California GEAR UP e-Newsletter

In 2005, GEAR UP Project Coordinator Bill Vasey retired from the California Department of Education as Assistant Superintendent, Professional Development and Curriculum Support Division with wide-ranging administrative responsibilities in many professional development programs, including BTSA and improving teacher quality aspects of Title I.  Mr. Vasey earned a Master of Science Degree in Management Information Systems from CSU, Sacramento, a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from UC, Santa Cruz and holds teaching credentials from CSU, Sacramento.  Bill is a liaison with two ARCHES-ENLACE regional collaboratives and a partner with one of the eleven schools participating in the High School Leadership Initiative of the California Academic Partnership Program (CAPP). 

What are your responsibilities with California GEAR UP?
Over the past 9 years California GEAR UP has worked in 227 middle schools to assist the adults, to empower parents, improve instruction, and instill a college-going culture so that more low-income students will have the skills, encouragement, and preparation to enter and succeed in post-secondary education. My role for the Improving Teacher Quality (ITQ) grant is to support a dialogue with teacher preparation programs to identify what we have learned in our GEAR UP efforts that can inform pre-service programs as they work to improve their practice.

In our effort to inform this discussion we held six focus groups to identify the key beliefs, knowledge, and skills that first year teachers should have to improve student performance and increase college-going rates.

In the focus groups for the Improving Teacher Quality (ITQ) grant, who were the participants and what was the purpose of the discussion? How does this focus connect to the achievement gap?
We invited principals, first year, and experienced teachers from several California GEAR UP schools to share their perspectives on the knowledge, skills, and beliefs teachers need to be successful, and the role of teacher preparation programs. GEAR UP schools are representative of the very schools that are key to closing the achievement gap.

What types of things do first-year teachers and more experienced teachers say they need to know which would help them work effectively with middle school students?
Beyond content knowledge first-year teachers list of things they need to have included an awareness of their students: how different they all are and how they change from day to day. They also think it is important to know how to manage their classroom, how to communicate clear expectations, how to use flexible instructional strategies, how to simplify complex tasks, how to be patient, and how to ask for help.

More experienced teachers say they need to understand the students they are working with. In particular, knowledge of race and culture is very important. Sharing with students similar cultural or racial and language backgrounds is helpful but insufficient. More important to teacher success is their in-depth understanding of their student’s particular home and community experiences.

According to the middle school principals, what is missing in the preparation of first-year teachers?
They report that the teachers are generally well prepared, but the beginning teachers need more practical skills. Their knowledge of theory does not easily translate into practice; they want to see more practical experience. Teachers also need more experience in the types of schools where they will work; in particular they need more experience with African-American and Latino students. The principals see noticeable differences in skills based on which teacher preparation program the first-year teachers attend.

How should teacher preparation and in-service programs be structured to help teachers provide a college-going culture with students at school?
The principals and experienced teachers do not think that teacher preparation programs stress instilling a college-going culture. Many do not believe it is discussed at all. Topics that should be added include: how to connect with families, ways to inspire kids, and ways to help students visualize themselves in college.
In response to a written survey the first-year teachers think that their teacher preparation programs did prepare them to support a college-going culture. During the focus group conversations some first-year teachers expressed surprise that their students had not considered a college option. GEAR UP schools already have begun efforts to promote a college-going culture; first year teachers may see themselves prepared to support these existing efforts.

What are some of the changes that the focus groups recommend to better prepare first-year teachers for the challenges of the middle school classroom?
Most of the suggestions for improving teacher preparation programs center on having less theory and more applied course work, including classroom management and classroom procedures. Extensive student teaching with regular and frequent supervisor observation is seen as a key to success. Principals want more candidates whose student teaching experiences match the targeted employment placement (i.e., high poverty schools, with large African-American and Latino populations).

What are the next steps for the ITQ project?
We will complement our support of the state level conversations between K-12 and pre-service programs by supporting local initiatives:

• Identifying GEAR UP schools and teacher preparation programs which want to work together to increase the number and quality of student teacher placements in high poverty, high minority middle schools. This will take a commitment on the part of the GEAR UP school to have some of their best teachers become master teachers.
  
• Connecting interested higher education faculty to existing regional partnerships (ARCHES-ENLACE collaboratives). We would like to connect some existing one-school-at-a-time efforts to the broader regional efforts.