California State University

Leave a comment Posted on California State University, credential programs, mentor teachers, student teacher, student teaching

Average is Not Good Enough For Kids

News alert:  The people entering the teaching profession are less proficient than their older counterparts and they are the ones that carry the mantle of education America’s youth.

In education, there are two checkpoints during a new teacher’s journey towards earning a teaching license:  entering a university credential program and passing a year of student teaching.

If during this process either of these two checkpoints fail to weed out weak candidates, credentials will be handed out, a golden ticket to gaining lifetime employment in a school.

That’s why it is essential that the requirements remain high to ensure that children receive a quality education.

The California State University system is the largest of its kind in issuing teaching credentials.  Part of the requirements used to determine eligibility for a credential program is a college student’s grade point average or GPA.  The long-standing benchmark used to be a minimum 3.0 or ‘B’ average.  In recent years, however, 16 of the 22 CSU campuses have lowered the GPA:  six use 2.75 or 2.67 (B-), eight use 2.5 (C+) and one uses a 2.0 (C).

Evidently, not enough smart people are choosing teaching as a career so somehow the credential-issuing mechanisms have to come up with ways to allow subpar people to fill classroom positions.   It’s a paradox that those who don’t excel at academic achievement choose a job that requires teaching young people to excel academically.

Once weaker candidates gain entrance into the program, the final step is to teach a few classes in a real classroom with a mentor teacher present.  If the candidates earn passing scores on evaluation forms, they walk away with a license to teach.

Sadly, some that accept the role of mentor are not the best in the business.  Often a school-wide email goes out asking for volunteers.  While some effective teachers willingly sign up, too many other ineffective ones look at mentoring as a way to lessen their workload.  Instead, universities should be aggressively recruiting high quality mentors which means paying them more than $150 per semester.

The evaluation forms themselves are problematic.  A candidate is evaluated based on dozens of teacher behaviors using a three-point scale:  exceeds, meets or below standards.  As long as a student teacher has no more than five “below” standards, that candidate receives a credential.  Shouldn’t that candidate earn five “above” standards to even the score?

Think about the uproar if in the medical field, surgeons who barely passed were those who instructed interns on the finer details of surgery.

In addition to the mentor teacher’s evaluation, universities use former teachers and administrators to observe and evaluate as well.  However, these field supervisors only watch a handful of lessons compared to the nearly 90 viewed by the mentor teacher.  That is why it’s critical to ensure that mentor teachers are the best in the business:  they are the last bulwark against ineffective teachers populating classrooms.

Leave a comment Posted on California State University, college ready, high school graduation

Time for High Schoolers to Put on Their Big College Pants

“Who was absent yesterday and needs the handout?” is not a question a teacher of high school seniors should pose.   In less than one year, how will these students function on their own, choosing courses, purchasing books, transporting themselves to college?

We baby students.  Too much.  Too often.

Chancellor Timothy P. White of the California State University (CSU) system made the right call earlier this month proclaiming that starting in the fall of 2018, incoming freshmen will no longer be given placement tests in English or math, nor will those who struggle be enrolled in remedial classes.

The decision is based primarily on the length it takes a CSU student to complete a degree, and the extra money students have to expend by remaining enrolled beyond the traditional four years.

Currently, over one-third of freshmen are enrolled in these classes; CSU’s four-year graduation rate stands at 19 percent.

Between now and then, each campus will figure out a plan on how to ensure that these students will succeed through other means.

The larger problem that no one wishes to address is that these recent high school graduates are not ready for college.

Several of them are suspended on a rickety bridge between 12th grade and freshman year resembling an Indiana Jones cliffhanger:  who will make it to college and who will not.

Those of us who work at the high school level need to look in the mirror and question our methods and expectations.

Much teacher training is spent on how to scaffold and differentiate lessons, breaking down hard concepts into smaller chunks which eventually handicaps the lower ability students and frustrates the higher ability ones.

Some of this work fits earlier grades.   However, come high school, more should be asked of students.

Each grade from kindergarten through 12th should purposefully be organized to ensure with each passing year, teachers hold the students’ hands less while the students gain more control of their learning.  That way, by the time students cross the stage and hoist up the diplomas, there is true meaning behind that accomplishment.

An integral aspect of attending college is being mature enough to handle the extended freedom and independence.

Schools get the concept of “college prep” wrong.   While applying the phrase to upper grade coursework, college prep actually begins in kindergarten not high school.   Every grade, every class should prepare students to further their education beyond 12th grade, be it college or learning a trade.

High school seniors should not still be working on how to write an effective paragraph.   These kids will fail in their first quarter of college.

This past summer school, one Glendale administrator urged teachers not to fail students.  Having failed classes during the regular school year, these students were given an opportunity to retake them by only being taught 60 percent of the curriculum.  Yet some still couldn’t pass the class.

Administrators and teachers who wipe clean the ‘F’ are not doing these students a favor for maybe the only real lesson that student will have learned in summer school is that a person needs to work at something in order to receive credit.

If that lesson is not learned at the high school level, then a four-year college is not the right option for that individual.

President Harry S. Truman had a famous sign on his desk while in the White House:  the buck stops here.

Those of us in public school need to adhere to standards; passing along students who do little to no work or show little to no grasp of subject matter is real failure.