Commentary: Change, and what matters - Part 2

When considering educational improvement (always ongoing), simultaneously, teacher preparation is in flux. Some 39 states have introduced more rigorous requirements for teacher certification, but criticism of education schools for the quality of their graduates is rising. From the teaching perspective, so much more is asked of them that just keeping up with changing content is difficult enough. Their contact time has been divided by teaching other programs, many of which they have limited or no expertise to properly administer. At the same time, they are evaluated on the content they are supposed to be teaching. State and local entities continue throwing “new” ideas, programs, and mandates at them. In some cases, they are forced to evaluate students using skills for which they have not been qualified. Those evaluations can follow students into careers for years, if not decades, and are taken as substantive. Regrettably, they may not even know why their opportunities were denied.

Addressing teacher burnout, ThinkImpact.com states that new teachers are leaving their jobs within 5 years of teaching in percentages as high as 30%. 8% of US teachers are quitting their careers, while only 3% to 4% of teachers in other countries are quitting. A report showed that 29% of teachers quit their job due to personal and lifestyle reasons.