DEFINE the word "project." At first, it didn't seem like a difficult task. After a minute, though, the students' blank stares indicated otherwise. "Think of the word in terms of something you may have done in school," I added. Finally, I had connected with one student: "Oh, you mean like a science project." But, not every student was on the same page. Another reported: "No, a project is where we live."
Teaching eighth grade summer school in Chicago's south side for the past five weeks has been an eye-opening experience. An urban school district represents more than discipline problems, safety concerns and poor funding. An urban school district is not a giant horror story. It is, however, a place in desperate need of qualified teachers who enter the school system with a solid understanding of issues specific to that environment. Collegiate education schools need to actively encourage and help prepare teachers to move to urban school districts.
The majority of education schools across the nation are set in suburban environments. Before graduating and becoming certified to teach, college students in education programs are required to fulfill several school placements in addition to their student teaching assignment. As a result, most first-year teachers entering the workforce only have been exposed to suburban classrooms. They may feel inadequate to deal with issues specific to an urban or poor rural community.
Teacher turnover rates speak for themselves. In some urban districts, such as Chicago, as many as 50 percent of first-year teachers do not return to teach in the district the following year. Such staggering attrition rates prevent schools from building a sense of community. Urban schools need that community feeling more than anywhere else.
The failure of such teachers is not just a failure of the individual public school, school system or even teacher herself. Part of the blame must be placed on the teacher's education training. Education schools need to step up their curriculum and tailor instruction in certain classes to address the needs of urban districts. Future teachers need to understand what types of resources and support can be expected in an urban district. They need to be exposed to the complexities of socio-economic status in cities and how this affects students' education. They should have ideas regarding how to get parents more actively involved in education. They should be equipped with classroom management techniques that have been successful in urban settings at every grade level.
But isn't this what programs such as Teach for America strive to achieve? Wrong. Teach for America and other alternative certification programs put college graduates who have not been through schools of education into some of the worst urban and rural schools. These uncertified teachers enter the classroom after a crash course in everything you've ever wanted to know about education.
Unfortunately, Teach for America is not getting to the root of the problem. Urban school districts need teachers who are going to stick around and make a difference, rather than drop in for a year or two. Additionally, such programs are sending underqualified individuals into the areas where the best teachers need to go. Alternative certification programs should shift their efforts toward sending recent college graduates to suburban schools. Such school systems have their own set of problems, but most likely will present a more manageable setting for an uncertified new teacher.
Education schools further can step up by building stronger partnerships with urban school districts. Such partnerships should focus less on research or economic relationships, and more on practical ways to bring future teachers into an urban classroom. These relationships could open up urban classrooms for teacher-education placements. By bringing future teachers from suburban areas into urban districts for pre-service positions, student teachers would have real-life experience to prepare them for working in such schools.
Of course, the burden of making urban school districts more accessible to future teachers should not be placed solely on education schools. The reality is that financial incentives programs must be put in place at the district, state or national level to make urban living possible on a teacher's income. Future teachers are concerned about housing, loan repayment and funding for higher education. Chicago Public Schools currently are focused on new teacher recruitment, and these very issues are the hot topics among potential recruits.
Humans are scared of what they have never experienced. More future teachers would enter urban schools if they were exposed to the realities of the systems rather than the myths. It's time to adapt teacher education curriculums while giving future teachers more opportunities to gain experience in urban settings during college. It's time for education schools to begin a new project.
(Stephanie Batten is a Cavalier Daily columnist. She can be reached at sbatten@cavalierdaily.com.)
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