A new study by the Carnegie Corporation of New York suggests that schools should regard teaching as a clinical profession -- and encourage their education students to pursue post-graduate "residencies."
The report encourages colleges to create long term relationships with the new teachers they graduate by tracking their effectiveness.
This can be accomplished by compiling information about the achievement of their students, and by creating two-year post-graduate residencies similar to those that new doctors complete, according to the report.
Susan King, vice president of public affairs for the Carnegie Corporation, said the post-graduate experience of new teachers is analogous to the experience of medical students.
"It is one thing to study the body and another to find someone's liver," King said. "Doctors need to have supervised experience post-college. That would also be valuable for teaching."
King cited the success of programs in California that emphasize postgraduate support for new teachers. "There are some clear signals that this works," she said.
King went on to say the report makes significant claims about the importance of teacher quality. "There are indications that a good teacher can increase student performance a full grade level," she added.
The report follows the corporation's April announcement of a three-year, $40 million teacher education improvement initiative called "Teachers for a New Era."
The initiative will provide funds to the University and five other higher education institutions to reform their education departments.
Education School Dean David Breneman said the University will use the funds to pursue a variation of the Carnegie model.
Because many Curry graduates choose to teach outside of the Charlottesville area, it would be very difficult for the University to coordinate a postgraduate training and support program for them, Breneman said.
Instead, the University will create such a program for new teachers in Albemarle County and Charlottesville City schools, regardless of their alma mater.
"If we can prove that this works and is feasible, other Universities could consider doing this in their area," he said. "It's a model that in principal could travel and be adopted elsewhere fairly straightforwardly."
In addition, the Education School is developing a program to track the achievement of its graduates by tracking the achievement of their students.
The Education School, along with the College, plans to develop a series of six new courses over three years, Breneman said.
The new courses, which Breneman termed "common core classes," would be developed and taught by faculty from both the Education School and the College. According to Breneman, they would be taught with a more interdisciplinary focus than College courses are traditionally taught.
"They will be courses of interest to many students and particularly helpful to those who may want to teach," said Breneman, who also said he hopes the common core classes will attract new students to teaching.
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