Teacher Preparation

Winter 2011

A Catalyst Chicago analysis found that the demographics of the CPS teaching force has shifted in the last 10 years: 62 percent of teachers with five years of experience or less are white, compared to 48 percent in 2000. Schools of education are seeking to do more to help teacher candidates understand their minority students.

	Order
Bridging differences Sarah Karp and Rebecca Harris Quishun Elrod’s 3rd-grade class is starting a discussion about things that are scary, based on a short story they’ve read. Michael apparently wants to say something, but instead of raising his hand, he mutters under his breath and gets up and down several times. To protect Michael’s privacy, Catalyst Chicago is not using his real name. Another boy, David, is called on first. He says, “I am afraid of snakes because I think one day they are going to bite me and I am going to die.” Frustrated, Michael stands up, plops back down, shoves his chair back and loudly complains that... teacher preparation > Read More
Learning the language of connection Rebecca Harris At Cárdenas Elementary, a year-round school in Little Village, Rachel Bujalski is about to teach an art lesson to a kindergarten class. The challenge: They have just begun to learn English, and Bujalski is still learning Spanish. Bujalski holds up a poster of Piet Mondrian’s “Broadway Boogie Woogie,” an abstract painting of yellow lines broken up by white, blue and red squares. “Last week, we looked at this painting, remember?” she says in English. “Raise your hand if you remember this painting.” It’s obvious some children don’t understand, so she urges them again—“... teacher preparation > Read More
Learning the catch-22's Rebecca Harris John Waters had only been a student teacher at Manierre Elementary for a couple of weeks when he began to worry the school might close. Waters recalls that a CPS official came to a staff meeting at the start of the school year and warned of potential school closings in the community, especially if test scores didn’t go up. About half of the students at Manierre met state achievement standards last year, far fewer than the district average. (At press time, the district had not yet released a list of schools slated for closure, and it was not clear whether any would close.) ... teacher preparation > Read More
Beyond the classroom Rebecca Harris On a hot summer night in July, 20 Illinois State University students who are preparing to be teachers have gathered for class. The location: a multi-purpose room in a Salvation Army building a few blocks from the Pink Line. The subject: the culture and demographics of specific Chicago communities. Both are unexpected. But to Illinois State University education professor Robert Lee, the class represents the future of teacher education. These students are part of STEP-UP, which stands for Summer Teaching Education Partnership for Urban Preparation. Started last year, STEP-UP... teacher preparation > Read More
Facing reality Rebecca Harris It’s the end of August 2010. A group of Illinois State University teacher candidates has just been transplanted to Chicago for a program that will put them in Little Village and Auburn Gresham schools for an entire school year. The candidates are “teacher interns” at ISU’s Professional Development School program in Little Village. The university was one of the first nationwide to pioneer the model in the mid-1990s, offering teacher candidates a longer, deeper immersion in the schools where they student teach. It also offers on-site coursework for candidates and professional... teacher preparation > Read More

Sidebar

Budget, bureaucracy hamper hiring

By: Rebecca Harris

The federal government has spent millions of dollars to help local universities prepare teacher candidates for Chicago Public Schools.

But this year’s budget crisis has meant that far fewer new graduates ended up in Chicago’s neediest neighborhood schools. “The significant budget cuts this last year deeply impacted our graduates’ capacity to find work,” notes Kavita Kapadia Matsko, director of the University of Chicago’s Urban Teacher Education Program, which includes a year of education coursework plus a year-long paid residency in a school.

The federal government has spent millions of dollars to help local universities prepare teacher candidates for Chicago Public Schools. But this year’s budget crisis has meant that far fewer new...

Sidebar

STEP-UP set to expand

By: Rebecca Harris

STEP-UP is an offshoot of the Chicago Teacher Education Pipeline, which began in the Latino community of Little Village in fall 2004. As of spring 2010, nearly 140 teacher candidates had completed student teaching in the Pipeline’s partner schools.

STEP-UP is an offshoot of the Chicago Teacher Education Pipeline, which began in the Latino community of Little Village in fall 2004. As of spring 2010, nearly 140 teacher candidates had completed...

Letter From the Editor

Teaching: not just academics

By: Lorraine Forte

"Fewer teacher candidates pass basic skills test”

That headline topped Catalyst Chicago’s story on the impact of an Illinois State Board of Education decision to raise passing scores on the test that college students must take to earn admission to a school of education. The board’s move was part of a strategy to raise the rigor of teacher preparation in Illinois and, in turn, improve the quality of the teaching force.

"Fewer teacher candidates pass basic skills test” That headline topped Catalyst Chicago’s story on the impact of an Illinois State Board of Education decision to raise passing scores on the test that...

Departments

Catalyst In Depth
Catalyst Notebook
Opinions
In Focus

catalyst-chicago.org

Our Network

Search

Catalyst Extras

Follow catalyst-chicago.org on:

Primary links