Susan Fuhrman to NY Times: Charter Teachers Need High-Quality Preparation | Teachers College Columbia University

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President Fuhrman writes on Charter School Teacher Hiring Practices in Letter to the Editor of the New York Times

Susan Fuhrman
President, Teachers College
Susan Fuhrman
President, Teachers College
In a letter to The New York Times, President Susan Fuhrman responds to the paper’s editorial supporting new rules that permit charter schools to design their own teacher-preparation programs and certify their own teachers.

“The teaching profession rests on a longstanding, rapidly growing body of research from multiple disciplines, including educational pedagogy, social science, economics, cognitive and developmental psychology, and neuroscience,” Fuhrman writes. “Teaching depends on a foundation of knowledge and skills that need to be learned and practiced under expert guidance.”

Under the new rules, "would-be teachers will receive insufficient hours of instruction and minimal supervised practice. That doesn’t exactly raise the bar for quality teachers to serve families and children in charter schools effectively."

Instead, charter-school teachers – like all teachers – should receive “high-quality teacher residency programs” that “equip teachers with the knowledge, skills and experience they need to flourish.”

Click here to download pdf of the article.

Published Monday, Nov 13, 2017