Teacher Training: The Anti TFA

The Urban Teacher Education Program is small, generally shuns publicity, and features a lengthy, classroom-based preparation program.  It makes the current handful of "residency-based" teacher prep programs (Boston Residency, AUSL) look like drive-by affairs. In an age of quickie teacher prep programs, UTEP is the anti-TFA. 

Of course, it probably costs a ton of money, and may be completely unscalable.  And there's no ed school involved, so ... well... don't even get me started about that.  Worst of all, it's run out of the University of Chicago.  But in six years it's got a 98 percent retention rate.  Something to think about. 

Comments

[Emily]

Hey. What's so wrong with the University of Chicago? I hear some pretty good things come out of there. (Kidding. I went there.)

[Karen]

I've been studying this program, with some colleagues at Brandeis University, as part of a research project on teacher preparation. One piece that makes them particularly effective (and I suspect IS scalable) are the opportunities prospective teachers have in the program to learn about teaching in ways that are directly related to (and grounded in) their own classroom experiences. They learn while teaching, but are completely supported by the faculty in very thorough coursework. The program also has a clear vision--of teachers as professionals, as well as of teachers helping support better urban schools in Chicago--which helps provide the kind of motivation and inspiration that might sustain new teachers in their work, especially when the going gets tough.

[Denny M]

How are the program's graduates doing in terms of student achievement?

[Eliza]

Though the video excerpt in question primarily highlights staff, current students and recent alums, I hope to shed some light on the experiences of UTEP alums several years out of the program, as well as what it is like for a mentor teacher. I am in the midst of my fourth year teaching in the primary grades and have since become a clinical instructor for UTEP.

To respond to initial questions about the lack of a department of ed., and finances, the U of C, as many might know, was home to one of the premiere departments of ed for almost a century and although that department has been cut, the Urban Education Institute has been a kind of a replacement for the research and development on educational thought, policy and curriculum. UTEP came out of this research institution and should be examined with the same kind of scrutiny that any pre-service teaching program is through any other school. If done, I'm sure you will find that sustainability of teachers, achievement of teachers, and achievement of students with UTEP teachers is quite high mostly due to the learning supported by UEI.

As far as finances goes, UTEP is a certification and a masters program. It is also still in its younger years. Publicity and attention is only now being paid to the program due to its success rate, so to assume it shouldn't cost anything is unfair. We require doctors and lawyers to remain indebted to their post-graduate institutions for essentially the rest of their life because it's expected they are getting an excellent education and training in their respective fields. Should we not expect teachers, the people who help shape and mold young people to later become doctors and lawyers, to do the same? We ask neurosurgeons to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars. Are teachers not as important as neurosurgeons? Without us, where would that neurosurgeon be? That said UTEP has always had our financial interests in mind, searching for grants, endowments and finding workstudy money for every current student.

Finally, speaking as a leader teacher in my current school and a clinical instructor for UTEP, both the almuni and current UTEP are expected from the get-go by school administrators to take on leadership roles within their schools. We are the "go-to" people for literacy instruction. We are trained highly in mathematics instruction and we understand the idea of integrated curriculum than anyone. Our students preform well and every year we have greater student achievement. A colleague and friend of mine, who has had several student teachers under his wing from a variety of institutions, has claimed repeatedly that UTEP is the best training program he has seen yet.
I agree.