Education+Educators

=Education for Educators= Teachers are the critical element in a child's education. Teachers not only convey content but present a role model--a paragon--for education itself. In recent years much progress has been made in credentialing teachers. However the act of teaching is so incredibly complex that academic credentials in themselves constitute only the first step of professionalization. Professional development must also strive for the heights of opportunity and performance for educators.

In many communities there is a high level of intake and retention into the profession of qualified and committed educators; these successes should be recognized and celebrated. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit such a caliber of teachers to inner city and rural schools and proving even harder to retain them. Many teachers do not succeed in their assignments, many others leave within the first few years, and "burn-out" is a frequent phenomenon in these schools as well. Undoubtedly this contributes to the substandard level of educational performance often found in these communities.

Transcending the achievement gap is the challenge of our times; pre-service, in-service professional development, and graduate all need to be coordinated to address and overcome this problem.

Induction and Pre-Service
People who wish to work in inner-city and rural schools to help transcend the achievement gap are national treasures. They should never be described as "failing teachers" when, in fact, they are the heros and angels of our educational system.

Special programs need to be formed in order to attract people to embark on the exciting adventure of serving students in communities that have a tradition of academic underperformance and to improve their work:
 * Masters in Inner-City Education, Masters in Rural Education. Federal support should be given to colleges and universities that offer these degrees. In return for funding, colleges must agree to promote academic research in these fields. All courses in these degrees must be specifically designed to help educators meet the challenges they will face working in these communities. Students will receive loan forgiveness in exchange for dedicated work in challenged schools and communities.
 * Housing dormitory subsidies. Federal support in the form of subsidizing dormitory subsidies should be given to degree students and graduates who agree to work in challenged communities. Subsidized educators would live in the neighborhoods in which they work, giving them better insight into the lives of their students while making them more trusted in the eyes of the communities.
 * Cohort support. Federal funding will be given to build an infrastructure of cohorts, from among individuals who have graduated from the special programs, that serve to support their ongoing challenges. These cohorts--both virtual and real--can help sustain educators through formal and informal contacts. Mentors will also be provided to help guide cohort development.

In-Service Professional Development
In schools and communities that are facing educational challenges, professional development should be matched to a credentialing process that recognizes the implicit career ladder in the teaching profession. Professional development should be geared to the following levels:
 * "The intern." All beginning teachers should have a reduced teaching load and should receive support in the form of mentoring and/or co-teaching until they can demonstrate the capability to stand-alone in the classroom. PD at this level is geared to critical issues such as classroom management and time organization.
 * "The teacher." The teacher is acknowledged as capable in terms of knowledge of course content and classroom management. Professional development at this level is geared to broadening and expanding outlooks.
 * "The master teacher." The master teacher is acknowledged as being capable of work that inspires others. At this level the educator takes on responsibilities as a school leader and professional development is geared to promoting the knowledge of school as a social system, school reform, and working with adults.
 * "The entrepreneur educator." This educator is committed to planning, opening, and supporting new schools. PD at this level is geared to supporting the formation of new educational enterprises.

Graduate Work
University graduate programs have successfully produced a steady stream of capable teachers for many of our schools. Our most challenged schools, however, require educators of incredible stature and stamina who are capable of transcending numerous educational obstables that have blocked student academic progress. University researchers and instructors must find common cause to create programs that specifically meet the needs of educators who choose to work in these crucial settings.

One size does not fit all; HOPE recognizes that the stages of development for educators in many inner-city and rural schools is unique. The disturbing rates of teacher retention in these settings speaks loudly to the difficulties teachers face in mastering the basics of classroom management. It is unrealistic and counterproductive to require new teachers working in these settings to acquire a masters degree while they are expending tremendous efforts to unlock the mysteries of the classroom. After pre-service programs, new teachers in such schools would be best served by intensive local in-service professional development.

Human resources, often in the form of the heroic action of individual teachers, are the most promising weapon in building a crescendo of small victories that can cumulatively overcome persistent educational failure. Often teachers who master the initial stage of development in their classrooms become exhausted and depleted; cynicism can also set in. It is at this point that graduate work can help renew classroom teachers and sharpen their insight, skills, and commitment. Teachers at this stage must become co-researchers with university academics in the relentless pursuit of unlocking the problems of urban and rural education. Graduate programs must help teachers reconnect to their personal drives that motivated them to enter such a challenging segment of the profession. At the same time programs must help teachers understand the complex history, culture, and psychology of their communities. Further, the programs must the rigorously pursue methodologies that have opened pathways to success for students in these schools.