Posted on 07/14/2018 12:46:06 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Detroit recruiters can hire online teacher training graduates to help fill about 200 classroom vacancies this fall.
Education reporter Koby Levin follows up on her Chalkbeat Detroit preview of the desperation move:
Detroit’s main district is proceeding with a plan to hire teachers who are certified but have received no training in the classroom — adding an element of controversy to efforts to fill hundreds of teacher vacancies by the end of summer.
The board of education on Tuesday approved a hiring plan proposed by Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, signaling that the district will lean partly on programs that offer so-called interim teaching certificates.
The move drew blowback from board members and parents, who argued that Detroit children deserve teachers who have been trained in the classroom.
"I don't think the alternative route teachers are nearly as prepared as the traditional route," LaMar Lemmons, a school board member, told Chalkbeat. “It will increase the academic disparity, as you have less qualified and less experienced teachers."
Levin also quotes parent Cynthia Jackson, commenting on Chalkbeat's Facebook page:
"So your first day of teaching will be your first day ever in front of children? You don't think that’s going to be a problem?"
Original article, Tuesday:
A district with about 200 teacher vacancies and too few applicants can't be picky, Detroit's superintendent indicates. The pool of talent, if that's the right word, includes trainees who've never taught a class.
Chalkbeat Detroit reporter Koby Levin sketches the stark reality:
Faced with a daunting shortage of certified teachers, leaders of Detroit’s main district say they may have no choice but to hire educators with minimal classroom training, including some who have been certified by a for-profit online teachers college. . . .
On Tuesday, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti will present a wide-ranging hiring plan to the Detroit school board, sending a message that the district must consider all its options. The plan instructs staff to look high and low for new hires, including from alternate certification programs like Teachers of Tomorrow, an online program that was approved to certify teachers by the state Legislature last year.
Here's what the second-year superintendent tells the local education news site:
"We prefer to hire teachers who have participated in traditional certification programs. However, in the short term, we need certified teachers to fill vacancies and to reduce class size so we will consider hiring teachers from alternative programs. They are certified."
[Update: Chrystal Wilson, the Detroit district's assistant superintendent of communications and marketing, says in an email response to this article:
"I'd like to express how careless you are with your reporting that you would take Chalkbeat’s story and create a misleading headline. . . . The truth of the matter is we have 2,800 certified teachers and we are looking to fill approximately 200 teaching positions with certified teachers."]
Teachers of Tomorrow – a two-year-old firm based in Houston – says it "widens the funnel of qualified candidates for school districts, helping principals and HR professionals fill all open teaching positions on an efficient and consistent basis."
It also pledges to "actively recruit a candidate pool that more closely matches the demographics of student populations." As it happens, all eight management team leaders pictured on its company overview page are white.
♦ Company response: A statement from the firm is at the end of this post.
A graphic on that same page says "87% of principals surveyed in 2016 felt our candidates were prepared for their first year." That data point, an accompanying chart shows, includes principals who felt the trainees were "prepared in most areas" (31%) or "prepared in few areas" (11%).
Enrolees training to apply for Michigan jobs need a bachelor’s degree with at least a 3.0 GPA and must pass a test in the content area they plan to teach. They must watch 30 hours of classroom teaching, either online or in person. The state also requires a federal background check and certification to perform emergency CPR.
Graduates of the Texas-based distance learning business get an interim teaching certificate. After three years in classrooms, more training and a good review from their principal, they become fully certified by Michigan.
Education unions criticize such programs as profit-oriented teacher mills that shortchange pupils. A Michigan Education Association spokesman, David Crim, dubs it "pseudo-certification." He told Jennifer Chambers of The Detroit News last year:
"Reducing the qualifications to become a certified teacher is yet another attempt to deprofessionalize the teaching profession and is certainly not in the best interests of Michigan students or parents."
Detroit has no formal agreement with Teachers of Tomorrow, though Vitti urges the city's 11-member Board of Education to let it be part of a solution to "the challenges of supply and demand" that his district confronts. Levin posts:
Entering the summer with more than 200 teacher vacancies is nothing new for the district. Early in his first year on the job, Vitti promised to fill the gap, but the effort fell far short. This year, he is insisting once again that there will be a certified teacher in every classroom by summer’s end.
While his decision to raise salaries for veteran teachers is expected to fill some of its more than 200 vacant teaching positions by luring teachers from other districts, that won’t be enough to fill every classroom.
Teachers of Tomorrow response
A company executive emails Tuesday afternoon:
I read your article regarding the teacher shortage in Detroit, and I found a few inaccurate statements that I'd like your help correcting. 1. "The pool of talent, if that's the right word, includes trainees who've never taught a class." Have you met these people that you can disparage them as having no talent? Do you know their backgrounds? These are some amazing people who now want to dedicate their lives to teaching in Detroit Public Schools and your first line seeks to insult them? 2. "Teachers of Tomorrow – a two-year-old firm based in Houston . . ." Teachers of Tomorrow was founded in 2005 as Texas Teachers and we have been running successfully ever since. In fact, we've certified more than 45,000 teachers in many high-need areas, and 70% of our teachers are still teaching 5 years after they started – well ahead of the national average for retention. 3. "As it happens, all eight management team leaders pictured on its company overview page are white." alf of our leadership team is composed of women and one of our top executives is Hispanic. But the more important statistic is that 46% of our candidates are diverse, compared to over 80% white enrolled at four-year Michigan educator preparation programs. Is it more important for the teachers to be diverse or the staff?
I would hope that we can agree on the importance of being unbiased and accurate and you would correct the article. . . . Thank you for your cooperation.
All the best, Dave Saba Chief Development Officer
There are two types of courses that should have some face to face presence:
1. Public Peaking. Getting up in front of an audience repeatedly and Mastering nonverbal queues from a live audience is key. Of course a toast masters or other organization can help.
2. Chemistry lab. I hope I don’t need to explain that one.
The Navy sent me through a six week course when I was detailed to an instructor billet. I learned how to prepare lesson plans and speak effectively to a crowd. It was incredibly valuable and I still use these skills regularly.
I started public speaking in a 4-H competitive course when I was about 14.
A mandatory university course in public speaking was extremely helpful, as was training I received as a military officer.
A very valuable skill, that can be learned.
Being a teacher in a lot of schools nowadays is like being a prison guard.
Some of the most useless college courses I ever took were education courses. One of the worst professors I ever had was the Chairman of the education department at that particular school. He was one of the few who had an attendance policy, probably because he’d be looking at an empty classroom, otherwise.
I wasn’t an education major. I took education courses to be certified to teach. While student teaching, I decided that there wasn’t enough $$ in anybody’s school system to persuade me to make it a career. This was over 30 years ago, I can’t imagine how bad it can be, now.
I believe the on-line courses are a good thing. As someone else mentioned, it gives people who are retired from the military, or another career, the opportunity to teach. That is likely to be really beneficial to the schools as well as the students.
Schools with teacher shortages would also do well to be more innovative. For example, hire more “parafrofessionals” to do more of the non-teaching duties such as monitoring the cafeteria and playground, taking roll, etc and hiring part-time teachers to come in and actually teach classes without being burdened down with non-teaching activities. Schools could also have lists of guest speakers who could come in and teach a class on a particular subject, maybe offering payment per class. For example, who better to teach a class on dental health than a dentist or hygenist?
Of course, that goes against the orthodoxy that only “trained” teachers can actually teach anyone anything!
Wow.
I received my PhD from a course I found on the back of a matchbook.
Dixie already happening - virtual schools at the secondary and elementary level.
Onlinemscools that require practicums such as nursing and teaching require the practicum be done locally. Here is the kicker that will blow your mind away. A traditional school like Ball State will place an individual within a hospital or school. An online school or something like Teachers for Tomorrow, the individual has to apply to the school, interview with biased admin staff like the principal and vp who think one should only go to a brick and mortar school then to,student teaching (this article is actually a portrayal of not just Michigan but elsewhere as well). This vetting process is for professionals who have worked in the field in which they already hold at minimum a four year degree. These are the people that should be teaching not someone who has no experience in the field where real world trumps academic world.
Miss Crabtree did just fine.
Yeah, I wondered about that, too. I was told the online programs are often masters programs. The nurse is already working and gets the degree for promotion or moving into a specialty.
I don’t think any of us want a ‘nurse’ who’s only been thru an online program. : )
As if that will make things worse. Heh...
Detroit should break ground -- get rid of school attendance and make their public schools online-only. It's not as if there isn't at least one parent or grandparent home all day to monitor the larvae. Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.