founda-
tion, power-equalizing, or weighted student. Many states are
• Lotteries working to make their distribution plans more equitable.

Federal • U.S.Treasury Funding is distributed primarily to states for designated

purposes, such as reading improvement and special educa-
tion. Current No Child Left Behind regulations require states
to show adequate yearly progress in student achievement
and provision of highly qualified teachers in every district.

■ Technology @ School features help keep students up-to-date on relevant devel-

opments regarding educational technology and provide information that they
may find valuable to apply during their teaching careers. Some examples of this
feature include “Helping Students Develop Media Literacy” (Chapter 10), and
“Protecting Students from Undesirable Material on the Web” (Chapter 14).

TECHNOLOGY @ SCHOOL
Helping Students Develop Media Literacy
Standards & Assessment example, you might help your students understand basic

M
edia literacy involves skill in learning from and criti- issues regarding the functioning and effects of mass me-
cally evaluating different forms of electronic and dia. You can discuss points raised in the article ” The Seven
print media. Helping students develop media liter- Great Debates In the Media Literacy Movement” at
acy will be an important part of your job as a teacher. Most http://interact.uoregon.edu/MediaLit/JCP/articles_mlr/
of your students will not only spend time watching televi- hobbs/debates.html. Renee Hobbs offers more suggestions
sion, they also will play computer and video games and use in the article “Teaching Media Literacy: YO! Are You Hip
the Internet for many purposes. One way to avoid negative To This?” at http://interact.uoregon.edu/MediaLit/JCP/
outcomes such as potential school achievement problems, articles_mlr/hobbs/teachingml.html. The article “Educa-
unfavorable socialization, and unquestioning acceptance tional Standards and Media Literacy” at www.medialit
of media values, is to encourage active listening, viewing, .org/reading_room/article458.html provides advice for
and surfing. implementing media literacy instruction that addresses a
You can teach about many aspects of media literacy. For wide range of curriculum standards.
 Preface ■ xix

■ Taking Issue charts present controversial issues in the field of education,

offering arguments on both sides of a question so that students can under-
stand why the topic is important and how it affects contemporary schools.
This feature covers issues such as alternative certification, merit pay, magnet
schools, character education, and establishing a national curriculum. Instruc-
tors may wish to use these charts as the basis for class discussion or essay
assignments.

TAKING ISSUE
State Competency Tests for Students
One feature of the back-to-basics movement has been a rise in statewide testing of students.The failure of many students
to master even the most basic skills, especially in reading, writing, mathematics, and history, has prompted state, and even
federal, lawmakers to demand proof that schools are meeting minimum standards. As a teacher, you will almost certainly
be involved in statewide testing of your students. All states now employ statewide testing at one or more stages in the
educational process. Many states, in fact, have established minimum competency tests that students must pass before
graduating from high school.

Question
Should every state require students to pass a statewide competency test to receive a high-school diploma?

Arguments PRO Arguments CON

1 Statewide testing for high-school graduation forces 1 Statewide testing is cumbersome, costly, and may not
schools to improve their minimum standards. Students lead to much improvement in minimum standards. The
are no longer passed automatically through the system, effort must come from the local level, where educators
and every student is taught the skills required for basic know the strengths and weaknesses of their own
literacy. schools.
2 The rise in minimum standards brought about by 2 Statewide tests discriminate against minorities and the
statewide testing is especially important for students urban and rural poor, who fail the tests in disproportion-
from disadvantaged backgrounds. To break the cycle of ate numbers. This failure stigmatizes them unjustly and
poverty and joblessness, these students must be given further damages their prospects for employment.
the skills needed for productive employment. 3 When schools try to focus on “basics,” they often
3 Besides improving minimum standards, statewide neglect other important elements of education, such
testing helps to shift curriculum emphasis back to as problem solving and creative thinking. These higher-
the basics. All of our students need a firmer grounding order abilities are increasingly important in a technol-
in such essential subjects as reading, writing, and ogical society.
mathematics. 4 Test scores by themselves cannot identify ineffective
4 Testing for graduation shows the public that schools are schools, and it is dangerous to use them for that pur-
being held accountable for their performance. The test pose. There are too many complicating factors, such as
results help to identify schools that are not doing their the students’ home environment and socioeconomic
jobs properly. background.
5 Using the data provided by statewide testing, educators 5 Most teachers already know where the problems lie.
can discover where the overall problems lie. Policies can Moreover, soon after a statewide test is established,
be modified accordingly, and curricula can be designed many teachers begin to “teach the test.” Thus, the data
to address the problem areas. obtained from such examinations become meaningless
and misleading.

■ NEW! Certification Connection is an end-of-chapter feature that links chap-

ter content to the Praxis Exam and other certification exams.

Certification Connection
Chapter 5 discusses the historical developments that affect formation on Section 504. Identify the types of accommoda-
education today. The Praxis II, Principles of Learning, and tions and modifications children covered by 504 needs to be
Teaching may ask questions about section 504 of the Rehabil- educationally successful in a public setting. Research autism;
itation Act and some questions about specific disabilities. Re- use the information on autism to reflect on the accommoda-
cent developments, which influence the future of education, tions that are necessary for the autistic child. In your journal,
include section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and research on reflect on children with disabilities that you have known.
autism.To prepare for students with disabilities, download in- What made them special?
xx ■ Preface

To help you easily locate the features just listed, special indexes for each of
them appear on the inside cover at the front of this book.
In addition, other key pedagogic features of the preceding edition have been re-
tained, including the following:
■ Marginal notations reinforce central points throughout the text.
■ End-of-chapter features include summary lists that facilitate understanding
and analysis of content, a list of key terms, Annotated lists of selected read-
ings and resources for further learning that may be of special interest to
readers, and discussion questions to stimulate class participation in examin-
ing text material.
■ An extensive glossary at the end of the book defines important terms and
concepts.

Goal #3. Draw on the Internet and other electronic media to enhance learning. Our
updating has drawn, to a considerable extent, on resources available on the Internet.
Students can explore areas of personal interest by scrutinizing the printed versions of
many sources we cite—including news sources such as the New York Times and Educa-
tion Week and journal sources such as the American School Board Journal and Scientific
American—at college, community, and university libraries. But in general, instructors
should recognize that a substantial proportion of our citations are available to their
students on the Internet. (For Education Week, the Phi Delta Kappan, and many other
sources, articles can be accessed easily by searching with university library resources
such as EBSCO Academic Search Premier.) To facilitate access, we frequently provide
URLs that students can access from any computer linked to the World Wide Web.
(The web sites were active at the time we prepared this text.) For many scholarly pa-
pers and for articles in periodicals, we provide initial URLs; the reader then can click
on “Archives” or “Back Issues” (or similar terms) on the first screen to find the desig-
nated issue, or can use a search function provided in the initial screen. All web sites
mentioned in the text are links on our companion web site.

Organization
The text consists of sixteen chapters divided into six parts. Part One (“Understand-
ing the Teaching Profession”) considers the climate in which teachers work today
and its impact on teaching. Changes in the job market and in the status of the pro-
fession and issues such as teacher empowerment, school-based management, and
alternative certification are treated in detail.
The four chapters in Part Two (“Historical and Philosophical Foundations”)
provide historical and philosophical contexts for understanding current educa-
tional practices and trends by examining the events and ideas that have influenced
the development of education in the United States. These chapters allow students to
develop a philosophical understanding early in the course, providing a knowledge
base that will help them comprehend and think critically about the material on
more modern foundations that appear later in the text.
Part Three (“Political, Economic, and Legal Foundations”) presents an overview
of the organization, governance, and administration of elementary and secondary
education; the financing of public education; and the legal aspects of education.
Part Four (“Social Foundations”) examines the relationships between society
and the schools that society has established to serve its needs. The three chapters in
this part discuss culture and socialization; the complex relationship between social
class, race, and educational achievement; and the various programs aimed at pro-
viding equal educational opportunity for all students.
 Preface ■ xxi

Part Five (“Curricular Foundations”) examines the ways in which changes in

societies have led to changes in educational goals, curriculum, and instructional
methods. Throughout these chapters we explicitly point out how the particular
philosophical ideas discussed in Chapter 4 are linked to goals, curriculum, and
other facets of contemporary education. This section concludes with a look at
emerging curriculum trends.
Part Six (“Effective Education: International and American Perspectives”) pro-
vides a comparative look at schools and their development throughout the world
and an in-depth analysis of current efforts to improve school effectiveness in the
United States.

Ancillaries
Accompanying the text are the following ancillaries:
■ An Online Instructor’s Resource Manual, prepared by David E. Vocke of Tow-
son University. The manual has been thoroughly updated and revised to reflect
new text content; it offers for each chapter of the text a chapter outline, a chap-
ter overview, student objectives, lecture and discussion topics, student projects,
selected references and resources, a transition guide, and model syllabi.
■ An Instructor’s HM Testing CD offers a computerized test bank. It contains
hundreds of test items, developed according to sound principles and standards
of test construction. The multiple-choice items have been extensively revised
and include many items that test for higher-order thinking skills.
■ An expanded companion Web site (college.hmco.com/pic/ornstein10e) con-
tains many valuable resources for both students and instructors using the text,
including web links, online Instructor’s Resource Manual, PowerPoint slides,
ACE self-quizzes, HM Video Cases, Getting to the Source primary source mate-
rial readings related to the content of each chapter of the textbook, glossary
flashcards, video clips, and more.
■ Houghton Mifflin Video Cases let preservice teachers experience the complex
multiple dimensions of true classroom dilemmas that teachers face every day.
Each case includes a 3- to 5-minute video and audio module presenting actual
classroom scenarios, as well as key “artifacts” that provide background infor-
mation and allow preservice teachers to realistically and thoroughly analyze
the problems and opportunities in the case.
■ Eduspace, Houghton Mifflin’s online learning tool powered by Blackboard,
provides text-specific online course content. In addition to a handy gradebook
and other course management tools, the Foundations of Education Eduspace
course includes interactive components such as the HM Video Cases, a discus-
sion board, reflective journal questions, test items, and additional materials to
aid students in studying and reflecting on what they have learned.

Acknowledgments
The Tenth Edition would not have been possible without the contributions and
feedback from many individuals. In particular, James Lawlor, Professor of Education
at Towson University, planned and carried out many quite substantial revisions in
Chapters 2, 7, 8, 13, and 14. His outstanding contributions to this volume are in
themselves a testimonial to the breadth of his knowledge and the acuity of his in-
sight as an educator dedicated to improving professional preparation. Gerald Gutek,
Professor Emeritus of Education and History at Loyola University of Chicago, has
xxii ■ Preface

also made an outstanding contribution to the book as the author of Chapters 3, 4,

5, and 6, which he thoroughly revised and updated for this edition.
A number of reviewers made useful suggestions and provided thoughtful reac-
tions that guided us in every edition. We thank the following individuals for their
conscientiousness and for their contributions to the content of this edition:

Patricia Burdell, Central Michigan Patrick B. Johnson, Dowling College

University. Joseph Matthews, Brigham Young
Donna Lynn Ciampa, Suffolk County University
Community College Rosita Tormala-Nita, University of
Gary K. Clabaugh, La Salle University Wisconsin at Milwaukee
Sherell M. Fuller, University of North Guy O. Wall Indiana University
Carolina at Charlotte Southeast
Samuel Hinton, Eastern Kentucky
University
In addition, we thank the numerous reviewers who have contributed to prior
editions. They include
H. Rose Adesiyan, Purdue University, JoAnn Hatchman, California State
Calumet University, Hayward
Louis Alfonso, Rhode Island College Ralph R. Karst, Northeast Louisiana
Terryl J. Anderson, The University of University
Texas of the Permian Basin James Lawlor, Towson University
Mario L. M. Baca, California State Edith Lombardo, West Virginia State
University, Fresno College
Harold B. Bickel, University of South Derwyn McElroy, Auburn University,
Alabama Montgomery
Nancy A. Blair, Ball State University Colleen A. Moore, Central Michigan
Les Bolt, James Madison University University
John A. Bucci, Rhode Island College William Phillips, Fairmont State
Paul R. Burden, Kansas State University College
John Caruso, Jr., West Connecticut Richard R. Renner, University of
State University Florida
Charles R. Colvin, SUNY, Fredonia Maureen A. Reynolds, Indiana
Jack Conklin, North Adams State, University, Kokomo
Massachusetts Patrick Socoski, West Chester
James F. Cummings, Newberry College, University
South Carolina Jack Stirton, San Joaquin Delta
Arnold Danzig, Northern Arizona Community College
University John P. Strouse, Ball State University
Donald C. Edinger, Grand Valley State T. Lavon Talley, Oglethorpe University,
College Georgia
Virden Evans, Florida A&M University Margaret Tannenbaum, Rowan
Jerry R. Franklin, Morehead State University
University Sevan G. Terzian, University of Florida
Kate Friesner, The College of Santa Fe Roderick M. Thronson, Carroll College
F. H. George, Southeastern Oklahoma Cheryl Valdez, Chapman University,
State University California
Judith A. Green, Kansas State J. W. Weatherford, University of
University Central Oklahoma
Thomas W. Gwaltney, Jr., Eastern Lowell E. Whiteside, Central Missouri
Michigan University State University
Dwight Hare, Northeast Louisiana Jody Messinger Wolfe, West Virginia
University University
 Preface ■ xxiii

We also want to acknowledge and express appreciation for the work of Julia Gi-
annotti who, as Development Editor, made crucial contributions in revising this
text. In particular, she played a large part in preparing the Video Case and From Pre-
service to Practice features, in suggesting organizational improvements across and
within chapters, in gracefully helping the authors avoid missteps and unproductive
byways, in calling attention to generalizations that needed firmer support, and in
helping to find and incorporate quality material within a tight revision schedule. At
Houghton Mifflin, Senior Development Editor Lisa Mafrici and Sponsoring Editor
Shani Fisher provided overall leadership and supervision to make sure that this edi-
tion would be worthwhile and timely. Other persons who made creative contribu-
tions included Aimee Chevrette, Project Editor; Jean Hammond, Designer and Art
Editor; and James Lonergan, Manufacturing Coordinator. We’d also like to thank
Jane Sherman, who copyedited the manuscript, Sherri Dietrich, who proofread the
pages, and Stephanie Palenque, who created the index.
This page intentionally left blank
 PART ONE

Understanding the
Teaching Profession
 CHAPTER 1
Motivation, Preparation, and
Conditions for the Entering Teacher

S ome of your relatives or friends may have questioned you about

your interest in becoming a teacher. “Are you sure you want to deal
with kids?” Or “Why don’t you pick a business specialty with a big
salary and forget about children unless you have some of your own?”
Perhaps you tried to explain the importance of helping children
and young people become capable and responsible adults. You may have
pointed out that teachers in today’s schools are gaining more power
and more responsibilities, not to mention higher salaries. Of course,
you may still be pondering your own motives for teaching, as well as
the potential opportunities, rewards, and difficulties of a teaching ca-
reer. This chapter will examine such topics, including motivations for
becoming a teacher, teacher supply and demand, pay scales, career
preparation, and efforts to improve the teaching work force and to give
teachers more decision-making power. To help focus your thoughts,
keep the following questions in mind:

FOCUS QUESTIONS
■ What are the usual reasons for becoming a teacher, and how do your
reasons compare with them?
■ What are the current employment trends for teachers?
■ What salaries and benefits do teachers earn? How do these compare with
other occupations?
■ How are teachers prepared? How are they certified?
■ What are the current trends in teacher education?
■ What do teachers find satisfying and dissatisfying about their work?
■ What are some current developments in teacher work-force quality and
teaching conditions?

2
 Choosing a Career in Teaching ■ 3

Choosing a Career in Teaching

The path to becoming a teacher starts when you first choose teaching as
REFOCUS How do your reasons for becoming a
teacher compare with those of the teachers a career. In this section, we’ll review some motives for choosing a teach-
surveyed? Does your list rank the reasons in the ing career and the challenges that accompany this choice. We’ll also ex-
same order? What other reasons might you add amine the growing concern that too few minority college students are
to this list? becoming teachers.

Motivations for Choosing Teaching

■ Reasons for teaching We have many motives, both idealistic and practical, for choosing a career in teach-
ing. Often, a person’s reasons for wanting to teach stem from his or her personal phi-
losophy of education, a topic we will revisit throughout the book. If you are thinking
of entering the teaching profession, ask yourself why. Your motives may include
(1) love of children, (2) desire to impart knowledge, (3) interest in and excitement
about teaching, and (4) desire to perform a valuable service to society. Perhaps you
hope for job security, pension benefits, and relative ease in preparing for teaching
compared with the training required by some other professions.
■ Reasons for entering the One study asked future teachers from a representative sample of seventy-six
profession schools and colleges of teacher education to state their reasons for selecting the
teaching profession. Ninety percent of the respondents cited “helping children
grow and learn” as a reason. Next highest was “seems to be a challenging field” (63
percent), followed closely by “like work conditions” (54 percent), “inspired by fa-
vorite teachers” (53 percent), and “sense of vocation and honor of teaching” (52
percent). These reasons resembled those cited in several other studies conducted
during the past twenty years. Some of these studies also concluded that admiration
for one’s elementary and secondary teachers is often important in shaping decisions
to become a teacher.1 This chapter’s From Preservice to Practice box also looks at the
reasons people decide to become teachers.

The Challenge of Teaching All Students

You probably are strongly motivated to perform effectively when you become a
teacher, but you are likely to encounter some difficulties in achieving this goal when
you begin teaching. As we point out below and in subsequent chapters: There will
be numerous jobs open in the schools, but many of them will require teaching dis-
advantaged students who live in difficult circumstances with which you may be
unfamiliar.
■ Challenges in teaching all Many of these jobs will involve working with special-education populations,
students students who are just learning English, and/or distinctive racial or ethnic minority
groups with whom you may have had little contact. You probably will be well pre-
pared to teach subject matter in your chosen field, but many of the students you en-
counter will be performing poorly in reading comprehension and will need much
help to improve their understanding and learn how to learn.

1Donald B. Cruickshank, Research That Informs Teachers and Teacher Educators (Bloomington,
Ind.: Phi Delta Kappa, 1990); Sonia M. Nieto, What Keeps Teachers Going? (New York: Teachers
College Press, 2003); MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, 2004–2005 (New York: Metropoli-
tan Life, 2005), available at www.metlife.com; “Why Teacher? We Asked and Were Over-
whelmed,” Edutopia (February/March 2005), available at www.edutopia.org/teachers;
and Jane G. Coggshall, “Prospects for the Profession,” TQ Research & Policy Brief (October
2006), available at www.ncctq.org.
4 ■ Chapter 1 Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for the Entering Teacher

FROM PRESERVICE TO PRACTICE

Considerations

A
re each of you certain that you want to enter the maybe I could get some work shown locally, earn a few
teaching profession?” asked Professor Johnson. “Re- commissions, and be on my way.”
member the challenges of the profession often be- “I know I won’t get rich,” said Peter, “but there is some-
come stressors. About half of the teachers who enter the thing compelling about watching the ‘aha’ experience in a
profession leave within a few years. So, tell me why you student’s face. I’ve taught swimming and diving during the
want to become a teacher, Josephine?” summers. When a skill finally clicks in, the triumph of that
“My grandmother was a teacher, and my mother is a young boy or girl makes it all worthwhile. I want to teach
teacher. Both of them have told me how rewarding the ca- physical education in an elementary school.”
reer can be. I like children. I’ve loved my experiences with “Each of you seems to have considered this choice for
children in summer camps, so now I’m choosing elemen- some time. I will share a few other reasons mentioned by
tary school teaching.” other students. Teaching is one profession you can use to
“I want to coach and teach,” said Mark. “Some of the travel the world. International schools and foreign private
best times in my life have been when I played basketball or schools search regularly for people such as you. Teaching
tennis. The coaches made it their business to see that I fol- English as a second language has given many a free ticket
lowed their discipline and that I paid attention to acade- to China, Japan, and Korea. Or you can teach as a missionary
mics, too. These experiences taught me new values and in church schools.
new disciplines and gave me a vision for what I want to do “Another primary consideration is that state retirement
with my life. I want to work at the high-school level.” systems usually provide fairly secure long-term benefits.
“I don’t have any great yearning to teach,” said Patricia. That kind of security can be hard to find in the business
“I have to support myself after I graduate—my parents world today.
made it plain that I’m on my own financially after next year. “As a follow-up to this discussion, write a reflection pa-
I want to be an artist, and I think I can do that if at first I sup- per about the discussion and your reasons for choosing ed-
port myself by teaching. There are several galleries in the ucation. Bring it to class next week.”
area, and if I could get a job teaching junior or senior high,

Questions
1. Why is it important that preservice teachers reflect on their motivations for selecting the teaching profession?
2. Why are you choosing the teaching profession?
3. Geographically, where do you think you might want to teach? Why? What are the projected job opportunities in that
area at the time you finish your education?

Despite the difficulties inherent or implicit in these kinds of situations, you will
be expected to help make sure that all students perform at an adequate level in ac-
cordance with national and state laws, particularly the federal No Child Left Behind
Act. Although historically there have been few schools and classrooms with signifi-
cant numbers of hard-to-teach students in which all (or nearly all) of them are per-
forming adequately, the number has been growing in recent years. We devote
attention to these schools and classrooms in subsequent material dealing with ef-
fective teaching and with unusually effective schools.

Teaching Force Diversity: A Growing Concern

Although the U.S. school population is becoming increasingly diverse, the teach-
ing force has not kept pace. For example, African American, Asian American, and
 Choosing a Career in Teaching ■ 5

Hispanic American students make up almost 40 percent of the public-school stu-

dent population, but the proportion of elementary and secondary teachers from
these minority groups is generally estimated at 15 percent or less. The disparity is
particularly acute in the largest urban districts, where minority students sometimes
comprise 90 percent or more of enrollment.
■ Need for teacher diversity This underrepresentation of minority groups in the teaching force is expected
to grow even more severe in the future. Currently, only about 10 percent of teacher-
education majors are African American or Latino; yet members of these minority
groups are predicted to constitute a still higher percentage of elementary and sec-
ondary students in the near future. In recent years the shortage of Asian American
teachers has also become an important problem. Asian Americans now constitute
nearly 4 percent of the population of K–12 students, but they account for only
2 percent of the teaching force.2
■ Reasons for increasing
Increasing teaching force diversity to better reflect the student population is
teacher diversity
widely viewed as an important goal. For one thing, teachers from a cultural or eth-
nic minority group generally are in a better position than are nonminority teachers
to serve as positive role models for minority students. In many cases, minority
teachers also may have a better understanding of minority students’ expectations
and learning styles (see the chapter on Social Class, Race, and School Achievement
and the chapter on Providing Equal Educational Opportunity), particularly if
minority teachers working with low-income students grew up in working-class
homes themselves. For example, Lisa Delpit and other analysts have pointed out
that many African American teachers may be less prone than nonminority teachers
to mistakenly assume that black students will respond well to a teacher who is
overly friendly. In addition, teachers from Asian American, Latino, and other mi-
■ Proposals for promoting nority groups are in demand for working with students who have limited Eng-
diversity lish skills.3
Officials of the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Educa-
R E F O C U S What do you think might make
teaching a more attractive career option for tion (AACTE) have stated that data on the low proportion of minority
today’s college students, minority and non- teachers constitute a “devastating” crisis. Along with other organiza-
minority? If you are a member of a minority tions, the AACTE has proposed and helped initiate legislation for various
group, what attracts you to teaching? How will new programs to increase the number of minority teachers: increasing fi-
you prepare to work with students who may nancial aid for prospective minority teachers, enhancing recruitment of
have a different ethnic or socioeconomic minority candidates, and initiating precollegiate programs to attract mi-
background from your own? nority students.4

2
Jennifer McNulty, “Breaking Down the Barriers That Keep Asian Americans Out of Teach-
ing,” UC Santa Cruz Currents, February 14, 2000, available at www.ucsc.edu/currents/
99-00/02-14; Rona F. Flippo and Julie G. Caniff, “Who Is Not Teaching Our Children?”
Multicultural Perspectives (Issue 2, 2003); and “Profile of Teachers in the US, 2005,” 2005 paper
posted at the Internet site of the Nation Center for Education Information, available at
www.ncei.com.
3Lisa D. Delpit, “The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s

Children,” Harvard Educational Review (August 1988), pp. 280–298; Gilbert Brown, “The Role
of the African-American Teacher,” Black Collegian (October 2000), pp. 88–91; Thomas S. Dee,
“The Race Connection,” Education Next, no. 2 (2004), available at www.educationnext.org;
and Gloria J. Ladson-Billings, “Is the Team All Right?” Journal of Teacher Education (May/June
2005), pp. 229–234.
4Minority Teacher Supply and Demand (Washington, D.C.: American Association of Colleges of

Teacher Education, 1990), p. 3. See also Susan Melnick and Kenneth Zeichner, “Teacher
Education Responsibilities to Address Diversity Issues,” Theory into Practice (Spring 1998); and
Reg Weaver, “Schools’ Changing Faces,” NEA Today (September 2006), available at
www.nea.org/neatoday.
6 ■ Chapter 1 Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for the Entering Teacher

OVERVIEW 1.1
Ways to Improve Your Employment Prospects
Advance Scouting and Assembling Applying Preparing for
Preparation Planning Materials for a Job an Interview
Check your state’s Collect information Prepare a neat, accu- Begin applying for Take time to clarify
certification require- on school districts rate, clear résumé. teaching jobs as soon your philosophy of
ments and follow that have vacant Prepare a profes- as possible. education and learn-
them correctly. positions. Possible sional portfolio in- Apply for several ing. Know what you
Acquire adjunct skills sources of informa- cluding lesson plans, vacancies at once. believe, and be able
that make you multi- tion include your peer critiques, de- to explain it.
dimensional, ready to career planning or scriptions of relevant Be prepared for other
assist in activities placement office and experience, supervi- interview questions
such as coaching or the state education sors’ evaluations, and, as well. In particular,
supervising the department’s office if possible, a video- anticipate questions
student newspaper. of teacher employ- tape of you teaching. that deal with class-
ment. Look into room management,
Maintain an up-to- computerized job Ask your career plan-
date file listing all ning or placement lesson design, and
banks operated by your employment
your professional professional organi- office for advice on
activities, accom- other materials to history.
zations or available
plishments, and elsewhere on the include with the Learn as much as you
awards. Internet. credentials you will can about the school
Keep well-organized submit. district before the
Visit, call, or write to interview: for in-
notes on what you school districts in
learn from classroom stance, its organiza-
which you are partic- tion, its levels of
observations. ularly interested. teaching positions, its
Begin a journal Plan your application types of schools, and
specifically related to strategy in advance. its use of technology.
teaching concerns.
Use it to reflect on
what you see and
hear and to develop
your own ideas.

Supply/Demand and Salaries

Will you find work as a teacher? How much money will you earn? These two ques-
tions are related, following the economic principle of supply and demand. When
the supply of teachers exceeds demand, salaries tend to decline. Conversely, high
demand and low supply tend to increase salaries. As discussed in the chapter on The
Teaching Profession, supply and demand also affect the social status and prestige ac-
corded to a particular occupation.

Job Opportunities
■ Changing pattern In the 1960s and 1970s, a falling birthrate resulted in a surplus of teachers. As college
students and teacher educators recognized the substantial oversupply, enrollment in
teacher-education programs decreased, and the percentage of college freshmen in-
 Supply/Demand and Salaries ■ 7

Table 1.1 Public- and Private-School Kindergarten Through Grade 12 Enrollments, 1990 to 2015 (in millions)

Private as
Total Public Private Percentage of Total

1990 46.4 41.2 5.2 11.2

2000 53.1 47.7 5.9 11.1
2015 (projected) 58.1 51.2 6.9 11.9

Note: Data include most kindergarten and some pre-kindergarten students.

Source: William J. Hussar and Tabitha M. Bailey, Projections of Education Statistics to 2015. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office,
2006), Table 1.

terested in becoming teachers declined from 23 percent in 1968 to 5 percent in 1982.

Since then, the trend has reversed. The percentage of college students interested in
teaching rose by nearly 100 percent during the late 1980s and 1990s and has re-
mained relatively high since then.5
■ Reasons to expect a teacher Analysts predict many candidates in upcoming years, but also many teaching
shortage jobs. Several million new teachers will be needed in the next decade, for the follow-
ing reasons:6

1. When the post–World War II baby boom generation began to produce its
own children, a “mini” baby boom developed. Those children are now in
K–12 schools. In addition, many immigrant families have entered the United
States in recent years. As a result, school enrollment has been increasing (see
Table 1.1).
2. A significant proportion of the current teaching force will reach retirement age
in the coming decade.
3. Educational reformers in many locations are attempting to reduce class size,
expand preschool education, place greater emphasis on science and mathe-
matics, and introduce other changes that require more teachers.
Standards & Assessment ✓
■ 4. Higher standards for becoming a teacher are limiting the supply. Many states
are requiring more teachers to be certified for the courses they teach.

■ Reasons to expect no Other educators, however, argue against a widespread shortage of teachers in the
shortage next ten years. For one thing, recent shortages have mainly involved large urban dis-
tricts and specialized fields such as math and science; many districts have reported
no general shortage of potential teachers. In addition, it may be that fewer teachers
are leaving the profession than in earlier years, and increased enrollment of students
may be leveling off. Improved salaries may also bring ex-teachers back to the schools
and attract people who trained as teachers but did not enter the profession.7
■ Shortages in “special-needs” Given the arguments on each side of the issue, it is difficult to determine
fields whether major teacher shortages will be widespread in the next decade. However,

5Somini Sepgupta, “A Traditional Career Gains New Class,” New York Times, August 3, 1997;
and Pat Cochran, Survey and Analysis of Teacher Salary Trends 2004 (Washington, D.C.: Ameri-
can Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, 2005), available at www.aft.org.
6
Richard W. Riley, “High Quality Teachers for Every Classroom,” Teaching K–8 (January
1999), p. 6; Claudia Graziano, “School’s Out,” Edutopia (February 2005), available at www
.edutopia.org; and Gene A. Budig, “A Perfect Storm,” Phi Delta Kappan (October 2006),
pp. 114–116.
7
Patrick Murphy and Michael DeArmond, “A National Crisis or Localized Problems?” Educa-
tion Policy Analysis Archives, July 31, 2003, available at http://epaa.asu.edu.
8 ■ Chapter 1 Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for the Entering Teacher

shortages should continue to exist in “special-needs” fields such as education of stu-

dents with disabilities, remedial education, bilingual education, science and mathe-
matics, and foreign languages. In addition, teachers will remain in short supply in
many rural areas and in some city and suburban communities that register signifi-
cant population growth, particularly in the South and Southwest.8
■ Upgraded programs Opportunities in Nonpublic Schools Prospective teachers may find numerous job
opportunities in nonpublic schools during the next decade. As Table 1.1 shows, pri-
vate schools enroll more than 10 percent of the nation’s elementary and secondary
students. Like the public schools, many private schools are upgrading their in-
structional programs, often by hiring more teachers who specialize in such areas
as science, math, computers, education of children with disabilities, and bilin-
gual education.
■ Changing enrollment In the past three decades, Catholic school enrollment has declined, but many
patterns other nonpublic schools have been established. Enrollment has increased most in
the independent (nonreligious) sector and in schools sponsored by evangelical and
fundamentalist church groups. Moreover, many Catholic schools have been in-
creasing the percentage of lay teachers on their faculties, and this trend is likely
to continue.9
Regardless of whether a large teacher shortage does or does not de-
R E F O C U S Are you preparing to enter a high-
demand teaching specialty? If not, what can you velop in the next ten years, astute prospective teachers will take certain
do to improve your employment prospects? steps to enhance their opportunities for rewarding employment. Some of
these are outlined in Overview 1.1.

Pay Scales and Trends

■ Increase in salaries Traditionally, teachers had relatively low salaries. In 1963, for example, the average
teacher salary in current dollars was less than $36,000. By 2005 this figure had risen
to more than $46,000. Today experienced teachers in wealthy school districts fre-
quently earn $80,000 to $100,000. Moreover, teachers have opportunities to sup-
plement their income by supervising after-school programs, athletics, drama, and
other extracurricular activities, and some advance to administrative positions with
annual salaries well over $100,000. In addition, keep in mind that public-school
teachers usually have excellent benefits (such as pensions and health insurance)
compared to other workers.10
■ Differences among states Teaching pay varies considerably among and within states. Figure 1.1 shows the
range of variation among states. Average overall salaries in the three highest-paying
states (California, Connecticut, and Michigan) were much higher than those in the
three lowest-paying states (North Dakota, Mississippi, and South Dakota). Of course,

8Elizabeth F. Fideler, Elizabeth D. Foster, and Shirley Schwartz, The Urban Teacher Challenge
(Washington, D.C.: Council of Great City Schools, 2000); Andrew J. Rotherham, “The Wrong
Teacher Shortage,” Blueprint (March/April 2003), available at www.ndol.org/blueprint;
and Erling E. Boe and Lynne H. Cook, “The Chronic and Increasing Shortage of Fully Certi-
fied Teachers in Special and General Education,” Exceptional Children (Summer 2006),
pp. 443–460.
9David Baker and Cornelius Riordan, “The ‘Eliting’ of the Common American Catholic

School and the National Education Crisis,” Phi Delta Kappa (September 1998), pp. 16–23;
G. Jeffrey MacDonald, “Prep Schools Open Their Doors Wider,” Christian Science Monitor,
October 28, 2003; and Roseanne L. Williby, “Hiring and Retaining High-Quality Teachers,”
Catholic Education (December 2004), pp. 175–193.
10
Jay Chambers and Sharon Bobbitt, The Patterns of Teacher Compensation (Washington, D.C.:
U.S. Department of Education, 1996); and “Are Teachers Underpaid?” 2006 debate posted
by the National Council on Teacher Quality, available at www.nctq.org/nctq/
publications/debate.jsp.
 Supply/Demand and Salaries ■ 9

Figure 1.1 Average Teacher Salaries in the United States, by State Quintiles

Source: Adapted from Rankings & Estimates Update (Washington D.C.: National Education Association, 2006) Table 1.

we must take into account comparative living costs. It is much more expensive to
live in New York, for example, than to live in the northern plains states. Salaries dif-
fer widely within states, too, where average state pay scales are high. Salary schedules
in wealthy suburban districts generally are substantially higher than those in most
other school districts.
■ Salaries vary with experience The greatest variation in salaries relates to years of experience and education.
and education Teachers with more experience and more education earn more than those with less
of either. Table 1.2 shows the range based on years of experience and additional

Table 1.2 Selected Steps in the Salary Schedule for the St. Mary’s County, Maryland, Public Schools, 2007

Master’s Degree Master’s Degree

Bachelor’s Degree Master’s Degree and and
and or Advanced Certificate Advanced Certificate
Standard Certificate Advanced Certificate +15 Approved Hours +51 Approved Hours

First year $40,055 $42,270 $43,386 $45,608

Fifth year 42,083 45,526 47,245 52,522
Tenth year 50,794 53,086 56,013 61,240
Thirtieth year 56,474 69,167 72,173 77,354

Note: All teachers must earn an advanced certificate within ten years of initial state certification.
Source: Internet site of the St. Mary’s County, Maryland, Public Schools at www.smcps.k12.md.us.
10 ■ Chapter 1 Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for the Entering Teacher

education in a typical salary schedule—that of the St. Mary’s County, Maryland,

public schools. The salary schedule negotiated for 2007 provided $40,055 for the
first-year teacher with a standard certificate and $77,354 for a teacher at the highest
level of experience and education. Although numbers change from district to dis-
trict and state to state, the wide difference between upper and lower pay levels is
fairly common.
■ Starting salaries Although a teacher at the top of the salary schedule can earn an attractive salary
(especially considering that the academic year is less than ten months long), start-
ing salaries still tend to be lower than in some other professions. Recognizing this
problem, many political and educational leaders have been working to increase
salaries for both first-year and experienced teachers in order to attract and retain
high-quality staff. Figure 1.2 shows the results of such efforts. During the inflation-
R E F O C U S What do you expect to earn in your ary 1970s, teachers’ salaries declined relative to inflation and to the aver-
first teaching position? age salary of all workers, but gains in both these measures have been
registered since 1980.

Preparing Teachers
■ Evolution of teacher training During the U.S. colonial period and well into the early nineteenth century, anyone
who wanted to become a teacher usually obtained approval from a local minister or
a board of trustees associated with a religious institution. A high school or college
diploma was considered unnecessary. If you could read, write, and spell and were of
good moral character, you could teach school. By the 1820s, future teachers had be-
gun attending normal schools (discussed in the chapter on Historical Development
of American Education), although formal certification remained unnecessary. Even-
tually, the normal schools became teacher colleges, and most of the teacher colleges
are now diversified colleges and universities. Today, all public school teachers must
be certified. Except for alternative certification or temporary certification, all states
require a bachelor’s degree or five years of college work for entrance into teaching.

Standards & Assessment ✓

■ Certification
■ Requirements for Prospective teachers who wish to teach in a U.S. public school must be certified by the
certification state in their chosen subject areas or grade levels. At one time, most states granted
certification based on documentation that the candidate possessed appropriate pro-
fessional preparation and good moral character. However, increasing public dissatis-
faction with the quality of education led to changes in certification practices.11
■ Renewable certificates In past decades teaching certificates usually were issued for life. Now some
states issue certificates valid for only three to five years. Although teachers currently
holding life certificates are unaffected, those with renewable certificates usually
must furnish proof of positive evaluations or university coursework to have their
certificates renewed.
■ Wide differences among Variation in Certification Requirements Certification requirements vary widely
states from state to state. The resulting variance in teacher-preparation programs leads
to problems in determining how well prepared entering teachers are. The required

11ElizabethA. Kaye, ed., Requirements for Certification of Teachers, Counselors, Librarians, and
Administrators of Elementary and Secondary Schools, 2007–2008, 72nd ed. (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 2007).
 Preparing Teachers ■ 11

Average Annual Earnings of Teachers, Government Workers, and All Workers in the United States,
Figure 1.2 in Constant 2004 Dollars

Source: Adapted from Pat Cochran, Survey and Analysis of Teacher Salary Trends 2004 (Washington, D.C.: American Federation of Teachers,
AFL-CIO, 2005), Table 1–2, available at www.aft.org.

semester hours in general education (that is, arts and sciences) for a secondary cer-
tificate varies nationwide from about thirty hours to about seventy-five hours. The
minimum hours required in professional teacher-education courses and the number
of semester or quarter hours needed to teach an academic subject also vary in ac-
cordance with state requirements. Add to this the fact that courses with the same
title may have drastically different content from one institution to another, and
you’ll see why state and institutional requirements, even when taken together, do
not guarantee that teachers have studied a uniform set of skills and concepts.
■ Interstate movement of Reciprocity of Teacher Certificates Differences in certification requirements be-
teachers tween states also traditionally inhibited the movement of teachers throughout the
country. If you were certified to teach in New York, for example, you
R E F O C U S Does your state participate in might not meet the requirements for teaching in Illinois. Organizations
regional teacher-education agreements with concerned with the quality of education generally criticized this lack of
other states? If yes, are graduates of your reciprocity among states. Many educators argued that easing interstate
institution automatically qualified to apply for movement of teachers would help (1) balance teacher supply and de-
teaching positions in cooperating states? If not, mand, (2) improve opportunities for teachers, (3) reduce inbreeding
in which nearby states could you most easily
and provincialism in local school systems, and (4) increase morale
obtain a teaching certificate?
among teachers.
12 ■ Chapter 1 Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for the Entering Teacher

■ Regional certificates Reciprocity compacts of varying success were established between some states
as early as 1900. In recent years, regional agreements have developed that recognize
preparation requirements across states. Most states have signed interstate contracts
in which they agree to issue comparable certificates or licenses to teachers who have
completed a state-approved program at an institution accredited by the region cov-
ered in the contract. In addition, various organizations are developing nationwide
approaches to improve teachers’ geographic mobility.12

■ Nontraditional preparation Alternative Certification Most states have introduced alternative certification
programs, partly to attract more talented candidates to teaching and partly in reac-
tion to current or anticipated shortages in teaching fields such as science and math.
These programs help prospective teachers pursue certification without following the
traditional preparation path at schools and colleges of education. A New Jersey pro-
gram, for example, seeks to attract “talented persons who did not study education
in college.” Nationwide, more than 200,000 teachers have been certified through al-
ternative certification programs. Many new teachers within this group pursue teach-
ing careers after leaving the armed forces.13
■ Critiques of alternative Alternative certification programs promote intense supervision and compressed
certification formal coursework during the first few years of teaching assignment. Such programs
almost always require professional development activities and courses while learn-
ing to teach. Several systematic examinations of alternative certification programs
have provided some encouraging indications that they often attract well-educated
individuals and frequently meet their goal of intense supervision. However, some
assessments have raised questions. For example, data on several alternative cer-
tification programs indicate that many participants received little or none of the
training or supervision that school districts were supposed to provide. Some partic-
ipants acquired large debts and were unable to find teaching jobs afterward. In ad-
dition, mentoring for alternatively certified teachers can place a heavy burden on
school districts.14
■ Teach for America Probably the best-known alternative certification program is a national effort
called Teach for America. Designed to attract recent graduates from colleges at
which students have high achievement scores, Teach for America has spent tens of
millions of dollars to recruit potential teachers, train them intensively for eight
weeks, and place them in school districts with severe urban problems. Some initial
reports were promising. For example, in some years more than one-quarter of the
participants were minority individuals, and many of the secondary-school partici-
pants had much-needed skills in math or science. Tens of thousands of teachers
have been trained, and many are still teaching or have other jobs in school districts.

12
The organizations include the National Association of State Directors of Teacher
Education Certification (NASDTEC), the Council of Chief State School Officers, and the
Educational Testing Service. See the NASDTEC Communicator and other documents available
at www.nasdtec.org.
13
C. Emily Feistritzer, “Alternative Teacher Certification: A State-by-State Analysis,” 2006
summary available at www.ncei.com.
14
Albert Cortez, “Prepared Teachers Needed,” IDRA Newsletter (April 2003), available at
www.idra.org; R. Clarke Fowler, “The Massachusetts Signing Bonus Program for New
Teachers,” Education Policy Analysis Archives, April 22, 2003, available at
http://epaa.asu.edu; Barnett Berry, Mandy Hoke, and Eric Hirsch, “The Search for Highly
Qualified Teachers,” Phi Delta Kappan (May 2004), pp. 684–689; Susan Moore Johnson,
Sarah E. Birkeland, and Heather G. Peske, “A Difficult Balance,” 2005 paper prepared for
the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers, available at www.gse.harvard.edu;
“Licensing and Certification,” American School Board Journal (November 2006), available at
www.asbj.com; and Sharilyn C. Steadman and John S. Simmons, “The Cost of Mentoring
Non-University-Certified Teachers,” Phi Delta Kappan (January 2007), pp. 364–368.
 Preparing Teachers ■ 13

TAKING ISSUE
Alternative Certification
Many states have introduced alternative certification programs that bypass traditional teacher-education requirements.
In general, these programs help orient college graduates to the teaching experience and then place them in full-time
teaching positions, where they receive training that leads to certification while they learn about teaching and education.

Question
Should we encourage alternative certification programs that bypass traditional teacher-education requirements?

Arguments PRO Arguments CON

1 Learning to teach on the job can provide better oppor- 1 Learning to teach on the job frequently proves unsuc-
tunities to determine what does and doesn’t work in cessful because many participants find the immediate
the real world and to talk with, observe, and emulate demands overwhelming and fail to develop and hone
successful teachers. their skills adequately.
2 Professional studies integrated with full-time teach- 2 Initial data on several alternative certification programs
ing are likely to be more meaningful and practical show that, in practice, school districts either lack suffi-
than studies presented in largely theoretical college cient resources to provide professional studies for
courses. participants or have other priorities.
3 Alternative programs, which avoid years of study for 3 These programs offer short-term relief only. Many
certification, can attract teacher candidates to shortage participants realize they are unsuited for or not inter-
areas such as mathematics, science, and bilingual ested in the work and withdraw during or soon after
education. the first year.
4 Alternative programs help attract minority teachers, 4 Alternative certification reinforces inequity in educa-
retired persons with special skills in technical subjects, tion because it often places inexperienced persons at
and other candidates who can make important con- inner-city schools, which have high turnover and the
tributions in improving the education system. most need for well-trained and experienced faculty.
5 Competing alternative programs will stimulate colleges 5 Competing alternative programs may distract colleges
and universities to improve their teacher-training and universities from offering training that develops
programs. the understanding and skills of reflective teachers over
several years of study.

Several studies have reported promising results regarding the contributions of TFA
participants. But other studies indicated that many of these potential new teachers
were frustrated by conditions in difficult schools and/or withdrew before complet-
ing their teaching assignments.15
Despite the growing popularity of alternative certification programs, most
teachers attend more traditional teacher-education programs. The Taking Issue box
presents some arguments for and against alternative certification programs.

15Ildiko Laczko-Kerr and David C. Berliner, “The Effectiveness of ‘Teach for America’ and

Other Under-Certified Teachers on Student Academic Achievement,” Education Policy Analysis

Archives, September 6, 2003, available at http://epaa.asu.edu; Linda Darling-Hammond et
al., “Does Teacher Preparation Matter? Teacher Certification, Teach for America, and Teacher
Effectiveness,” 2005 paper prepared for the School Redesign Network, available at
http://schoolredesign.net/srn; Ashley Halliday, “Teach for America,” eJournal of Educa-
tion Policy (Winter 2006), available at http://jep.csus.edu; and Thomas J. Kane, Jonah E.
Rockoff, and Douglas O. Staiger, “Photo Finish,” Education Next, no. 1 (2007), available at
www.educationnext.org.
14 ■ Chapter 1 Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for the Entering Teacher

REFOCUS What are the certification Trends in Preservice Education

requirements in the state where you wish to Over the past two decades, many teacher-education programs have
teach? How can you find out? How might you placed significant emphasis on earlier field experience. In recent years
prepare yourself for geographic mobility during
major developments also have included movements toward fifth-year
your teaching career?
and five-year programs; increased emphasis on producing “reflective”
teachers; growing use of computers and other technology; requirements that future
teachers learn about methods for teaching students with disabilities and other “spe-
cial” populations; and programs to prepare teaching candidates for the diverse cul-
tural and ethnic settings of contemporary American schools.
■ Early assignments in schools Early Field Experience Many teacher-education programs have become more prac-
tical by requiring future teachers to spend a significant amount of time in elemen-
tary or secondary schools early in their preparation. If you are a student in one of
these programs, you will likely find that your professional courses, which address
subjects such as educational psychology or pedagogical methods, coordinate closely
with classroom observation, assignments as a teacher aide, or other field experi-
ences in local schools. Institutions that require early and continual field experience
have constructed a sequence by which students move from observation to service as
a teacher’s aide and into relatively full-scale teaching responsibility, much as in the
traditional “practice teaching” semester.16
■ Scheduling professional- Fifth-Year and Five-Year Programs During the 1980s several states and numerous
study components schools and colleges of education either introduced fifth-year programs or expanded
teacher education across five years of preparation. Fifth-year programs include few or
no professional-study components during the four years in which the future teacher
earns a bachelor’s degree; professional preparation is concentrated in the fifth year.
In contrast, five-year programs spread professional preparation across the undergradu-
ate years and focus increasingly on clinical experience and training.17
■ “Thoughtful” practitioners Reflective Teaching In accordance with recent emphasis on improving students’
thinking and comprehension skills, many institutions emphasize reflective teach-
ing as a central theme in teacher education. Reflective teachers frequently observe
and think about the results of their teaching and adjust their methods accordingly.
Closely related terms such as inquiry-oriented teacher education, expert decision mak-
ing, and higher-order self-reflection also describe this concept. Hundreds of schools
of education have reorganized their programs to prepare reflective teachers, but
the programs are diverse and show little agreement on what reflective teaching
should mean.18
■ Technology training for Computer and Technology Use Most likely, your teacher-education program offers
teachers you some training and access to a computer lab. National surveys of teacher-education

16
Judy Swanson, “Systemic Reform in the Professionalism of Educators,” Phi Delta Kappan
(September 1995), pp. 36–39; David C. Berliner, “A Personal Response to Those Who Bash
Teacher Education,” Journal of Teacher Education (November–December 2000), pp. 358–371;
and Anders Hove and Brian Gill, The Benedum Collaborative Model of Teacher Education (Wash-
ington, D.C.: ERIC Document Reproduction Service, 2003), available at http://eric.ed.gov
search for ED469940.
17
Linda Darling-Hammond, “Teachers and Teaching,” Educational Researcher (January–February
1998), pp. 5–15; and “Teacher Preparation and Induction,” The Progress of Education Reform
1999–2001 (October–November 2000), available at www.ecs.org.
18
Dorothy K. Stewart, “Reflective Teaching in Preservice Teacher Education,” Journal of
Teacher Education (September 1994), pp. 298–302; Victoria J. Risko, Carol Vukelich, and Kath-
leen Roskos, “Preparing Teachers for Reflective Practice,” Language Arts (November 2002),
pp. 134–145; and Kara Dawson, “Teacher Inquiry,” Journal of Research on Technology in Educa-
tion (Spring 2006), pp. 265–293.
 Preparing Teachers ■ 15

programs indicate that more than 90 percent have established computer or technol-
ogy laboratories. These laboratories encompass a wide variety of activities and objec-
tives, such as orienting future teachers in computer use, introducing hardware and
software developed for elementary and secondary schools, and strengthening interest
and capability in technology for lesson design or delivery. Many students also en-
counter technology in their teaching methods courses. Some programs, however, ap-
parently lack sufficient funds and/or workable institutional arrangements needed to
succeed in preparing future teachers for using contemporary technologies.19
Standards & Assessment ✓
■ Requirements for Teaching Disabled Students Many states and teacher-training
institutions now require that all future teachers receive some preparation in work-
■ Preparation for ing with students who have significant disabilities. As a teacher, you will likely have
mainstreaming and inclusion special-needs students in your classes. The law demands that disabled students be
mainstreamed in regular classes as much as is possible and feasible, and the growing
trend is toward full inclusion of disabled students no matter how extensive their spe-
cial needs. (See the chapter on Providing Equal Educational Opportunity for infor-
mation about mainstreaming, inclusion, and related topics.) As a consequence,
most teachers can expect certain responsibilities for working with special-needs stu-
dents. Typical teacher-training requirements involve the following:20
■ Typical requirements ■ Cooperative, interdisciplinary efforts in which both higher-education faculty
and knowledgeable field educators help future teachers learn approaches for
working with students with disabilities
■ Requirements in many states that all future teachers complete one or more
courses in education for special-needs students and/or that existing courses
incorporate substantial amounts of material on the subject

■ Preparing for multicultural Preparation for Teaching in Diverse Settings Increasing enrollment of racial and
classrooms ethnic minority students in U.S. schools is prompting programs to prepare future
teachers by adding components to help candidates function successfully in di-
verse settings. Similar efforts are underway in teacher licensing. For example, the
Praxis III teacher performance assessment approach, developed by the Educational
Testing Service (ETS), specifies that a candidate for a teaching license should be able
to demonstrate a “comprehensive understanding” of why it is important to become
familiar with students’ background knowledge and experiences.21

Adequacy of Preparation Programs

It is difficult if not impossible to characterize the overall adequacy and effectiveness
of the myriad of teacher preparation programs in the United States. They range

19American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, Log On or Lose Out: Technology in

21st Century Teacher Education (Washington, D.C.: AACTE, 2000); Kristen Loschert, “Are You
Ready?” NEA Today (April 2003), available at www.nea.org/neatoday; and Sara Dexter,
Aaron H. Doering, and Eric S. Riedel, “Content Area Specific Technology Integration,”
Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, no. 2 (2006), pp. 325–345.
20Denise Littleton, “Preparing Teachers for Hard-to-Staff Schools,” State Education Leader

(Spring–Summer 2000); and Connie Titone, “The Philosophy of Inclusion,” Journal of

Educational Thought (Spring 2005), pp. 7–32.
21G. Pritchy Smith, Common Sense About Uncommon Knowledge (Washington, D.C.:

American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, 1998); Carla Claycomb, “High-

Quality Urban School Teachers,” The State Education Standard (Winter 2000), available
at www.nasbc.org/Standard; and Nancy L. Commins and Ofelia B. Miramontes, “Ad-
dressing Linguistic Diversity from the Outset,” Journal of Teacher Education (May/June 2006),
pp. 240–246.
16 ■ Chapter 1 Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for the Entering Teacher

from very large to tiny, from relatively well funded to financially skimpy, and from
brand new to nearly a century old. Nevertheless, analysts are trying.
■ “Teaching at Risk” For example, a group of business and civic leaders called The Teaching Com-
mission examined various aspects of teacher quality and issued a major report titled
“Teaching at Risk.” Regarding a perceived need to “reinvent” teacher preparation
programs, the Commission assigned a grade of C for effort and a grade of D for re-
sults. Among other findings, it concluded that too many teachers have too little
knowledge of mathematics, science, and other subjects they are teaching, that al-
ternative certification programs are not adequately providing skilled teachers where
needs are greatest, and that the training of future teachers “adds far too little value”
to their skills and capabilities.22
■ Ed Schools Project An organization named the Education Schools Project similarly released the re-
sults of a five-year study of teacher education programs. Its report, titled “Educating
School Teachers,” concluded that as many as one-quarter to one-third do an excel-
lent job, but that most future teachers are being prepared in programs that too often
have inadequate curricula, low standards, and faculty out of touch with the schools.
The report included recommendations (among others) that “failing” schools of ed-
ucation should be closed, “quality” programs should be expanded, scholarships
should be provided to attract the “best and brightest” into teaching, and quality
control should be strengthened.23
■ Exemplary programs As indicated in the preceding paragraphs, critics of teacher education generally
admit that there are many excellent programs and training components among the
more than one thousand institutions that prepare teachers in the United States.
Some descriptions and analyses of excellent programs and promising practices
can be found at the Internet sites of the National Commission on Teaching and
America’s Future (www.nctaf.org/strategies/assure/index.htm), the Rand
Corporation (www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG506), and the Education
Schools Project (www.edschools.org/pdf/Educating_Teachers_Report.pdf).
A former president of the American Educational Research Association has identified
ten encouraging, emerging trends that typify exemplary programs; these
R E F O C U S What trends listed here especially include the following: viewing teacher preparation as an all-university
describe your teacher-education program? Do responsibility; recognizing multiple pathways into teaching; using re-
any of the trends describe directions in which
search to guide the curriculum; and going beyond test scores to measure
you wish your program would head?
program effectiveness.24

Prospective Teachers: Abilities and Testing

Standards & Assessment ✓
■ In recent years, much discussion has centered on improving the quality of the
teaching work force, particularly on improving the abilities of prospective teachers
and on testing their competence for teaching.

Teacher Abilities
■ Standardized test scores Discussions of the “quality” of the teaching work force frequently focus on “ability”
scores derived from standardized tests such as the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT)

22Bess Keller, “Group Signs Off with Progress Report on Teacher Quality;” Education Week,

April 5, 2006; Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., et al., Teaching at Risk: Progress and Potholes (New York:
The Teaching Commission, 2006).
23Arthur Levine, Educating School Teachers (Washington, D.C.: Education Schools Project,

2006), available at www.edschools.org.

24Marilyn Cochran-Smith, “Ten Promising Trends (and Three Big Worries),” Educational

Leadership (March 2006).

 Prospective Teachers: Abilities and Testing ■ 17

and the American College Test (ACT). Among potential teachers, such test scores de-
clined in the 1970s, as they did for students majoring in business and numerous other
subjects. For example, between 1973 and 1981, the average SAT verbal score of college
students intending to teach fell from 418 to 397. Since 1982, however, test scores of
college students who say they intend to become teachers have appreciably increased
and generally resemble those of students majoring in business, psychology, and the
health professions. In addition, some recent studies have found that teachers’ average
test scores are about the same as those of other college-educated adults.25

Testing Teachers
■ Testing basic skills Some efforts to improve the teaching force focus on basic skills testing of preser-
■ Praxis examination vice teachers, new teachers, and sometimes experienced teachers. Drawing on the
argument that teachers low in reading, mathematics, communications, and/or pro-
fessional knowledge probably are ineffective in their teaching, many states have in-
troduced requirements that prospective teachers pass some form of minimum skills
test in reading and language, math, subject-area specialty, and/or professional
knowledge. More than forty states now use the Praxis test developed by the Educa-
tional Testing Service for this purpose. To become a certified teacher, you likely will
need to pass a series of Praxis exams.26
■ Criticisms of testing Testing of prospective and current teachers remains a controversial topic. Many
political leaders see testing as one of the few feasible steps they can take to improve
public confidence in the teaching force. Opponents argue that the process unjusti-
fiably excludes people who do poorly on paper-and-pencil tests. Many opponents
believe that existing tests are biased against minorities and other candidates not
from the cultural mainstream. Critics also cite data indicating that scores on stan-
dardized tests taken by future teachers correlate poorly with subsequent on-the-job
measures of teaching effectiveness.27
■ In support of testing Proponents of testing generally counter that all or nearly all teachers must be
able to demonstrate that they can function at least at the seventh- or eighth-grade
level in reading, writing, and math—the minimum level currently specified on
some tests—to perform effectively in their jobs. Many proponents also argue that re-
search has provided enough information to justify minimum standards and to al-
low for the creation of more valid exams.28 In any case, testing remains highly
popular, and you should make sure that your teacher preparation program and gen-
eral studies help you prepare to pass any exams that you must take.

25
Catherine E. Cardina and John K. Roden, “Academic Proficiency of Students Who Reported
Intentions of Majoring in Education,” Journal of Teacher Education ( January–February 1998),
pp. 38–46; Barbara A. Brusch and Richard J. Coley, How Teachers Compare (Princeton, N.J.:
Educational Testing Service, 2000), available at www.ets.org; and Teresa Mendez, “Why
They Teach,” Christian Science Monitor, March 8, 2005.
26
Linda Darling-Hammond, The Evolution of Teacher Policy (Santa Monica, Calif.: Rand, 1998);
and David Imig, “National Test Is a Good Plan,” USA Today, February 25, 2003.
27
Ayres G. D’Costa, “The Impact of Courts on Teacher Competence Testing,” Theory into
Practice (Spring 1993), pp. 104–112; Ann Bradley, “National Research Panel Tepid over Tests
for Licensing Teachers,” Education Week, March 15, 2000; and Cassandra M. Guarino, Lucre-
cia Santibanez, and Glenn A. Daley, “Teacher Recruitment and Retention,” Review of Educa-
tional Research (Summer 2006), pp. 173–208.
28
Richard J. Murname, “The Case for Performance-Based Licensing,” Phi Delta Kappan (Octo-
ber 1991), pp. 137–142; Allen Glenn, “Passing the Test,” AACTE Briefs, August 10, 1998; Kate
Zernike, “Teachers Union Proposes a National Test for Recruits,” New York Times, April 14,
2000; and Peter Youngs, Allan Odden, and Andrew C. Porter, “State Policy Related to Teacher
Licensure,” Educational Policy (May 2003), pp. 217–236.
18 ■ Chapter 1 Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for the Entering Teacher

Controversy regarding testing of prospective teachers became na-

REFOCUS Are teachers in your state required
tionally prominent in 1998 after Massachusetts administered its first
to pass a test? If yes, what are the requirements?
What are the passing and failing rates in your statewide test for this purpose. Thirty percent of the candidates failed the
state and at your institution? reading and writing test, and 63 percent of candidates for mathematics
certification failed the subject-matter test in their field. After the chair-
man of the state board of education stated that “the real story . . . is that so many
■ Controversy in Massachusetts prospective public school teachers failed a test that a bright 10th grader could pass
without difficulty” and that “no responsible person would subject anyone’s chil-
dren, much less his own, to teachers who had failed these topics,” legislators and ed-
ucators in Massachusetts and elsewhere initiated ongoing debates and arguments
concerning appropriate test performance levels for entering and exiting teacher-
preparation programs and for obtaining and retaining teaching certificates.29

Job Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction

Are people who become teachers generally satisfied with their work? Job conditions
strongly affect satisfaction, and, as we’ll see in this section, job conditions are
changing in response to many calls for educational reform. Several of these changes
seem likely to improve teachers’ job satisfaction.

Teacher Satisfaction
■ National surveys In polls conducted for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, teachers have
been asked, “All in all, how satisfied would you say you are with teaching as a ca-
reer?” Most of the respondents have answered either “very satisfied” or “somewhat
satisfied.” About half have reported that they were more enthusiastic about teach-
ing than when they began their careers. Furthermore, the percentage of satisfied
teachers has increased from 33 percent in 1986 to 56 percent in 2006. Similar results
have been documented in several other recent polls.30
■ Reasons for satisfaction One important reason for teachers’ job satisfaction is that they often feel suc-
cessful in advancing their students’ learning and growth. Recent increases in teacher
salaries, widespread recognition of teachers’ expertise, and the quality of their inter-
personal relationships with students and parents also promote satisfaction. Because
teachers appear mostly positive about these and other aspects of their jobs, it is not
surprising that they generally indicate they have high satisfaction in their work.
■ Reasons for dissatisfaction Many teachers do, however, report dissatisfaction with their work. Nationwide
surveys show that significant percentages believe they have insufficient time for
counseling students, planning lessons, and other instructional functions. Other

29
John Silber, “Those Who Can’t Teach,” New York Times, July 7, 1998. See also David J. Hoff,
“Massachusetts to Put Math Teachers to the Test,” Education Week, May 31, 2000; and
Larry H. Ludlow, “Teacher Test Accountability,” Education Policy Analysis Archives, Febru-
ary 22, 2001, available at http://epaa.asu.edu.
30
National Center for Education Statistics, America’s Teachers Ten Years After “A Nation at Risk”
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, 1995); Andrew S. Latham, “Teacher Satis-
faction,” Educational Leadership (February 1998) pp. 82–83; Steve Farkas, Jean Johnson, and
Ann Duffett, “Stand By Me,” 2003 paper prepared for Public Agenda, available at www
.publicagenda.org/PDFStore/pdfs/stand_by_me.pdf; and Jack Buckley, Mark Schneider,
and Yi Shang, “The Effects of School Facility Quality on Teacher Retention in Urban Dis-
tricts,” 2004 paper posted by the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities, available
at www.edfacilities.org.
 Job Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction ■ 19

complaints include ambiguity in supervisors’ expectations; unresponsive adminis-

trators, decrepit facilities, and obligations to participate in staff development per-
ceived as irrelevant or ineffective; lack of supplies and equipment; extensive
paperwork and record keeping; and insufficient input on organizational decisions.
Improvements in teacher salaries and teaching conditions may reduce these aspects
of dissatisfaction in the future.31

Standards & Assessment ✓

■ State and District Standards and Teacher Stress
■ “High-stakes” tests Teaching is a difficult profession that usually involves significant stress. In recent
years the introduction of state and district standards for student performance has
substantially increased this stress. Standards are often accompanied by accountabil-
ity mechanisms involving standardized testing and publication of achievement
scores for schools and, sometimes, individual classrooms. All states now require
some degree of uniform testing in all school districts. Many of these tests carry
“high stakes,” such as whether students pass from one grade to another, become el-
igible to graduate, or must attend summer school, and whether or not schools may
be closed or intensely scrutinized because of low test scores.
■ Teaching to the tests With such consequences, many teachers feel severe pressure to improve their
students’ test scores. This reaction is particularly prevalent at low-performing
schools, but it also occurs even at some high-performing schools in locations where
states or districts set high requirements for improved performance every year. Faculty
in many schools wind up devoting much of the school year to preparing for tests and
to emphasizing test-preparation materials in obtaining and using teaching resources,
practices known collectively as “teaching to the test.” As we point out elsewhere in
this book, this situation has raised controversial questions as to whether the stan-
dards movement facilitates or impedes improvements in student performance, as
teachers narrow their instructional focus to the tested skills. Although some teachers
report finding ways to provide engaging, quality instruction within frameworks that
require continuous attention to the many learning objectives specified on state and

Online Study Center After reading this section, watch “Teacher Accountability: A Student Teacher’s Perspective.”
This video shows a roundtable discussion about how teachers approach account-
ability in a positive and nonthreatening way that benefits both teachers and stu-
VIDEO CASE:
dents. After watching the video, answer the following questions:
Teacher
This chapter describes some of the stresses of the teaching profession—such as
being accountable for student progress and performance. What specific strategies
Accountability:
are used by the educational professionals in the video to cope with the challenges of
A Student Teacher’s the accountability movement?
Perspective  Based on your reading and on this video, do you agree with the master teachers
in this video case who believe that standardized testing “offers the opportunity to re-
flect upon your teaching practice?” Why or why not?

31Connie Anderson, “Time Well Spent,” Teaching K–8 (January 1999), pp. 80–81; Wade A.

Carpenter, “Ten Years of Silver Bullets,” Phi Delta Kappan (January 2000), pp. 383–389; and
Heather Rose, Jon Sonstelie, and Ray Reinhard, “School Resources and Academic Standards
in California,” 2006 report prepared for the Public Policy Institute of California, available at
www.ppic.org.
20 ■ Chapter 1 Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for the Entering Teacher

district tests, even these teachers typically experience high-level stress as they learn
to function effectively within such frameworks.32

Coping with Stress

■ Teaching can be stressful As we’ve seen, teaching has its difficult and stressful moments. Research also indicates
that elementary and secondary teaching has become more stressful in recent years. In
response, many professional organizations and school districts offer courses or work-
shops emphasizing coping techniques and other stress-reduction approaches.
In national surveys, most teachers express satisfaction with their careers.
Common frustrations of teachers, however, include insufficient time, am-
biguous expectations, and new demands for teacher accountability. The first
year of teaching can be especially stressful, and new teachers should make
stress-reducing activities a priority. (© Elizabeth Crews)
■ Coping techniques Counselors point out that exercise, rest, hobbies, good nutrition, meditation
or other relaxation techniques, efficient scheduling of personal affairs, and vacations
can help individuals cope with high-stress jobs. You may also reduce stress if you par-
ticipate in professional renewal activities or support groups, separate your job from
your home life, and keep an open mind attitude toward change. Because first-year
teachers experience special stress as they enter new jobs, professional organizations,
school districts, and even the U.S. Department of Education offer supportive pro-
grams. The Technology @ School box in this chapter describes one such effort.

Reforming Schools by Improving Teacher

Qualifications and Functioning
As you see, most teachers are motivated by a desire to work with young people and
to enter a challenging and honorable field and most are satisfied with most aspects
of their jobs. Some dissatisfaction arises, however, mostly with various “nonteach-
ing” considerations and with the demands imposed by the contemporary move-
ment to raise standards of performance. As we shall see next, nationwide efforts are
under way to address some of the conditions that teachers find difficult and to re-
form schools by improving teachers’ qualifications and functioning.

National Reports
Among many calls for educational reform over the past two decades, the most
widely known come from a series of national reports on the state of education in
the United States. One of the most prominent reform efforts is the federal No Child
Left Behind Act. This and other reform efforts that we describe here have changed,
and will continue to change, job conditions for teachers in fundamental ways.
■ Problems identified in A Since the mid-1980s numerous reports have focused on problems of education in
Nation at Risk the United States. A Nation at Risk (1983), the best known and most influential of the

32
Linda McNeil, “Creating New Inequalities,” Phi Delta Kappan ( June 2000), pp. 729–734;
Stuart S. Yeh, “Limiting the Unintended Consequences of High-Stakes Testing,” Educational
Policy Analysis Archives, October 28, 2005, available at http://epaa.asu.edu; and Lori Conrad
and Kelly Hupfeld, “From Surviving to Thriving,” 2006 paper prepared for the Public Educa-
tion and Business Coalition, available at www.pebc.org.
 Reforming Schools by Improving Teacher Qualifications and Functioning ■ 21

TECHNOLOGY @ SCHOOL
An Internet Location for Prospective Teachers

G
o to www.ed.gov/inits/teachers/archive- Fortunately, some promising new initiatives are al-
wantobe.html and open a screen headed “So You ready under way. For example, 100 percent of the grad-
Want to Be a Teacher?” Clickable hypertext head- uates of a program for first-year teachers from Texas
ings on this page include A&M University–Corpus Christi, Texas, have stayed on
the job after five years of teaching. Meanwhile, the
■ “Teacher Recruitment Clearinghouse” is an “online re-
statewide retention rate is about 50 percent after
source for prospective teachers seeking jobs and for
5 years, according to the university.
schools, districts, and states seeking qualified teachers.”
Texas’s Induction Year Program is designed to pro-
■ “What to Expect Your First Year of Teaching” offers a vide support and instruction to first-year teachers while
“compilation of frank discussions by award-winning getting them started toward master’s level professional
first-year teachers.” development. The program focuses on practical issues
such as classroom management, communication skills,
■ “Survival Guide for New Teachers,” available at www
and discipline. Also, faculty members regularly visit
.ed.gov/teachers/become/about/survivalguide/
the classes of participants to evaluate the teacher’s
index.html, offers a “collection of reflections by award-
performance. . . .
winning first-year teachers.” Sections in this document
In addition to university teacher-preparation pro-
advise you on how to work with veteran teachers, par-
grams, school districts are doing more to make first-year
ents, and principals. Here is an excerpt from the intro-
teaching a success. Districts from Delaware to Colum-
ductory message.
bus, Ohio, to Omaha, Nebraska, have instituted induc-
What Does “Sink or Swim” Mean? tion programs for new teachers that include mentoring,
To start with, first-year teachers are still liable to be as- peer assistance, and other forms of guidance and
signed the most challenging courses—the ones with support.
a heavy developmental emphasis and students who You will also find headings for links to state departments
need additional expertise to teach. Moreover, many of education and an Educational Resources Information
new teachers receive little more than a quick orien- Center (ERIC) document, “So You Want to Be a Teacher.”
tation on school policies and procedures before they start In addition to digesting the information and suggestions
their jobs.And there is often no time in the day—or week, provided in these documents, you can discuss their mean-
for that matter—allotted for sitting down with colleagues ing and implications with other prospective teachers or
to discuss pedagogical methods,daily dilemmas like time familiarize yourself with information on certification and
and classroom management, and coping strategies. . . . assistance possibilities in your own or other states.

national reports, was prepared by the National Commission on Excellence in Educa-

tion sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. Arguing that the United States
is “at risk” in the sense that its “once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, in-
dustry, service, and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors
throughout the world,” the commission concluded that one major aspect of decline
has been a “rising tide of mediocrity” in the schools. Here, we should note the report’s
suggestions for making teaching a more rewarding and respected profession:33

33National Commission on Excellence in Education, A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educa-

tion Reform (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, 1983), p. 5; and Paul D. Hous-
ton, “Do We Suffer from Educational Glaucoma?” School Administrator (January 1999). See
also The Full Circle: Building a Coherent Teacher Preparation System (Washington, D.C.: National
Association of State Boards of Education, 2000).
22 ■ Chapter 1 Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for the Entering Teacher

■ Proposals for the teaching ■ Set higher standards for entry into the profession
profession ■ Improve teacher salaries so they are “professionally competitive, market-
sensitive, and performance-based,” thus making them part of a system that
rewards superior teachers (in other words, institute merit pay, a practice dis-
cussed in the chapter on The Teaching Profession)
■ Add an additional month of teacher employment with pay
■ Institute a career ladder so that qualified people progress from beginning
teacher to experienced teacher and finally to the level of master teacher
■ Involve master teachers in preparing and supervising probationary teachers

Standards & Assessment ✓

■ The No Child Left Behind Act
■ No Child Left Behind Act In 2001 teacher-quality-improvement activities became an integral part of the na-
tional school reform movement with passage of the No Child Left Behind Act
(NCLBA). We will discuss major components of NCLB dealing with student achieve-
ment elsewhere, particularly in the chapter on Providing Equal Educational Oppor-
tunity. Here we review the key sections dealing with requirements that teachers in
school districts receiving federal funding must be “highly qualified.”
■ Highly qualified teachers Requirements in these sections were explained in a 2004 U.S. Department of Edu-
cation document (see “A Toolkit for Teachers,” available at www.ed.gov/teachers/
nclbguide/nclb-teachers-toolkit.pdf). The toolkit notes that the NCLBA “rep-
resents a sweeping overhaul of federal efforts to support elementary and secondary
education” and “sets the goal of having every child making the grade on state-defined
education standards by the end of the 2013–14 school year.” As part of the overhaul,
NCLB “outlines the minimum qualifications needed by teachers and paraprofes-
sionals who work on any facet of classroom instruction. It requires that states de-
velop plans to achieve the goal that all teachers of core academic subjects be highly
qualified by the end of the 2005–06 school year.”34
■ Three requirements Under NCLB, a “highly qualified teacher” must have (1) a bachelor’s degree,
(2) full state certification and licensure as defined by the state, and (3) “demon-
strated competency as defined by the state in each core academic subject he or
she teaches.”
■ Defining competency New elementary teachers can demonstrate competency by “passing a rigorous
state test on subject knowledge and teaching skills in reading or language arts, writ-
ing, mathematics and other areas of the basic elementary school curriculum.” New
middle- and high-school teachers can demonstrate competency “either by passing a
rigorous state test in each subject they teach, or by holding an academic major
or course work equivalent to an academic major, an advanced degree or advanced
certification or credentials.” Those already employed as teachers at any level can
demonstrate competency by meeting the requirements for new teachers or by
meeting a state-defined “high, objective, uniform state standard of evaluation
(HOUSSE).” States have defined and established their HOUSSE standards for com-
petency among current teachers. Many are using point systems that allow teachers
to count a combination of years of successful classroom experience, participation in

34National Commission on Excellence in Education, A Nation at Risk: The Imperative

for Education Reform (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, 1983), p. 5; and Paul
D. Houston, “Do We Suffer from Educational Glaucoma?” School Administrator
( January 1999), available at www.aasa.org. See also Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., et al., Teaching at
Risk: Progress and Potholes (New York: The Teaching Commission, 2006), available at
www.theteachingcommission.org.
 Reforming Schools by Improving Teacher Qualifications and Functioning ■ 23

high-quality professional development that evaluates what the teacher has learned,
service on curriculum development teams, and other activities related to developing
knowledge in an academic area.
■ Early developments Developments with respect to implementation of NCLB teacher-quality goals
have included the following:35
■ The federal government has begun to distribute millions of dollars for activi-
ties such as devising and implementing alternative certification programs for
teachers and administrators, establishing teacher merit pay, providing bonus
pay for teaching in high-need subjects and high-poverty schools, testing
teachers in their subjects, and forming a Teacher Assistance Corps to help
states carry out their quality-improvement initiatives.
■ Progress report ■ In 2006 Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings issued a Fifth Annual Report
on Teacher Quality, in which she provided data on state efforts to comply with
the NCBLA. She acknowledged that states had not been able to meet the goal
of providing a highly qualified teacher in every classroom. Some excerpts from
the report include the following:
Forty-four states require new teachers to pass at least one assessment for
teacher certification. Academic content-related tests constitute the
largest share of the testing (nearly 60 percent) reported. . . .
There is little difference between the assessments required for tradi-
tional and alternative route program completers within a given state;
their pass rates are also comparable. . . .
Even though the overall teacher pass rate on state assessments is at
96 percent, the minimum passing scores remain generally lower than
the national median scores for these tests.
■ Controversy over data ■ Much controversy has arisen regarding state progress toward ensuring highly
qualified teachers in all classrooms. For example, although many states have
reported that more than 90 percent of courses are taught by highly qualified
teachers, some observers have cited various data indicating that numerous
staff teaching science, math, and other specialty subjects were working “out-
of-field,” or teaching in areas where they had not demonstrated competency,
particularly in high-poverty schools. They have concluded that either the state
data were incorrect or criteria for defining “highly qualified” had been set very
low, or both.
■ Impatience and skepticism ■ Many organizations and individuals have expressed impatience and/or skepti-
cism regarding NLCB implementation regarding teacher quality. For example,
the Education Trust has criticized the federal government for doing little to
ensure that teachers in urban schools are becoming truly qualified to raise the
achievement of low-income students and minority students. Observers also
point out that many rural districts face insuperable difficulties in meeting
NCLB requirements for highly qualified teachers, and that action involving
HOUSSE implementation generally has ignored or perhaps even magnified
problems in the recruitment of minority teachers.

35BessKeller, “States Claim Teachers Are ‘Qualified’,” Education Week, October 29, 2003;
“Leaving Teachers Behind,” 2003 paper prepared for ACORN, available at www.acorn.org;
“Meeting the Highly Qualified Teacher Challenge,” 2003 Second Annual Report on Teacher
Quality by the U.S. Secretary of Education; “More Information Would Help States Determine
Which Teachers Are Highly Qualified,” 2003 paper published by the U.S. General Accounting
Office, available at www.gao.gov, search for GAO–03–631; and Michael A. Rebell and
Molly A. Hunter, “‘Highly Qualified’ Teachers,” Phi Delta Kappan (May 2004), pp. 690–696.
24 ■ Chapter 1 Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for the Entering Teacher

Standards & Assessment ✓

■ The NBPTS and the INTASC
■ NBPTS certification In 1987, in accordance with a recommendation of its Task Force on Teaching as a
Profession, the Carnegie Corporation helped establish the National Board for Pro-
fessional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), a nonprofit organization that issues certifi-
cates to teachers who meet its standards for professional ability and knowledge. The
standards, which focus on both content knowledge and effective teaching methods,
are considerably more rigorous than those for state certification tests. Assessment
methods include interviews, portfolios, computer and video simulations, and other
innovative elements. To qualify for national board certification, teachers must
have a bachelor’s degree, a state teaching license, and at least three years of success-
ful teaching. Many states provide a salary supplement or bonus to teachers who re-
ceive the certification. More than forty thousand candidates have earned NBPTS
certificates.36
■ INTASC standards Standards for teacher performance—in this case for beginning teachers—are
also being developed by the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Con-
sortium (INTASC) with funding from the U.S. Department of Education. Look for
current information concerning INTASC at www.ccsso.org. More than thirty
states are participating in INTASC.

Holmes and Other Groups

■ Holmes Group We already have mentioned the Teaching Commission and the Education Schools
recommendations Project, and their reports. Since 1986, teaching reform also has been a primary con-
cern of the Holmes Group, a consortium of deans of education at major research
universities. Renamed the Holmes Partnership in 1996, Holmes commissioned a se-
ries of reports, including Tomorrow’s Teachers (1986), Tomorrow’s Schools (1990), and
Tomorrow’s Schools of Education (1995). In line with reforms emphasized in other re-
ports, the Holmes Partnership has stressed the need for teacher-education students
to have early experience in schools. Consequently, the group has focused on the
creation of professional development schools (PDSs). Like a traditional “labora-
tory” school, the PDS is designed to link a local school district with a college or
school of education, but in a more comprehensive and systematic fashion. College
faculty members function as classroom teachers and serve as mentors for new teach-
ers. According to advocates, PDSs allow experienced teachers, beginning teachers,
teacher educators, and administrators to work together to create a community of
learners and to improve educational opportunities for low-achieving students.
There are now more than one thousand professional development schools.37
■ In support of PDSs Other groups, including the American Federation of Teachers, the American As-
sociation of Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE), and the National Education

36
Iris C. Rotberg, Mary H. Futrell, and Joyce M. Lieberman, “National Board Certification,”
Phi Delta Kappan (February 1998), pp. 462–466; Kristen Loschert, “Pursuing Teaching Excel-
lence,” NEA Today Online (April 2003), available at www.nea.org/neatoday/0304; Dan
Goldhaber and Emily Anthony, “Can Teacher Quality Be Effectively Assessed?”, 2004 report
prepared for the Urban Institute, available at www.urban.org; and general information
available at www.nbpts.org.
37
For examples, see Joseph Murphy, ed., The Educational Reform Movement of the 1980s (Berke-
ley, Calif.: McCutchan, 1990); Michael Fullan et al., The Rise and Stall of Teacher Education
Reform (Washington, D.C.: American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, 1998);
Susan L. Melnick and Diana Pullin, “Can You Take Dictation?” Journal of Teacher Education
(September–October 2000), pp. 262–275; and Monty Neill, “Leaving Children Behind,” Phi
Delta Kappan (November 2003), pp. 225–228.
 Reforming Schools by Improving Teacher Qualifications and Functioning ■ 25

Association, have been working to establish plans for schools similar to PDSs. Sur-
veys indicate that many schools and colleges of education are cooperating with pro-
fessional development schools or similar institutions. On the other hand, progress
has been hampered by lack of funds and other obstacles to collaboration among
both school districts and higher-education institutions.38
■ Renaissance Group Additional support for teaching profession reform has come from the Renais-
proposals sance Group, a consortium of higher-education institutions composed primarily of
former teacher-training colleges. The Renaissance Group contends that teacher
training should be integrated throughout a student’s university experience rather
than reserved for the student’s final year and should incorporate extensive, se-
quenced field and clinical experience. In 1999, ten members of the group obtained
an $8.55 million grant to enhance their teacher-education programs.39

Reactions to the National Reforms

■ Critiques of national reports Reactions have been mixed toward the plethora of national reports and subsequent
and recommendations developments described above. We noted that there have been much controversy
and dissatisfaction with respect to implementation of teacher-quality provisions in
the NBCLA. No doubt these developments have helped focus attention on the prob-
lems of education; the specific proposals have generated a great deal of support.
However, many educators believe that the reports and legislation have been too
simplistic in their diagnoses and solutions, and some of the proposals have met
with substantial resistance and criticism.40
For example, many teachers and administrators as well as researchers have crit-
icized the emphasis on “lead teacher” and “career ladder” approaches that give
some teachers greater authority and remuneration than their colleagues. In addi-
tion, critics of professional development schools have focused on the high costs of
PDSs and the lack of available funds, as well as the divergent interests that hamper
collaboration between school districts and higher-education institutions. There is
concern, as well, that teachers participating in reform activities will be overbur-
dened by numerous and conflicting demands for change.41
■ State reforms Despite the lack of consensus, nearly all state governments have taken actions
consistent with one or another of the national reports and all have initiated activi-
ties to comply with NCLB. Most states have raised teacher salaries, stiffened en-
trance and exit requirements for teacher education, and/or expanded testing of
new teachers.

38Anne Lieberman and Lynne Miller, “Teacher Development in Professional Practice

Schools,” Teachers College Record (Fall 1990), pp. 105–122; Marsha Levine, ed., Professional
Practice Schools (New York: Teachers College Press, 2002); and Sharon Castle, Rebecca K. Fox,
and Kathleen O. Souder, “Do Professional Schools (PDSs) Make a Difference?” Journal of
Teacher Education (January/February 2006), pp. 65–80.
39
Information about the Renaissance Group is available at http://education.csufresno.edu/
rengroup.
40For examples, see Joseph Murphy, ed., The Educational Reform Movement of the 1980s (Berke-

ley, Calif.: McCutchan, 1990); Michael Fullan et al., The Rise and Stall of Teacher Education
Reform (Washington, D.C.: American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, 1998);
Susan L. Melnick and Diana Pullin, “Can You Take Dictation?” Journal of Teacher Education
(September–October 2000), pp. 262–275; and Monty Neill, “Leaving Children Behind,” Phi
Delta Kappan (November 2003), pp. 225–228.
41William R. Johnson, “Empowering Practitioners: Holmes, Carnegie, and the Lessons of

History,” History of Education Quarterly (Summer 1987), pp. 221–240; Susan M. Johnson, “Can
Professional Certification for Teachers Reshape Teaching as a Career?” Phi Delta Kappan (Jan-
uary 2001), pp. 393–399; and “Is It a Real PDS or a Wannabe?” undated posting at the
Trilemma Solutions Web site, www.trilemmasolutions.com/lectures.html.
26 ■ Chapter 1 Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for the Entering Teacher

School Reform and Teacher Empowerment

Some reform efforts deal specifically with teacher empowerment activities, which
can range from increasing the role of teachers in schoolwide decision making to
providing teachers with more autonomy in the classroom. Important efforts to em-
power teachers include the following:42

■ School-based management ■ School-based Management. School-based management agreements

reached between teacher associations and school boards in many districts give
teachers a large role in determining school policies and practices. Such provi-
sions typically give faculties opportunities to select instructional methods and
materials and to determine how funds will be spent in their schools. (School-
based management is discussed in detail in the next chapter on The Teaching
Profession.) For example, some Dade County, Florida, schools have adopted a
self-governance approach in which teachers and administrators work together
to redesign the educational programs in their schools. To a significant extent,
faculties can determine staff numbers and functions. As part of this project,
the board of education suspended requirements in such areas as maximum
class size, length of the school day, and number of minutes per subject.
■ Lead Teachers ■ Lead Teachers. Arrangements are being introduced to broaden teachers’
responsibilities. For example, in 1987 the Rochester, New York, school district
established the position of “lead teachers” who work 10 percent more hours
and devote as much as half their time to serving as mentors, to planning in-
structional improvements, or to other leadership roles. Lead teachers are se-
lected by panels consisting of four teachers and three administrators.
■ Professional Practice ■ Professional Practice Communities. Professional Practice Communities
Communities are being formed and supported so that teachers can share good ideas, work
together in figuring out how to improve instruction for their students, and
coordinate activities to enhance learning throughout their schools and class-
rooms. For example, much of the in-service training in many schools is now
designed and even delivered by the teachers themselves, and teachers in many
schools and districts collaborate in selecting curriculum standards to empha-
size and the sequence to be followed in order to attain prescribed standards
for student performance.

It is premature to reach conclusions about the success or failure of such arrange-

ments. While they may be helping individual teachers and groups of teachers en-
hance their effectiveness, it is not clear that they will make a substantial difference
on a large scale. These reform efforts encounter many obstacles, and educators in-
volved in them are still learning how to translate teacher empowerment into im-
proved school and student performance.

42 “Preliminary Report, Highlights,” 2003 posting at the Florida School Report Internet site,
www.floridabestpractices.com/casestudies/fascell.html; Adam Urbanski, et al., “Labor-
Management Relations in Public Education,” 2003 audio file available at www.forum-
network.org/wgbh; Rhonda Barton, “Collaborating to Reach NCDL Goals,” Northwest
Educator (Fall 2005), available at www.nwrel.org/nwedu; Frances Schoonmaker, “Teacher
Development Through School Reform and School Reform Through Teacher Development,”
New Horizons for Learning (Spring 2006), available at www.newhorizons.org; and Iris R.
Weiss and Joan D. Palsey, “Scaling Up Instructional Improvement Through Teacher Profes-
sional Development,” CPRE Policy Briefs (March 2006), available at www.cpre.org.
 Key Terms ■ 27

Outlook for Teaching

■ Bright prospects for teachers Until the school reform movement of the 1980s, college students majoring in edu-
cation confronted a buyer’s market for teachers, and many questioned the wisdom
of entering a field apparently declining in salary, status, and general attraction. Now
national attention has focused on education, and there is good news regarding
teachers’ prospects. The pattern of teacher oversupply has been alleviated, and gov-
ernments at all levels are acting to improve teacher recruitment and prepa-
R E F O C U S Which of the reform efforts ration. Individuals dedicated to helping young people learn and grow in
described here would you most like to see in a school should have considerable professional opportunities to realize their
school district in which you wanted to teach? ambitions. In the years to come, the teaching profession should continue to
Which of the reforms do you think might cause experience a renewed excitement and an even greater sense that the work is
teachers dissatisfaction or stress? Why?
of vital importance to American society.

Summing Up

Although we see many reasons for entering the teach-  Although admitting that it is not possible to generalize
ing profession, research indicates that most teachers do about myriads of teacher-preparation programs, several
so to help young children and to provide a service to major reports have concluded that many programs are
society. not doing an adequate job in training future teachers.
 Many educators are focusing on ways to increase  Most teachers are satisfied with most aspects of their
diversity in the teaching work force to better reflect jobs, despite some dissatisfaction with starting salaries
the student population. and certain other aspects of the profession.
 Demand for new teachers will likely continue. Concern remains widespread over the quality of the
 Teacher salaries have improved rapidly in recent years. teaching work force. Major national reports on educa-
tion and the No Child Left Behind Act have led to higher
 Requirements for teacher certification vary from state to
standards for licensing and to establishment of the
state and among institutions of higher learning.
highly paid position of “lead” teacher.
 In general, teacher education is becoming more practi-
Many school districts are working out approaches for
cal and reality oriented.Trends in this direction include
empowering teachers in order to make schools more
provision of early field experience in elementary and
effective.
secondary classrooms. Other important trends include
the introduction of five-year and fifth-year programs Increasing public concern for education, changes occur-
and the interest in developing reflective teachers. ring in the schools, and improvements in the outlook for
Teachers also are increasingly prepared to use up-to- teachers are bringing new excitement and importance
date technology, to work with students who have spe- to the role of the teacher.
cial needs, and to teach in widely diverse settings.

Key Terms
The numbers in parentheses indicate the pages where explanations of the key terms can be found.

supply and demand (6) A Nation at Risk (20) professional development school
certification (10) No Child Left Behind Act (22) (PDS) (24)
alternative certification (12) highly qualified teacher (22) teacher empowerment activities (26)
reflective teaching (14) National Board for Professional Teach-
basic skills testing (17) ing Standards (24)
national reports (20)
28 ■ Chapter 1 Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for the Entering Teacher

Certification Connection
Chapter 1 introduces the teacher candidate to the career of on the Praxis II examination, think about your most recent
teaching. Consider that as you mature as a teacher, reflective classroom experience. Reflect on your interactions with the
practice becomes a mechanism for change and improvement students and what motivation you provided that encouraged
of your own teaching. In most cases, teachers reflect daily on the students to learn. As you reflect, think about what you
what the students learn and how the students engage the could do differently. Sometimes, teachers find it is helpful to
learning processes of the classroom. The process helps the ask, “If I could do this over, what would I do differently?” A
teacher to improve instruction and become more self reliant second question that might help you to reflect is, “What did
as they mature in teaching. the students learn from this experience?”
As an exercise to prepare you for writing short answers

Discussion Questions

Have your reasons for becoming a teacher changed  What steps might improve teacher salaries? Which are
over time? If so, what caused the change or changes? most likely to succeed? What will determine whether
What might be most likely to change your motivation in they are successful?
the future?  What jobs other than teaching in elementary or
 Do you believe that the trends in teacher education secondary schools may be open to persons with a
identified in this chapter are desirable? Do you think teaching certificate? What additional preparation might
they will improve education in the schools? What be necessary or helpful in obtaining such jobs?
conditions are necessary to make them effective?

Suggested Projects for Professional Development

Collect and analyze information on teacher salary that teachers possess a high level of preparation
schedules in several nearby school districts. Compare for their jobs.You might, for example, research the
your data with information other members of your class Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support
acquire from additional districts. What patterns do you Consortium (www.ccsso.org/Projects) and the
see? What might be the advantages and disadvantages National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
of teaching in these districts? (www.nbpts.org).
 Investigate funding for teacher education at your cam-  Find out what your state has done with respect to
pus. Does your school or college of education serve as a reviewing and modifying certification requirements,
“cash cow” that provides substantial funding for other and to defining competency of new and employed
campus units? teachers in response to the No Child Left Behind Act of
2001. Have these actions produced changes in your
 Interview an elementary-school teacher and a high-
preparation program? Are they raising issues for begin-
school teacher about their satisfaction with their work
ning teachers, or controversies regarding the status of
and their reasons for being satisfied or dissatisfied.
current teachers in your state? (Information may be
Compare your findings with those of other students in
available at your state department of education’s Web
your class.
site, which you can find on the first screen at
 Individually or as a team member, prepare a report www.ccsso.org).
on projects and organizations that work to ensure
 Suggested Resources ■ 29

Suggested Resources
Internet Resources Herndon, Joseph. The Way It Spozed to Be. New York: Bantam,
1968. A classic when it was published, this book, which
The federal government maintains various sites on the World
describes the satisfactions and difficulties of teaching in
Wide Web. Many topics in this chapter (and in this book) can
the inner city, remains relevant in the new millennium.
be explored at www.ed.gov. Various professional organiza-
tions, such as the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Journal of Teacher Education. Regularly provides information
Development (www.ascd.org) and Phi Delta Kappa (www. and analysis regarding important issues in preservice and
pdkintl.org), also sponsor relevant sites. in-service education.
“A New Teacher Guide Book” is a useful resource avail- McNeil, Linda M. Contradictions of Control. New York: Rout-
able at http:hannahmeans.bizland.com. ledge and Kegan Paul, 1986. Analyzes teachers’ reactions
Teacher Quality Bulletin is a weekly publication available to legislative and administrative mandates that some-
by e-mail or online from the Teacher Quality Clearinghouse at times distort instruction toward low-level concentration
www.nctq.org. on facts.
Comparisons of characteristics of private and public Mitchell, Antoinette, Sheila Allen, and Pamela Ehrenberg.
schools are available at http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/ Spotlight on Schools of Education. Washington D.C.:
2002/analyses/private. National Council on Accreditation of Teacher Education,
Materials at www.new-teacher.com are relevant for fu- 2005. Based on a review of fifty-eight accreditation re-
ture as well as new teachers. ports, this volume reports on the ways in which schools of
The Fall, 2005 issue of Northwest Educator (available at education approach curriculum, assessment, and continu-
www.nwrel.org/nwedu) emphasizes the theme “Teachers ous improvement. It is available from www.ncate.org.
Working Together.”
National Conference on Teacher Quality Exemplary Practices.
Exemplary practices and programs are described at
Publications www.ed.gov/inits/teachers/exemplarypractices/
Cochran-Smith, Marilyn, and Kenneth M. Zeichner. Studying index.html.
Teacher Education. Mahwah, N.J. Lawrence Erlbaum Nettles, D. H., and Pamela B. Petrick. Portfolio Development for
Associates, 2005. Subtitled “The Report of the AERA Panel Preservice Teachers. Bloomington, Ind.: Phi Delta Kappa,
on Research and Teacher Education,” this volume describes 1995. Describes major steps involved in preparing a
results of research on teacher characteristics, preparation, professional portfolio.
job conditions and satisfaction, and related topics.
Draper, Sharon M. Teaching from the Heart. Westport, Conn.:
Heinemann, 2000. A winner of the Teacher of the Year
award recounts her career and what she has learned from it.
 CHAPTER 2
The Teaching Profession

U ntil the twentieth century, teachers received relatively little prepa-

ration and had little say in the terms of their employment. Teacher
training consisted of one or two years and sometimes less at a normal
school or teacher college, and teachers had to follow strict rules and
regulations concerning their behavior outside the school. Unorganized
and isolated from one another in small schools and school districts,
teachers could be summarily dismissed by a board of education. Many
were told they could not teach material that a community member
might find objectionable.
Times have changed. Today, teachers aspire to be professionals with
expert knowledge concerning instruction, content, and methods in
their particular fields. In addition, they are well organized as a group
and have gained greater rights to be judged on their work performance
rather than on their behavior outside school. Often, too, they parti-
cipate in decision making about work conditions. In many cases, they
are forging stronger links with school administrators, university re-
searchers, government officials, and the communities they serve. The
first part of this chapter describes ways in which teachers are striving
for full professional status, and the second discusses how teacher orga-
nizations have grown in power and prominence. As you read this chap-
ter, think about the following questions:

FOCUS QUESTIONS
■ What trends show that teaching is becoming a full-fledged profession?
■ In what ways is teaching not fully a profession?

* This chapter was revised by Dr. James Lawlor, Towson University.

30
 Is Teaching a Profession? ■ 31

■ How does merit pay help or hinder the teaching profession?

■ What are the goals and activities of the two main professional organiza-
tions, the NEA and the AFT?
■ What are other important professional organizations for teachers?
■ What professional organizations might education students and beginning
teachers join?

Is Teaching a Profession?
The question of whether or not teaching is a profession in the fullest sense has
greatly concerned educators for many decades. Some have tried to identify the ideal
characteristics of professions and, by rating teachers on these items, determine
whether teaching is a profession. The following are characteristics of a full profes-
■ Characteristics of a sion, based on the works of noted authorities over a thirty-five-year period.1
profession
1. A sense of public service; a lifetime commitment to career
2. A defined body of knowledge and skills beyond that grasped by laypersons
3. A lengthy period of specialized training
4. Control over licensing standards and/or entry requirements
5. Autonomy in making decisions about selected spheres of work
6. An acceptance of responsibility for judgments made and acts performed re-
lated to services rendered; a set of performance standards
7. A self-governing organization composed of members of the profession
8. Professional associations and/or elite groups to provide recognition for indi-
vidual achievements
9. A code of ethics to help clarify ambiguous matters or doubtful points related
to services rendered
10. High prestige and economic standing
■ Teaching as a The general consensus is that teaching is not a profession in the fullest sense
“semiprofession” because it lacks some of the above characteristics, but it may be viewed as a “semi-
profession” or an “emerging profession” in the process of achieving these charac-
teristics.2 Several sociologists contend that nursing and social work are also
semiprofessions.
In particular, teaching seems to lag behind professions such as law and medi-
cine in four important areas: (1) a defined body of knowledge and skills beyond that
grasped by laypersons, (2) control over licensing standards and/or entry require-
ments, (3) autonomy in making decisions about selected spheres of work, and
(4) high prestige and economic standing. In the following sections we explore these
four aspects of teaching.

1
Ronald G. Corwin, Sociology of Education (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1965); Robert
B. Howsam et al., Educating a Profession (Washington, D.C.: American Association of Colleges
for Teacher Education, 1976); and Susan J. Rosenholtz, Teachers’ Workplace: The Social Organi-
zation of Schools (New York: Longman, 1989).
2
Amitai Etzioni, The Semiprofessions and Their Organizations: Teachers, Nurses, and Social Work-
ers (New York: Free Press, 1969), p. v.
32 ■ Chapter 2 The Teaching Profession

A Defined Body of Knowledge

■ No agreed-upon knowledge All professions have a monopoly on certain knowledge that separates their mem-
bers from the general public and allows them to exercise control over the vocation.
Members of the profession establish their expertise by mastering this defined body
of knowledge, and they protect the public from quacks and untrained amateurs by
denying membership to those who have not mastered it. In the past “education” or
“teaching” has had no agreed-upon specialized body of knowledge.3 Nor has teach-
ing been guided by the extensive rules of procedure and established methodolo-
gies found in professions such as the physical sciences and health care. As a result,
too many people, especially the lay public, talk about education as if they were
experts—the cause of much conflicting and sometimes negative conversation.4
■ Lack of agreement on The ill-defined body of knowledge also allows teacher-education course content
teacher education to vary from state to state and even among teacher-training institutions within a
■ Major components of given state. Teacher preparation usually consists of three major components: (1) lib-
preservice preparation eral (or general) education, (2) specialized subject-field education—the student’s
“major” or “minor,” and (3) professional education. Almost all educators agree that
preparing good teachers rests on these three components. Strong arguments arise,
however, over the relative emphasis that each component should receive. How
much time, for example, should the education student devote to liberal-education
courses versus courses in a specialized subject field and professional education?
Viewpoints also differ concerning the extent to which clinical experience, which
emphasizes practice in actual school settings, should be incorporated in profes-
sional education courses. Thus, your teacher-education program may differ from
one at a different college or university.
James Koerner described the problem further in his highly critical book The
Miseducation of American Teachers. Koerner argued that by requiring too many edu-
cation courses—as many as sixty hours at some state teacher colleges—and by mak-
ing these courses too “soft,” colleges of education were producing teachers versed in
pedagogy at the expense of academic content.5 Although critics have helped reduce
the number of required education courses, the controversy continues,6 making it es-
pecially difficult to establish clear national standards for teacher preparation.
Standards & Assessment ✓
■ The situation is gradually changing, however. The National Council for Ac-
■ NCATE standards creditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) has set standards that specify courses
to be taken and faculty qualifications for teaching those courses. Until recently,
many teacher-education institutions still failed to meet NCATE’s standards; as re-
cently as 2003, 45 percent of the twelve hundred colleges involved in training
teachers were not accredited by NCATE. By 2006 that percentage had increased to
52 percent. However, most NCATE members have worked diligently to meet NCATE

3Robert J. Yinger and Amanda L. Nolen, “Surviving the Legitimacy Challenge,” Phi Delta

Kappan (January 2003), pp. 386–390; Susan Moore Johnson, “Can Professional Certification
of Teachers Reshape Teaching as a Career,” Phi Delta Kappan (January 2001), pp. 393–399.
4Hendrik D. Gideonse, Relating Knowledge to Teacher Education (Washington, D.C.: American

Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, 1989); Brian Rowan, “Comparing Teachers’
Work with Work in Other Occupations: Notes on the Professional Status of Teaching,” Educa-
tional Researcher (August–September 1994), pp. 4–17, 21; and Jonathan Saphier, Bonfires and
Magic Bullets: Making Teaching a True Profession (Carlisle, Mass.: Research for Better Teach-
ing, 1995).
5James D. Koerner, The Miseducation of American Teachers (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1963).
6
See, for example, Pamela C. Boyd, “Professional School Reform and Public School Renewal:
Portrait of a Partnership,” Journal of Teacher Education (March–April 1994), pp. 132–139; and
Arthur E. Wise, “Creating a High Quality Teaching Force,” Educational Leadership (December
2000–January 2001), pp. 18–21.
 Is Teaching a Profession? ■ 33

standards. Now, 60 percent of colleges are either accredited or are being considered
for accreditation. Most of the remaining five hundred teacher-education institutions
use NCATE standards to conduct state-level evaluations. Thus, by 2006, thirty-nine
states had adopted NCATE unit standards for state evaluation of teacher-education
programs, and all fifty states had adopted program standards in subject matter areas
or aligned them very closely. NCATE standards are increasingly the norm in teacher
preparation.7 Moreover, the American Association of Colleges for Teacher
R E F O C U S Is your institution accredited Education (AACTE) decided in 1995 to promote the pursuit of NCATE
by NCATE? Find out and learn more about accreditation. To further this end, AACTE is expanding technical assis-
the NCATE standards at their website,
tance, such as consultants to nonaccredited institutions, during the ac-
www.ncate.org.
creditation process.8

Controlling Requirements for Entry and Licensing

■ Variations in certification Whereas most professions have uniform requirements for entry and licensing,
teaching historically has lacked this. As indicated in the chapter on Motivation,
Preparation, and Conditions for the Entering Teacher, recent reforms have required
prospective teachers in most states to pass minimum competency tests, and bodies
such as the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards are establishing
methods for measuring a person’s ability to teach. However, certification require-
ments still vary greatly from state to state, and the trend toward teacher testing has
generated widespread controversy. You may wish to research the qualifications and
testing required in your state to compare with others nearby.
Moreover, many teachers working in the secondary schools appear to be teach-
ing out of license—in other words, outside their recognized areas of expertise. This
problem is especially acute in science, mathematics, and special education.
■ Debate about alternative The outlook is further clouded by the trend toward alternative certification, dis-
certification cussed in Chapter 1 on Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for the Entering
Teacher. This process—by which teachers are recruited from the ranks of college-
educated retirees, industrial personnel, and experienced people seeking second
careers—is intended to eliminate teacher shortages in certain subject areas such as
mathematics, science, special education, and computer instruction or to upgrade
the quality of new teachers. Alternative certification is often praised as practical and
innovative by laypeople and school board members. Most teacher organizations, on
the other hand, see alternative certification as a threat to the profession. One critic
wrote, “The assumption that those who know something can automatically
teach . . . [will] not solve the problem of teacher quality.”9 The AACTE has taken a
middle position, supporting alternative licensing procedures only at the master’s de-
gree level and in conjunction with supervised field training.10

7
See “Quick Facts” at www.ncate.org/public/aboutncate.asp (2006); National Coun-
cil for the Accreditation of Teacher Education, A Decade of Growth: 1991–2001 (Wash-
ington, D.C.: National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, 2001), p. 4.
8
“AACTE Strategic Plan Includes Focus on Accreditation,” NCATE Reporter (Washington, D.C.:
National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, 1998), p. 5; and AACTE, “NCATE
Creates Task Force to Improve Program Reviews,” AACTE Briefs, August 25, 2003, pp. 1, 3.
9
Christopher Nagy and Ning Wang, “The Alternate Route: Teachers Transition to the Class-
room,” Online Submission, Annual Meeting of AERA, March 9, 2006; Lee S. Shulman,
“Knowledge and Teaching: Foundations and the New Reform,” Harvard Educational Review
(February 1987), p. 324.
10
Alternative Paths to Teaching (Washington, D.C.: American Association of Colleges for
Teacher Education, 1995); Glen Buck et al., “Alternative Certification Programs,” Teacher
Education and Special Education (Winter 1995), pp. 39–48; Maryland State Department of
Education. “Maryland Teacher Staffing Report, 2005–2007” (Baltimore: Maryland State De-
partment of Education, 2007).
34 ■ Chapter 2 The Teaching Profession

Standards & Assessment ✓

■ Whatever they may think about differing requirements for certification, teach-
■ Involvement of teacher ers traditionally have had little to say in these matters. However, teacher organi-
organizations zations are beginning to cooperate with state legislatures and departments of
education to modify certification standards and establish professional practice
boards (discussed later in this chapter). The more input teachers have—the more
control they exercise over their own licensing procedures—the more teaching will
be recognized as a full profession.

Autonomy in Deciding About Spheres of Work

■ Professional control versus In a profession, every member of the group, but no outsider, is assumed to be qual-
lay control ified to make professional judgments on the nature of the work involved. Indeed,
control by laypersons is considered the natural enemy of professions; it limits the
professional’s power and opens the door to outside interference. Professionals usu-
ally establish rules and customs that give them exclusive jurisdiction over their area
of competence and their relationships with clients.
■ Traditional lack of teacher Teachers, in contrast, have traditionally had little input in curriculum deci-
input sions, and they are vulnerable when they seek to introduce textbooks or discuss top-
ics that pressure groups consider controversial. In fact, school officials often hire
outside “experts” with little teaching experience to help them select books, write
grant proposals, or resolve local school-community issues.11 Even school reform ini-
tiative often comes from government officials, business leaders, and civic groups
rather than from teachers.

High Prestige and Economic Standing

■ High-prestige occupations Occupational prestige refers to the esteem a particular society bestows on an occu-
pation. Do you consider teaching a high-prestige occupation? Occupations rate high
in prestige if they are generally perceived as making an especially valuable contribu-
tion to society. Occupations that require a high level of education or skill and little
manual or physical labor also tend to be prestigious. On these aspects of social status,
the job of elementary or secondary teacher historically has ranked relatively high.
■ Teacher prestige Perhaps the best-known studies of occupational prestige are those conducted
by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC). In these studies of more than
five hundred occupations, the highest average score for a major occupation was
eighty-two for physicians and surgeons, and the lowest was nine for shoe shiners.
Elementary-school teachers were rated at sixty and secondary school teachers at
sixty-three—both above the ninetieth percentile. In addition, the percentage of
teachers who say they “feel respected in today’s society” has increased substantially
in recent decades. In one cross-national study, 70 percent of U.S. respondents be-
lieved that high-school teachers are either “very respected” or “fairly respected.”12

11
Michael W. Apple, “Is There a Curriculum Voice to Reclaim?” Phi Delta Kappan (March
1990); Alfred G. Hess, “The Changing Role of Teachers: Moving from Interested Spectators to
Engaged Planners,” Education and Urban Society (May 1994), pp. 248–263; John J. DiNatale,
“School Improvement and Restructuring: A Threefold Approach,” NASSP Bulletin (October
1994), pp. 79–83; and Susan Moore Johnson, “Can Professional Certification for Teachers
Reshape Teaching as a Career,” Phi Delta Kappan (January 2001), pp. 393–399.
12C. C. North and Paul K. Hatt, “Jobs and Occupation: A Popular Evaluation,” Opinion News,

September 1, 1947, pp. 3–13; Robert W. Hodge, Paul M. Siegel, and Peter H. Rossi, “Occupa-
tional Prestige in the United States, 1925–63,” American Journal of Sociology (November 1964),
pp. 286–302; Donald J. Treiman, Occupational Prestige in Comparative Perspective (New York:
Academic Press, 1977); and Rowan, “Comparing Teachers’ Work with Work in Other Occupa-
tions,” pp. 4–17.
 Is Teaching a Profession? ■ 35

■ Prestige derived from One reason why teachers have maintained or even increased their occupational
complex work prestige is that their average level of education has risen greatly over the past cen-
tury. Another reason may be the complex nature of teaching. Brian Rowan, com-
paring teachers’ work with other occupations, found that work complexity related
directly to occupational prestige. Teaching, more complex than 75 percent of all
other occupations, ranked quite high in prestige. The complexity of teachers’ work
is manifested in their need to apply principles of logical or scientific thinking to de-
fine problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw conclusions. To be a teacher,
you must be highly proficient in language (reading, writing, and speaking), and,
most of all, you must work effectively with many kinds of people—children, adoles-
cents, parents, colleagues, and superiors. This work with people sets teaching apart
from most other occupations. However, society accords higher prestige (and, of
course, higher pay) to professionals such as physicians, academics, lawyers, and en-
gineers, mainly because they must deal with information generally regarded as
more abstract (complex) and because these fields require more rigorous academic
preparation and licensure.13
■ Salary trends Although teachers’ salaries since 1930 have increased more than those of
■ Status-consistency the average industry worker, teacher pay remains lower than that of the average
hypothesis college graduate, such as an engineer, nurse, accountant, or business major.14 In
addition, teachers still earn far less than lawyers, business executives, and some
other professionals with similar levels of formal education. For example,
R E F O C U S Which of the preceding areas of your classmates who become business executives with a level of formal
professionalism—a defined body of knowledge, education similar to yours as a teacher might earn $150,000 per year, and
control of licensing and entry, autonomy in
some might earn $500,000 or more. Nevertheless, the status-consistency
decision making, or high prestige and economic
hypothesis holds that a group tends to compare its achievements (both
standing—is most important to your personal
definition of a profession? Is it important to you prestige and salary) with those of other groups, striving to match the re-
that teaching seems to lag behind other wards of people with similar jobs and similar years of education.15 If this
professions in these areas? Why or why not? is true, we can expect teachers to compare their lot with other groups’
and feel somewhat dissatisfied. In the past this dissatisfaction has been a
major reason for teacher militancy, and it has motivated some teachers to leave the
profession.16
■ Teacher status on the rise To its credit, educational reform has put teachers in the limelight and has
brought pressure on school districts to increase salaries. Though optimistic projec-
tions have not always been fulfilled,17 the earnings gap between teachers and other
highly educated groups may now begin to close. With help from their own pro-
fessional organizations, coupled with pressure to upgrade educational standards,
teachers should continue to experience increased status.

13
Eric Hoyle, “Teaching: Prestige, Status and Esteem,” Educational Management and Administra-
tion (April 2001), pp. 139–152.
14
Dan Goldhaber and Daniel Player, “What Different Benchmarks Suggest About How Finan-
cially Attractive It Is to Teach in Public Schools,” Journal of Education Finance (Winter 2005),
pp. 211–230;Victor R. Lindquist and Frank S. Endicott, The Northwestern Lindquist–Endicott
Report: Employment Trends for College Graduates, Forty-sixth Annual Survey (Evanston, Ill.:
Northwestern University, 1992); Steven L. Denlinger, “A Look at the Problem of Teacher
Deficits,” Clearing House (January–February 2002), pp. 116–117.
15
David J. Hoff, “Politics Pulls Teacher to Forefront,” Education Week (January 2006), pp. 1,
21, 24.
16
Jo Anna Natale, “Why Teachers Leave,” Executive Educator (November 1993), pp. 8–15; and
Patricia Gonzales, “Strategies for Teacher Retention,” NSTEP Information Brief (Alexandria,
Va.: National Association of State Directors of Special Education, 1995).
17
Allan C. Ornstein, “Teacher Salaries in Social Context,” High School Journal (December-
January 1990), pp. 129–132; see also “Just the Stats,” at www.nea.org/publiced/edstats; and
Southern Regional Education Board, SREB Teacher Salaries: Update for 1995–96 and Estimated
Increases for 1997 (Atlanta, Ga.: SREB, 1996).
36 ■ Chapter 2 The Teaching Profession

Trends Toward Professionalism

Although teaching, as we have seen, probably should not be considered a fully pro-
fessionalized occupation, certain trends have helped it move in that direction. Col-
lective bargaining, for example, can enhance teachers’ capacity to make decisions
about their classroom work. Let’s look at several other major aspects of a long-range
trend toward professionalizing teaching.

The Scope of Collective Bargaining

By 1980 teachers had won the right to have their representatives formally bargain
with their employers in most of the United States. If you went to public schools,
your teachers’ contracts were probably negotiated through collective bargaining.
The extent and nature of collective bargaining varied from negotiations conducted
in the absence of a law allowing or forbidding it to full-scale contract bargaining
backed by the right to strike. In contrast, the private school sector has no collective
bargaining.
■ Is collective bargaining In some ways, collective bargaining may be considered a nonprofessional or
professional? even antiprofessional activity. In law, medicine, or the ministry, for example, few
professionals work in organizations in which collective bargaining determines
terms of employment. Collective bargaining, however, can significantly enhance
teaching’s professionalism by giving teachers greater authority to determine their
work conditions and their effectiveness as teachers.
■ Changing focus of collective Collective bargaining has increasingly affected concerns other than the funda-
bargaining mental salary issue. Today, the focus is often on peer review, career ladders, merit
pay, standards setting, and school-based management,18 subjects discussed in later
sections of this chapter. Teachers’ bargaining units often feel the “push/pull” of
addressing bread-and-butter issues as opposed to professional concerns.19 In up-
coming years, movements toward school reform, school restructuring, and teacher
empowerment will give teachers more professional autonomy, union strength, and
higher salaries, in exchange for greater accountability and reduced adversarial
bargaining. Continuing in this vein, collective bargaining can go beyond resolv-
ing conflicts between school boards and teachers and raise the overall status of the
profession.20

Standards & Assessment ✓

■ Professional Practice Boards
■ Setting professional Educators are unlikely to achieve complete autonomy in setting professional prac-
standards tice standards, but their role has increased. Today all states except two (Maine and
South Dakota) have established state professional practice boards, or similar bod-
ies, which set standards for teacher certification.

18Louis Fischer, David Schimmel, and Leslie Stellman, Teachers and the Law (New York: Long-
man, 2007 ), pp. 44–56; Lynn M. Cornett, “Lessons from 10 Years of Teacher Improvement
Reforms,” Educational Leadership (February 1995), pp. 26–30; and Bobby Ann Starnes,
“Thoughts on Teaching: John L. Lewis, Jesus, and President Bush,” Phi Delta Kappan (Febru-
ary 2004), p. 475.
19
Denny G. Bolton, “Better Bargaining: Common Mistakes in Contract Negotiations and
How to Avoid Them,” American School Board Journal (March 2001), pp. 16–20.
20Perry A. Zirkel, “Striking Results,” Phi Delta Kappan (February 2003), pp. 478–479; and

William Keene, “Win/Win or Else”: Collective Bargaining in an Age of Public Discontent (Thou-
sand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press, 1996).
 Trends Toward Professionalism ■ 37

■ A national board Some educators favor a single national board rather than independent state
boards. This has always been the position of the American Federation of Teachers
(AFT), and the idea has been welcomed by many national task force groups. As men-
tioned in the chapter on Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for the Entering
Teacher, the Carnegie Corporation has helped to found the National Board for Pro-
fessional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). The NEA now supports this organization
because two-thirds of the NBPTS directors are “teaching professionals”—that is, rep-
resentatives of teacher unions, subject-area associations, and teachers noted for
classroom excellence.21 Currently, the NBPTS has granted national certification to
more than fifty thousand teachers in twenty-four certificate fields.22 Although
NBPTS certification is voluntary and cannot be required as a condition of hiring,
many educators hope that local school boards and superintendents will develop in-
centives to encourage teachers to apply for national certification.23 All fifty states
have already initiated support in the form of certification fee reimbursement or
salary supplements.24 For more information on national board standards and the
twenty-four certification areas, see .nbpts.org/about.

Mediated Entry
Mediated entry refers to the practice of inducting persons into a profession
through carefully supervised stages that help them learn how to apply professional
knowledge successfully in working environments. For example, aspiring physicians
serve one or more years as interns and then as residents before being considered
full-fledged professionals.
■ Lack of assistance for new Dan Lortie has studied the teacher’s job from a sociological perspective and has
teachers concluded that teaching ranks between occupations characterized by “casual” entry
and those that place difficult demands on would-be members. For example, secre-
tarial knowledge and skills are significantly less demanding than those of a medical
doctor or even a nurse.25 The lack of more carefully mediated entry means that new
teachers have relatively little opportunity to benefit from the principles and prac-
tices developed by earlier educators. Too often teachers report learning to teach
through trial and error in the classroom. They also report that the beginning years
of teaching can be a period of anxiety, loneliness, and fear, even of trauma.26 Al-
though almost any occupation or profession produces problems and anxieties at
first, a more systematic mediated entry would probably alleviate some stress.

21John W. Porter, “A Call for National Certification of Teachers,” NASSP Bulletin (October
1990), pp. 64–70; Bess Keller, “NBPTS Upgrades Profession, Most Agree, Despite Test Score
Letdown,” Education Week (May 2006), p. 5; Donna H. Leuker, “Certification: Teachers at the
Top of Their Profession,” American School Board Journal (June 1994), p. 24; and Albert
Shanker, “Quality Assurance: What Must Be Done to Strengthen the Teaching Profession,”
Phi Delta Kappan (November 1996), pp. 220–224.
22Available at www.nea.org/national, board/background-facts; Holly Thornton, “The Mean-

ing of National Board Certification for Middle Grades Teaching,” Middle School Journal
(March 2001), pp. 46–54.
23
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards 2006, at www.nbpts.org.
24American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, “NBPTS Study: Teachers Who

Attained Board Certification Outperform Those Who Didn’t Succeed,” Teacher Education
Reports, November 27, 2000, p. 2.
25
Dan C. Lortie, Schoolteacher: A Sociological Study (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1975).
26
Barry A. Farber, Crisis in Education: Stress and Burnout in the American Teacher (San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass, 1991); Pamela L. Grossman, The Making of a Teacher (New York: Teachers College
Press, 1990); Susan Moore Johnson, Teachers at Work (New York: Harper and Row, 1990); and
Anne Cockburn, Teaching Under Pressure (Bristol, Pa.: Falmer, 1996).
38 ■ Chapter 2 The Teaching Profession

Online Study Center After reading this section, watch “Teacher Accountability: A Student Teacher’s Perspective.”
In this video, you’ll see a roundtable discussion about how teachers approach ac-
countability in a positive and nonthreatening way that benefits both teachers and
VIDEO CASE:
students. How can you relate to some of the concerns that student teacher Caitlin
Teacher Hollister has (see Interview Transcript #2)? After watching the video, answer the
following questions:
Accountability:

How does this video case illustrate the concept of “mediated entry” described
A Student Teacher’s in the chapter?
Perspective  In your opinion, what insights has Caitlin gained about teaching as a result of
being mentored by a group of experience teachers?

**This Video Case reinforces key concepts found in Section IV: Profession and Community of the Praxis II
Exam.**

■ Professional development More colleges and universities are using professional development schools (de-
schools as clinical settings scribed in the chapter on Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for the Enter-
ing Teacher) as clinical settings where aspiring teachers gain a year of classroom
experience before student teaching (residency). This multisemester approach—in
actual classrooms under the guidance of experienced teachers and their university
professors—provides a more systematic induction into the teaching profession.27
■ Establishing a transition The teaching profession now recognizes the need to develop a period of induc-
period tion and transition into teaching, especially given that approximately 45 percent of
new teachers leave the profession by the end of year five. During your first few
years of teaching, you may be considered a probationary teacher. Since the early
1980s, more than thirty states have mandated statewide initiatives or have provided
funds for this purpose. Some school districts, such as Toledo, Ohio, provide proba-
tionary or intern teachers with feedback and assistance from experienced teachers.
Performance-assessment approaches can help determine whether new teachers
have mastered some of the most important teaching skills. Other districts assign
specially trained mentor teachers or support teams to work closely with new teach-
ers, particularly those assigned to teach “high-risk” students.28 Mentor teachers may
receive released time or stipends for helping new teachers. In many other school dis-
tricts, all teachers are evaluated, but expectations and training sessions differ for
probationary teachers and experienced teachers.29 Some colleges and universities
provide transitional guidance for graduates who will teach, either through direct

27Sharon Castle, “Do Professional Development Schools (PDS) Make a Difference?” Journal of

Teacher Education (January/February 2006), pp. 65–80; Thomas Guskey, “What Makes Profes-
sional Development Effective,” Phi Delta Kappan (June 2003), pp. 748–750; Ann Reynolds,
Steven Ross, and Janine Rakow, “Teacher Retention, Teaching Effectiveness, and Professional
Preparation: A Comparison of Professional Development School and Non-Professional Devel-
opment School Graduates,” Teaching and Teacher Education (April 2002), pp. 289–303.
28Susan Moore Johnson and Susan Kardos, “Keeping New Teachers in Mind,” Educational

Leadership (March 2002), pp. 12–16.

29
Arthur E. Wise, Linda Darling-Hammond, and Barnett Berry, Effective Teacher Selection: From
Recruitment to Retention (Santa Monica, Calif.: Rand Corporation, 1987); Laura M. Hooke and
Linda Randolph, “Excellence in Teacher Preparation: Partners for Success,” Childhood Educa-
tion (Summer 2004), p. 231.
 Trends Toward Professionalism ■ 39

supervision or through staff development or both. Overall, the trend toward more
carefully mediated entry should continue; major teacher unions and several educa-
tion reform groups support it, as does federal legislation such as No Child Left Be-
hind, which mandates “highly qualified teachers.” (We define and discuss highly
qualified in the chapter on Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for the Entering
Teacher.)

■ Keeping up to date
Staff Development
Your teacher training does not end when you begin teaching full time. Teaching de-
mands rigorous and continuous training, which we often refer to as staff develop-
ment, or further education and training for a school district’s teaching staff. To stay
up to date in their preparation and to acquire new classroom skills, teachers have
traditionally participated in various kinds of in-service training, or completion of a
master’s degree. In most states completion of a master’s degree, either in a content
field or in professional education coursework, automatically makes one a “highly
■ Rising importance of staff qualified teacher” (HQT).
development Both the NEA and the AFT support the concept of staff development as integral
to a teacher’s professional growth. U.S. teachers are an aging group (the average
teacher is about fifty years old and has twenty years of experience), and many states
now require teachers to participate in staff development programs in order to retain
their teaching certificates. Younger teachers, those with less than ten years’ experi-
ence, tend to use staff development programs to pursue new degrees (mostly mas-
ter’s degrees), whereas veteran teachers with ten or more years’ experience are more
likely to participate in specialized workshops or in-service training.30 Staff develop-
ment topics in high demand include improving students’ reading and writing skills,
working with special-needs students, inclusion students, working with diverse pop-
ulations, active learning strategies, curriculum revision, site-based management,
■ Training in educational and legal issues and concerns.
technology and research Another important focus for staff development is improving teachers’ knowl-
edge and skills in using educational technology. This effort ranges from teaching ba-
sic computer literacy—such as word processing, creating PowerPoint presentations,
and developing grade spreadsheets—to teaching more sophisticated use of Internet
resources—such as interactive video, CD-ROM videodisks, and distance learning.31
The AFT has also developed its Educational Research and Dissemination (ER&D)
program to expose teachers to the growing body of important education research
findings. A series of collegial workshops explore the latest research and prac-
tical classroom applications. Universities have trained more than fifteen hundred
teachers to act as workshop leaders, and the program continues to grow.32 As the

30The Condition of Education (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2002),

p. 139; Elizabeth Hartwell-Young, “Teachers’ Roles and Professional Learning in Communi-

ties of Practice Supported by Technology in Schools,” Journal of Technology and Teacher
Education (July 2006), pp. 461–480; John Norton, “Grounded in Research,” Journal of Staff
Development (Summer 2001), pp. 30–32; Van E. Cooley, “Implementing Technology Using
Teachers as Trainers,” Journal of Technology and Teacher Training 9, no. 2 (2001), pp. 269–284;
and Paula Galland, “Techie Teachers—Web-Based Staff Development at Your Leisure,” Tech
Trends (May-June 2002), pp. 7–10.
31
TK?
32
AFT Educational Research and Dissemination Program (Washington, D.C.: AFT, 1990); tele-
phone conversation with Deanna Woods, assistant director of the Educational Research and
Dissemination Program, American Federation of Teachers, November 14, 1995; and Hayes
Mizell, “How to Get There from Here,” Journal of Staff Development (Summer 2001), pp. 18–20.
40 ■ Chapter 2 The Teaching Profession

TECHNOLOGY @ SCHOOL
Professional Development Opportunities on the World Wide Web

W
hether you are preparing to teach, experiencing homework helpers, and the curriculum center, where you
your first year in the classroom, or a veteran will find classroom activities supporting core curriculum
teacher, professional growth and development topics.These are only a few of the many resources available
are critical to your success in teaching.The Internet pro- at this site.
vides a rich array of technology resources for teachers, Beginning and veteran teachers can find Internet re-
students, and even parents. sources in just about any subject area, including math, sci-
Novice teachers especially need job search informa- ence, social studies, English/language arts, art, and music.
tion, such as résumé writing and interviewing tips, as A great deal of information is available for teacher lesson
well as information on substitute teaching jobs, certifi- plans that make use of newspaper articles, technology
cation, and professional expectations and behavior (at applications, writing activities, analysis of magazine and
http//u.s.geocities.yahoo.com/search?p=student+teach journal articles, slide shows, videos, assessment rubrics and
er+resource. Click on “Student Teacher Resource Source” workshops, some of which are actually online. Many of
for all sorts of lesson plans, job searching tips, and these sites have links to additional resource sites. (Look at
resources.) Kathy Schrock’s “Guide for Educators—Internet Informa-
This site covers all of these topics and more. New teach- tion” at http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/ for
ers can also consult this site for tips on organizing class- helpful links that are updated each week.) Searching
rooms, bulletin board ideas, teaching strategies, resources Google for “Teacher Internet Resources” will yield addi-
for educators, class management, block schedules, motivat- tional excellent sites.
ing students, and even workshops on assessment rubrics. As you move from preservice to the full-time practice of
Preservice teachers can find free résumé advice, sample teaching, you will want to familiarize yourself with profes-
résumés, and assistance with building a personal résumé at sional development activities for certified teachers avail-
“schoolcareer.com.” Job search information is also available able at PBS Teacher Line (teacherline.pbs.org). Here
at this site. You will want to visit Kathy Schrock’s “Guide to teachers can select from more than ninety online courses
Educators” (http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/) as by clicking on “About Courses” and “Course Catalog.” For
well, where you will find a wide range of Internet resources, teacher resources click on “Resources” and select resources
such as teacher helper, search tools, puzzle makers, clip art, for math, science, reading, language arts, and technology
brain boosters, new sites this month, teaching tools, videos, and curriculum integration.

Technology @ School box describes, teachers can also use the Internet for profes-
sional development.
New varieties of staff development programs are giving teachers a major voice
in decisions that affect their professional careers. These programs also help to estab-
lish the concept that teaching, like other full-fledged professions, requires lengthy
and ongoing training,

Merit Pay
■ Critiques of merit pay Real changes in teacher remuneration are under way. A growing number of school
boards have taken the position that merit pay (a supplement to a teacher’s base
salary to reward superior performance) is a cost-effective method of motivating
teachers and encouraging excellence in teaching. However, teacher unions and
other critics have expressed reservations about merit pay plans. Some argue that
teachers’ work is complicated and difficult to measure, and assessments of merit are
too often subjective, especially when left in the hands of a single person—the
 Trends Toward Professionalism ■ 41

school principal.33 Teachers and their professional organizations feel more comfort-
able with peer evaluations. Where merit plans have been implemented, according to
some reports, teachers have often believed that the wrong people were selected for
preferential pay. Some observers fear that such rewards go to relatively few teachers
at the expense of many others and threaten unity and collegiality among educators.
Moreover, merit pay funding has often been inadequate. The need, critics say, is to
increase all teachers’ salaries, not just a few, and not to pit teachers against one an-
other.34 The Taking Issue box presents some arguments for and against merit pay.
■ Career ladders Even as the arguments continue, the concept of merit pay has spread to many
school districts and to entire states. Today, merit pay plans are sometimes linked
with career ladders, which establish clear-cut stages through which a teacher may ad-
vance. North Carolina in 1991 implemented a statewide merit plan called “differ-
ential pay,” whereby local school districts receive up to 3 percent above their
normal salary totals to allocate to teachers on the basis of merit or additional re-
sponsibilities.35 Overall, the trend toward raising the ceiling on teachers’ salaries
and making distinctions based on merit should attract brighter students into the
profession and keep good teachers from leaving classrooms for more competitive
salaries in other fields.

School-Based Management
■ Decision making at the Many educational reforms, as we have seen, involve a movement toward teacher
school level empowerment—increasing teachers’ participation in decisions that affect their own
work and careers. One such reform is school-based management (also known as
site-based management, site-based decision making, or collaborative decision making), a
system in which individual schools rather than superintendents or boards of educa-
tion make many decisions about curriculum, instruction, staff development, alloca-
tion of funds, and staffing assignments. School teachers, administrators, and often
parents together develop their own plan for the school’s future.
■ Teachers as experts The assumption underlying school-based management is that people who
share in responsibilities and decisions will believe in what they are doing and will
work more effectively toward common goals. This concept of reform also recognizes
that teachers are experts whose talents should be put to use in planning. The reform
plans in Dade County, Florida, and Rochester, New York (described in the chapter
on Motivation, Preparation, and Conditions for the Entering Teacher), include a
generous dose of school-based management. Other districts with similar plans in-
clude Louisville, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Baltimore.

33
Jennifer Azordegan et al., “Diversifying Teacher Compensation,” Issue Paper. (Denver:
Education Commission for the States, 2005); Ron Brandt, “On Research on Teaching,” Educa-
tional Leadership (April 1992), pp. 14–19; and Stephen Jacobsen, “Money Incentives and the
Reform of Teacher Compensation: A Persistent Dilemma,” International Journal of Educational
Reform (January 1995), pp. 29–35.
34
Carolyn McCreight, “Teacher Attrition, Shortage, and Strategies for Teacher Retention”
(2000), ERIC Document: ED 444986; Melissa McCabe,”Weighing the Merits: Several States
Are Implementing Pay-for-Performance Plans, Teacher Magazine (March/April 2005), p. 22;
Dale Ballou, “Pay for Performance in Public and Private Schools,” Economics of Education
Review (February 2001), pp. 51–61; and Larry Lashway, “Incentives for Accountability,” 2002,
ERIC No: ED 457598.
35
Jeffrey T. Sultanik, “Bonus Pay for Teachers,” American School Board Journal (February 2000),
pp. 34–36; Marge Scherer, “Improving the Quality of the Teaching Force: A Conversation
with David C. Berliner,” Educational Leadership (May 2001), pp. 6–10.
42 ■ Chapter 2 The Teaching Profession

TAKING ISSUE
Merit Pay
Traditionally, teachers have earned salaries based on their years in teaching and their highest degree obtained. Recent
plans, however, offer extra pay to teachers considered above average in teaching skills, work habits, leadership, or student
achievement.

Question
Should individual teachers receive special pay increases based on merit?

Arguments PRO Arguments CON

1 Teachers whose students consistently score high on 1 Factors related to achievement and social attitudes are
achievement tests or have healthy social attitudes must so diverse that it is impossible to differentiate the
be outstanding teachers or models for citizenship. Such teacher’s contribution from home, social-class, and
teachers merit extra compensation for their work. peer-group influences.
2 Teachers who provide their students with creative and 2 Hard work can perhaps be measured, but many “cre-
interesting education experiences, work hard in prepa- ative” activities do not necessarily correlate with good
ration, and give many hours of their own time to their teaching. If creativity is a criterion, merit pay may be
students also deserve special compensation rewarded more for the teacher’s apparent inventiveness
3 Merit pay reduces teaching conformity by encouraging than for students’ learning.
teachers to develop different teaching approaches, 3 Those who evaluate teachers’ merit may unconsciously
become more independent in thought, and exceed text favor peopel who do not challenge district policy or
or teaching-guide presentations. seem not to threaten school stability with innovative
4 Some merit pay plans allow teachers to earn $75,000 or approaches. Thus, merit pay may encourage conformity.
more. Without such opportunities to earn above the 4 Businesses can offset extensive merit pay rewards by
base salary, capable and ambitious people will choose raising prices, but schools must raise taxes. Taxpayers
incentive-producing careers such as business. often will not or cannot support such rewards.
5 Merit pay promotes excellence in teaching by acting as 5 Incentive pay, by definition, goes to only a few. Such a
an incentive for teachers to improve their performance. plan penalizes equally qualified teachers who miss out
Each teacher is encouraged to develop better teaching for lack of enough positions. Moreover, competition for
behaviors and a deeper concern for student welfare. merit pay pits one teacher against another, encourages
Business and most other professions offer such motiva- political games, and destroys the collegial cooperation
tors, why not teaching? essential to good education.

■ Willingness to get involved The fate of school-based management rests especially on the relationship between
principals and their teachers, on the willingness of teachers to take responsibility for
directing their own behavior, and on the amount of extra time teachers are willing to
devote to working out problems and reaching consensus.36 Advocates of school-based
management claim that most teachers welcome the increased involvement and that
teacher morale and the overall climate of the school dramatically improve.37

36Betsy Brand, “Enhancing High School Reform: Lessons from Site Visits to Four Cities,”

Washington, D.C.: American Youth Policy Forum, 2005; and Frank Brown, “Site-Based Man-
agement: Is It Still Central to the School Reform Movement?” School Business Affairs (April
2001), pp. 5–6, 8–9.
37 Mary Apodaca-Tucker, “School-Based Management: Views from Public and Private Elemen-

tary School Principals,” Education Policy Analysis Archives (April 2002), p. 23; Hess, “The Chang-
ing Role of Teachers,” pp. 248–263; and Neil Dempster, “The Impact and Effects of Site-Based
Management on Schools,” Journal of Educational Administration (January 2000), pp. 47–63.
 Teacher Organizations ■ 43

Online Study Center Watch Teaching as a Profession: Collaboration with Colleagues and think about what collab-
oration as a teacher means to you.What do you think are the challenges and rewards
VIDEO CASE: associated with collaboration? After watching the video, answer the following
questions:
Teaching as a
Explain how the teachers in this video case exemplify the concepts of teacher em-
powerment and site-based decision making that are described in this chapter.
Profession:
 In this video case, we meet a group of teachers who are trying to address an im-
Collaboration with portant issue related to the school’s math curriculum. Is their collaboration success-
Colleagues ful? Why or why not?

**This Video Case reinforces key concepts found in Section IV: Profession and Community of the Praxis II
Exam.**

■ Critiques of school-based Critics contend that the result of collaboration is often not useful. Considerable
management time, they say, is devoted to discussing daily teaching problems such as classroom
management, equipment needs, clerical routines, and working conditions;
R E F O C U S How do you believe movements thus little time remains for the larger issue of school effectiveness. In addi-
toward increasing professionalism in teaching
tion, some administrators argue that many teachers untrained in shared
will affect you? Will you look for a position in a
leadership, instead of cooperating, may revert to a hostile collective-
school that makes a strong effort to help new
teachers? Would you prefer a mediated-entry bargaining stance.38 In addition, some districts have found it difficult
program similar to that in the medical to develop meaningful parental involvement in school-based decision
profession, with intern and resident teacher making.39
levels, before you become a full-fledged Expanding school-based management will require patience and a
professional teacher? How can you prepare willingness to work out differences in expectations. Once in practice,
yourself to effectively carry out the shared however, shared decision making helps empower teachers and further
leadership responsibilities of school-based enhances their professional status.
management?

Teacher Organizations
■ NEA and AFT Although today’s working conditions need improvement, they sharply contrast
with the restrictions teachers once endured. For example, a Wisconsin teacher’s
contract for 1922 prohibited a woman teacher from dating, marrying, staying out
past 8 P.M., smoking, drinking, loitering in ice cream parlors, dyeing her hair, and
using mascara or lipstick.40 A critical factor in the development of teaching as a pro-
fession has been the growth of professional organizations for teachers. The Na-
tional Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers

38Kerri Briggs and Priscilla Whalstetter, “Key Elements of a Successful School-Based Manage-
ment System,” School Effectiveness and School Improvement (September 2003), pp. 351–372;
Alan B. Henkin, Peter J. Cistone, and Jay Dee, “Conflict Management Strategies of Principals
in Site-Based Managed Schools,” Journal of Educational Administration (February 2000), pp.
42–58; Bruce R. Brown and G. Robb Cooper, “School-Based Management: How Effective Is
It?” NASSP Bulletin (May 2000), pp. 77–85; and Kubilay Gok et al., “The Demands of Decen-
tralizaton: Skills and Knowledge for Leaders in Restructured Schools,” online submission,
AERA Meeting, San Francisco, California, 2005.
39
Eddy Van Meter, “Implementing School-Based Decision Making in Kentucky,” NASSP Bul-
letin (September 1994), pp. 61–70; Alan Riley, “Parent Empowerment: An Idea for the
Nineties,” Education Canada (Fall 1994), pp. 14–20; and Lynn Beck and Joseph Murphy,
“Parental Involvement in Site-Based Management: Lessons from One Site,” International
Journal of Leadership in Education (April-June 1999), pp. 81–102.
40
Chicago Tribune, September 28, 1975, sect. 1, p. 3.
44 ■ Chapter 2 The Teaching Profession

FROM PRESERVICE TO PRACTICE

The SBDM Team
uring a break in the teachers’ lounge, Anna Solem- the opinion that if asking for their views on professional

D ini, a first-year teacher, listened to her colleagues

talk about the recent staff development day. Sev-
eral complaints focused on the lack of helpful professional
development was a way of empowering teachers as profes-
sionals, ignoring the survey results was equally a way to de-
professionalize the teachers.
development provided by the school administration. Julia After hearing about some of the SBDMT’s other roles,
Smith, an experienced teacher, questioned, “Why did they Anna began to think that serving on the SBDMT could be
make all of us sit there and listen to another presentation a service to the school. The experience could help her
on learning styles? Most of us have heard that at least three develop professionally, too. She asked Julia how she might
times!” become involved. Julia said, “Don’t worry. Until you have
Robert Garza, another long-time staff member, said, “I several years of experience and can influence other teach-
wish they would pay attention to what we want for profes- ers, the administration won’t even consider you for that
sional development. The site-based decision-making team position.”
seems to consistently ignore the survey that we complete “But I thought that the teachers were elected to the po-
in the spring. I know I requested help to improve teachers’ sitions on the SBDMT,” said Anna. “What factors do the
use of technology. A couple of my friends requested help teachers consider important?”
with classroom management. A presentation on learning “The same items I have already noted—experience and
styles doesn’t focus on what we want to learn.” influence.”
Another teacher added an important point that helped “But I think that it could be a great learning experience
Anna better understand some of the differing views. She ex- for a beginning teacher like myself,” said Anna.
plained that the site-based decision-making team (SBDMT) “Well, I think you will probably find this first year chal-
decided topics for professional development and that per- lenging enough without taking on the site-based decision-
haps ideas from the teachers were not well presented to making team. If you believe you can find time for all those
that team. The teachers wanted to know if an actual tabu- meetings and really want to do this, though, make that
lation of the surveys had been created and presented to known to our principal and to our fellow teachers. Just try
the team. After all, each of them had completed a survey not to be too idealistic. I am sure you have a lot of new ideas
last spring to select a couple of topics for this fall’s pro- from your recent training, but decisions in the real world
fessional development. Her new colleagues also expressed can get a little stickier.”

Questions
1. What further information should Anna seek before trying to join the site-based decision-making team?
2. What do you think about Julia’s view that only experienced teachers will be selected or elected to serve on the SBDMT?
3. Why might some teachers object to serving on an SBDMT?
4. In your opinion, is Anna’s plan likely to be more or less effective than complaints in the teachers’ lounge?

(AFT), the two most important, usually are considered rivals, competing for mem-
bers, recognition, and power. Overview 2.1 sums up major differences between the
two organizations. Although some educators believe that this division produces
healthy professional competition, others consider it detrimental to the teaching
profession—a splitting of power and a waste of resources. Still others argue that teach-
ers will not attain full professional status until one unified voice speaks for them.
■ Benefits of organizational Regardless of which teacher organization you prefer or are inclined to join, the
membership important step is to make a commitment and to be an active member. Organiza-
tional membership will increase your own professionalism and gain you collegial
 Teacher Organizations ■ 45

OVERVIEW 2.1
Comparison of the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation
of Teachers (AFT)
NEA AFT
Total membership (2006) 2,800,000 1,300,000

Members who are classroom 2,300,000 650,000

teachers

President Reg Weaver Edward J. McElroy

President’s term 2 years (maximum 6 years per 2 years (no maximum)
person)

Organizational view Professional association Union affiliation with AFL-CIO

Organizational atmosphere Relatively formal (white collar) Relatively informal (blue collar)
Geographic strength Suburban and rural areas Large and medium-size cities

relationships. Your support also helps to improve salary, working conditions, and
benefits for many teachers. In addition, reading the journals, magazines, or newslet-
ters that most professional organizations publish, as well as visiting their Web sites,
will keep you abreast of the latest developments in the field. See Suggested Re-
sources at the end of this chapter.

National Education Association (NEA)

■ NEA membership The National Education Association is a complex, multifaceted organization in-
volved in education on many local, state, and national levels. Unlike the AFT, the
NEA includes both teachers and administrators at the national level. As shown in
Table 2.1, membership totaled 2.8 million in 2006.41 Among NEA members in 2004,
more than 2 million were classroom teachers.42 This figure comprises three-fourths
of the nation’s 3.1 million public-school teachers. Primarily suburban and rural in
its membership, the NEA represents the fifth-largest lobbying force in the country.
It’s 50 state affiliates, along with more that 13,000 local affiliates, are among the
most influential state-level education lobbies.43 Finally, and importantly, the NEA
opposes teachers going on strike, in marked contrast with the position of the AFT.
■ NEA services The NEA offers a wide range of professional services. The research division con-
ducts annual studies on the status of the profession; it also publishes research
memos and opinion surveys on an annual basis. The NEA’s major publication is a

41See http://www.nea.org/aboutnea/faq.html (2006).

42See www.nea.org/publications (2006).
43See www.nea.org/publications (2006).
46 ■ Chapter 2 The Teaching Profession

monthly newspaper, NEA Today. Most of the fifty state affiliates publish a
REFOCUS Which goals and activities seem
more appealing to you, those of the NEA or monthly magazine as well.
those of the AFT? Why?
American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
■ AFT membership Formed in 1916, the AFT is affiliated with the AFL-CIO labor organization. Origi-
nally open only to classroom teachers, in 1976, to increase membership, the AFT
targeted professional employees such as nurses and nonprofessional school per-
sonnel such as cafeteria, custodial, maintenance, and transportation workers. Mem-
bership in 2006 stood at just over 1.3 million (Table 2.1), of whom 650,000 were
teachers.
■ AFT services In the past, the AFT has supported less research and publication than the NEA,
but the union does publish a professional magazine, American Educator, and a
monthly newspaper, American Teacher. In addition, local affiliates each produce a
monthly newsletter. Unlike the NEA, the AFT has always required its members to
join the local (3,000 affiliates), state (forty-three states), and national organizations
simultaneously.44
■ The AFT and teacher The AFT expanded rapidly in the 1960s and 1970s when its affiliates spear-
militancy headed a dramatic increase in teacher strikes and other militant actions. The AFT be-
came the dominant teacher organization in many large urban centers where unions
have traditionally flourished, where militant tactics have been common, and where
teachers in general have wanted a powerful organization to represent them. In rural
and suburban areas, where union tactics have received less support, the NEA re-
mains dominant.
In addition to the NEA and AFT, more than 325 other national teacher organi-
zations exist.45 In the following sections we describe some of the basic types.

Table 2.1 Membership in the NEA and AFT

Year NEA Membership AFT Membership

1960 714,000 59,000

1970 1,100,000 205,000
1980 1,650,000 550,000
1990 2,050,000 750,000
1995 2,200,000 875,000
1998 2,300,000 950,000
2003 2,700,000 1,000,000
2006 2,800,000 1,300,000

Source: “The AFT Soars,” The 1988–90 Report of the Officers of the American Federation of Teachers (Washington, D.C.: AFT, 1990), p. 15; NEA Hand-
book, 1986–87 (Washington, D.C.: NEA, 1986), Table 4, p. 142; NEA Handbook, 1994–95 (Washington, D.C.: NEA, 1995), Table 1, p. 164; and NEA
Handbook, 1997–98, Table 1, p. 166; see http://www.nea.org/aboutnea/ (2006).

44See“About AFT” at http://www.aft.org/about (2006).

45
See Directory of Education Associations, 2001–2002 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of
Education, 2001).
 Teacher Organizations ■ 47

Specialized Professional Organizations

■ Subject-related associations At the working level, the classroom, the professional organization that best serves
teachers (and education students) is usually one that focuses on their major field.
Each such subject-centered professional association provides a meeting ground for
teachers of similar interests. These professional organizations customarily provide
regional and national meetings and professional journals that offer current teaching
tips, enumerate current issues in the discipline, and summarize current research and
its relationship to practice. The first column of Overview 2.2 lists fifteen major or-
ganizations that focus on specific subject matter.
■ Student-related Other organizations, also national in scope, focus on the needs and rights of
organizations particular kinds of students, ensuring that these children and youth are served by
well-prepared school personnel. Fifteen such organizations are listed in the second
column of Overview 2.2. These associations hold regional and national meetings
and publish monthly or quarterly journals.
■ Other professional Still another type of organization is the professional organization whose mem-
associations bers cut across various subjects and student types, such as the Association for Su-
pervision and Curriculum Development and Phi Delta Kappa. These organizations
tend to highlight general innovative teaching practices, describe new trends and
policies affecting the entire field of education, have a wide range of membership,
and work to advance the teaching profession in general. Each organization publishes
a well-respected journal: Educational Leadership by ASCD, and the Phi Delta Kappan
by PDK.

Religious Education Organizations

In grades K–12 there are approximately 375,000 non-public-school teachers, of whom
135,000 belong to religious education associations. One of the largest religious teacher
organizations is the National Association of Catholic School Teachers (NACST),
founded in 1978 and now comprising more than 5,000 teachers, mainly from large
cities.46 Few Catholic K-12 schoolteachers belong to either the NEA or the AFT.
The largest and oldest Catholic education organization is the National Catholic
Education Association, comprising 7,799 institutions and 200,000 Catholic educa-
tors. Most members are administrators who serve as principals, supervisors, or su-
perintendents of their respective schools. Few teachers are members.47It is estimated
that there are currently more than 2.4 million students in private elementary and
secondary schools in the United States.

Parent-Teacher Groups
■ PTA membership Parent-teacher groups provide a forum for parents and teachers to work together in
resolving educational problems on the local, state, and national levels. As a teacher,
you can take an active part in these associations and work with parents on curricu-
lum and instructional programs, student policy, and school-community relations.

46Letterfrom and telephone conversation with Heidi Wunder, public relations assistant,
National Catholic Education Association, August 27, 2003; telephone conversation with
Virginia Crowther, office manager-membership, National Association of Catholic School
Teachers, March 16, 2001.
47Wunder, NCEA, March 16, 2001; see www.pta.org/aboutus (2006); Also see

www.nea.org/about (2006)
48 ■ Chapter 2 The Teaching Profession

OVERVIEW 2.2
Major Specialized Professional Organizations for Teachers
Organizations That Focus on Organizations That Focus on Student Type
Specific Subject Matter or Age Level
1. American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recre- 1. American Association for Gifted Children
ation and Dance 2. American Association of Workers for the Blind
2. American Council on the Teaching of Foreign 3. American Association for Asian Studies
Languages
4. American Montessori Society
3. American Industrial Arts Association
5. American Speech-Language-Hearing
4. American School Health Association Association
5. American Vocational Association 6. Association for Childhood Education
6. Association for Education in Journalism International
7. International Reading Association 7. Association for Children with Learning Disabilities
8. Modern Language Association 8. Council for Exceptional Children
9. Music Teachers National Association 9. Music Teachers National Association
10. National Art Education Association 10. National Art Education Association
11. National Business Education Association 11. National Business Education Association
12. National Council for the Social Studies 12. National Council for the Social Studies
13. National Council of Teachers of English 13. National Council of Teachers of English
14. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics 14. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
15. National Science Teachers Association 15. National Science Teachers Association

Founded in 1897, the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)—the most prominent

of the groups—is a loose confederation of fifty-four branches and 23,000 local units
in all fifty states, with more than six million members (mostly mothers) in 2006.
Every PTA unit devises its own pattern of organization and service to fit its school
and neighborhood. (Some units now use the acronym PTSA, emphasizing their in-
clusion of students.) PTA membership is open to anyone interested in promoting
the welfare of children and youth, working with teachers and schools, and support-
ing PTA goals.48 Our Children: PTA Today and What’s Happening in Washington are the
official monthly magazines of the association.49 The “Where We Stand” section of
the PTA Web site (go to www.pta.org and click on “news and events,” “issues
and action,”and “parent resources” for the PTA position on issues and pending leg-
islation) offers their online press room and legislative information.
■ National PTA activities As the nation’s largest child-advocacy organization, the National PTA is con-
stantly assessing children’s welfare to respond to changes in society and in children’s
needs. For years, the National PTA has lobbied to reduce violence on television
and to improve the quality of children’s television programming. It also has active

48
Partners in Education: Teachers in the PTA (Chicago: National PTA, 1987); telephone conver-
sation with Patricia Yoxall, director of public relations, National PTA, March 16, 2001; and
Ginny Markel, “Rural Communities Matter: How PTAs Can Increase Parent Involvement in
Our Nation’s Small Towns,” Our Children (November 2000), p. 3.
49
See www.pta.org/ap_faq2006.
 Teacher Organizations ■ 49

OVERVIEW 2.3
Professional Organizations Students Can Join
Name and Location Membership Profile Focus Major Journals
Student National Undergraduate students Future teachers, under- Tomorrow’s Teachers
Education Association, (46,000) standing the profession, (annual), NEA Today
Washington, D.C. liability coverage (monthly)
www.nea.org
Pi Lambda Theta, Undergraduate and graduate Honorary association, Educational Horizons
Bloomington, Ind. students, teachers, and teaching (quarterly)
administrators (11,500)
Phi Delta Kappa, Undergraduate and graduate Honorary association; Phi Delta Kappan
Bloomington, Ind. students, teachers, research; service, (monthly), Fastbacks at
www.pdkintl.org administrators, and leadership, and teaching; reduced rates
professors (130,000) issues, trends, and policies
Kappa Delta Pi, Lafayette, Graduate students, teachers, Honorary association, Educational Forum
Ind. www.kdp.org administrators, and teaching (quarterly), Kappa Delta Pi
professors (29,700); Record (quarterly)
undergraduate students
(25,300)
American Educational Graduate students and Research and its Educational Researcher
Research Association, professors (22,500), application to education (bimonthly), American
Washington, D.C. undergraduate students Educational Research
http://aera.net (4,500) Journal (quarterly), Review
of Educational Research
(quarterly), Educational
Evaluation and Policy
Analysis (quarterly)

programs related to reading, urban education, sex education and AIDS education,
child nutrition and safety education, and drug abuse prevention, as well as improv-
ing school discipline and combating censorship of school and library materials.

Organizations for Prospective Teachers

■ Help in understanding the Students considering teaching careers may join professional organizations. These
profession organizations can help you answer questions; investigate the profession; form ideals
of professional ethics, standards, and training; meet other students and educators at
local and national meetings; and keep up with current trends in the profession.
Overview 2.3 lists professional organizations that students can join. Ask your
professors for appropriate information if you are interested in joining any
R E F O C U S • Which of the professional of these organizations. Some offer student membership rates. Your college
organizations listed in this chapter hold the most library most likely carries the respective journals for each organization. The
interest for you? Which might be useful to join first or second page of each issue lists membership information, costs, and
later in your career?
the Internet address.
• How can you find out more information
about professional organizations in which you
are interested?
50 ■ Chapter 2 The Teaching Profession

Summing Up

It is generally agreed that teaching, although not yet a requiring lengthy and continued training. Merit
full profession, is moving toward becoming one. pay and school-based management provide oppor-
tunities for increased salaries and more professional
 Collective bargaining is an integral part of the teaching
responsibilities.
profession, giving teachers greater authority to deter-
mine working conditions and their effectiveness as  The NEA and AFT now represent a large majority of
teachers. classroom teachers; these organizations have improved
teachers’ salaries and working conditions and have
 Many education trends are raising the level of teacher
gained them a greater voice in decisions that affect
professionalism. State professional practice boards and
teaching and learning in schools.
the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards,
for example, enable teachers to participate in setting  Many professional organizations are open to under-
criteria for entering the profession. Mediated-entry graduate students or to graduate students and teach-
and staff development programs help establish the ers. All provide valuable information and services to
idea that teaching is a full-fledged profession educators at different career levels.

Key Terms
profession (31) National Board for Professional National Education Association (NEA) (43)
National Council for Accreditation of Teaching Standards (37) American Federation of Teachers
Teacher Education (32) mediated entry (37) (AFT) (43)
occupational prestige (34) staff development (39) parent-teacher groups (47)
collective bargaining (36) merit pay (40) Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) (48)
professional practice board (36) school-based management (41)

Certification Connection
Chapter 2 introduces teaching as a profession. A professional find the journal that best fits your major. Read one article on
is a lifelong learner, one that continues to learn outside of the currect research in your subject or area of certification. In your
university. One of the main ways that a professional learns is journal, reflect on how that practice or research might affect
from professional journals. To prepare for the Praxis II ques- your teaching as practice for the Praxis II.
tions about teacher professionalism, go to your library and

Discussion Questions

In your opinion, is teaching a profession or not? What  Are staff development programs essential for maintain-
changes might make teaching a true profession? What ing high-quality teaching? If so, what should their main
does teacher professionalism mean to you? focus be? Who should design these programs and how?
 What special relationships does your college of educa-  Do you agree with proponents of school-based manage-
tion have with area school districts and/or schools? How ment that teachers should have a greater role in manag-
do these relationships enhance your preparation as well ing schools? As a teacher, what kinds of decisions would
as the work of the teachers and administrators? How you like to be involved in? In what, if any, areas of school
could these be improved? management would you rather not be involved, and why?
 Suggested Resources ■ 51

Projects for Professional Development

Using local newspapers, professional journal articles, and  Either by telephone or over the Internet, contact
conversations with teachers and administrators, identify your local NEA and AFT affiliates and ask for information
an educational issue or trend of importance in a local on membership costs, benefits, and services and for
school district, for example, inclusion or standards-based position statements on key educational issues.Talk with
achievement.Why is the issue or trend important? What teachers in the schools you visit, asking them which of
are the differing views on the issue (for/against; the organizations tend to represent teachers in your
pro/con)? What implications do you see for teachers and area and why. Make a chart to display your information
administrators as professional people? Talk with your and share it with the class.
instructor about selecting several classmates to present  Talk with teachers in the schools you visit and your
their issues and analyses as a panel before the class. education professors to find out which professional
 Survey local public-school teachers and your education organizations they belong to—and why. Review the
faculty regarding their views on merit pay. Compare and list of specialized professional organizations in
contrast your results with the views expressed in the Overview 2.2 and select two or three that most
Taking Issue feature. What is your opinion? What are interest you. Using the Internet addresses listed in
you uncertain about? How can you find more informa- Suggested Resources, contact these organizations
tion to clear up these uncertainties? about student membership costs, special benefits,
publications, and special programs.

Suggested Resources
Brimelow, Peter. The Worm in the Apple: How Teacher’s Unions
Internet Resources
Are Destroying Public Education. New York: HarperCollins,
Information about many of the organizations discussed in 2003. A one-sided, but thoughtful, view of teachers’ unions,
this chapter can be found on the World Wide Web. For exam- their philosophies and tactics.
ple, the NEA maintains a home page at www.nea.org; the AFT
Conant, James B. The Education of American Teachers. New
is at www.aft.org; and the National PTA is at www.pta.org. In
York: McGraw-Hill, 1964. A classic text on improving
addition, the Usenet offers access to many news and discus-
teacher education and teacher professionalism.
sion groups related to education; some of them, such as
k12.chat.teacher, focus on topics of particular concern to el- Darling-Hammond, Linda, ed. Professional Development
ementary and secondary school teachers. In exploring spe- Schools: Schools for Developing a Profession. New York:
cific topics such as staff development and educational Teachers’ College Press, 2005. An excellent book on pro-
technology; the biggest problem often is deciding which of fessional development schools, their rationale, and their
the many good sites to visit first. A general Internet search will many merits.
provide a good start. For staff development, try the National Early, Peter. Leading and Managing Continuing Professional
Staff Development Council at www.nsdc.org. For educational Development: Developing People, Developing Schools.
technology, search the federal government site at www London: Paul Chapman, 2004. A thorough look at
.ed.gov. For information on national board certification stan- professional development in Great Britain, comparing
dards, consult the NBPTS site at www.nbpts.org. and contrasting it to professional development in the
United States.
Publications Elliot, Emmerson J. Assessing Education Candidate Perfor-
Apple, Michael W. Educating the Right Way: Markets, Stan- mance: A Look at Changing Practices. Washington, D.C.:
dards, God and Inequality. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Educa-
2006. Analysis of the growing power of conservative move- tion, 2003. Describes a shift from what institutions offer
ments on educational policy and practice. their candidates to what candidates receive—that is,
evidence that candidates have the knowledge, skills, and
Bascia, Nina. Unions in Teachers’ Professional Lives. New York:
dispositions necessary to teach and put these attributes
Teachers College Press, 1994. A case study book on teach-
into action so that all students will learn.
ers’ unions.
52 ■ Chapter 2 The Teaching Profession

Hannaway, Jane, and Andrew Rotherham. Collective Bargain- Neapolitan, Jane, ed. Staying the Course with Professional
ing in Education: Negotiating Change in Today’s Schools. Development Schools. New York: P. Lang, 2005. A compre-
Boston: Harvard Educational Publications Group, 2006. hensive look at the PDS movement, its strengths and short-
A well-written and fair look at the collective bargaining comings as well as its promise for the future.
process and its impact on educational change. Ornstein, Allan C. Teaching: Theory into Practice. Boston: Allyn
Johnson, Susan Moore. Teachers at Work. New York: Harper and Bacon, 1995. Designed to help students reflect on
and Row, 1990. The rules and responsibilities teachers teaching in both the theoretical and the practical sense.
adopt in classrooms and schools. Perlmutter, Jane, and Louise Burrell. The First Weeks of School:
Maeroff, Gene I. Education and Change: A Personal Critique. Laying a Quality Foundation. Portsmouth: Heinemann,
Fastback #466. Bloomington, Ind.: Phi Delta Kappa Edu- 2001. An excellent book for beginning teachers that ad-
cational Foundation, 2000. A thoughtful reflection on and dresses the weeks before the school year begins, the first
analysis of changes in public education and suggestions day of school, those early weeks, survival, and roadblocks
for schools in the twenty-first century. to success. Must reading for first-year teachers!
McCarty, Hannoch, and Frank Siccone. Motivating Your Reynolds, Larry J. Successful Site-Based Management: A Practi-
Students: Before You Can Teach Them You Have to cal Guide. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press, 1997. An
Reach Them. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001. A stimulat- excellent guidebook for introducing a systemwide ap-
ing book written for both new and veteran teachers with proach to site-based management as a strategy for school
scores of suggestions for motivating both students and improvement.
teacher. Walling, Donovan R., ed. Teachers as Leaders: Perspectives on
Murray, Frank. The Teacher Educator’s Handbook: Building a the Professional Development of Teachers. Bloomington,
Knowledge Base for the Preparation of Teachers. San Ind.: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, 1994. A
Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996. This is a thorough examina- handbook for recruiting teachers, especially minorities,
tion of the need for a knowledge base in teaching, based with general information on the teaching profession and
on research and school reform issues. professional development.
National PTA. National Standards for Parent/Family Involve- Warner, Jack, and Clyde Bryan. The Unauthorized Teacher’s
ment. Chicago: National PTA, 1997. A comprehensive set Survival Guide. Indianapolis: Park Avenue, 1995. Must
of standards to help schools, families, and parent groups reading for all new teachers—a how-to-survive guide
work cooperatively to help children and effect educational that covers everything a young professional needs to
change. know from “soup to nuts.”
 PART TWO

Historical and Philosophical

Foundations