The San Jose Mercury News

DESPITE GAINS, STATE STILL LACKS TRAINED TEACHERS
POOR AREAS MORE LIKELY TO BE AFFECTED
JENNIFER COLEMAN, Associated Press
December 10, 2003

Despite gains in putting fully prepared teachers in California classrooms, children attending schools in low-income neighborhoods and special-education students are still more likely to have an under-prepared teacher, according to a report released today.While the state has reduced the number of under-prepared teachers, cuts to teacher-training programs, and a looming spike in teacher retirements threaten to leave California again struggling to find enough well-trained teachers in three to five years, the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning said in its report.

Signs of progress

''The teacher pipeline was clearly beginning to work. The production of new teachers is up, recruitment went up, and the number of under-prepared teachers was going down,'' said Patrick Shields, director of the Center for Education Policy at SRI International, and the lead researcher on the report.

''But in certain areas, such as special education, that isn't true and the number of under-prepared teachers has actually increased,'' he said.

Researchers found that 37,000 teachers, or about 12 percent, were ''under-prepared'' -- those who had not received a credential and were in intern or pre-intern programs, or teaching on an emergency permit or a waiver. That is down from more than 42,000 under-prepared teachers in 2000-01.

But about 18 percent of special-education teachers weren't fully prepared -- the highest percentage among teaching specialties, said the report, titled ''The Status of the Teaching Profession 2003.''

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, schools must ensure that all students are proficient in math and English by 2014. All students, including special-education students, are held to that standard.

''The standards are higher than they've ever been for these kids,'' said Alvin Sandford, a special education teacher at John Reith Elementary School in Sacramento. ''That's our challenge -- getting kids who have learning disabilities up to that.''

Governor's goal

Schools with high numbers of English-language learners were twice as likely to have an under-prepared teacher. In schools with 40 percent or more English learners, 16 percent of teachers were under-prepared. In schools with less than 6 percent English learners, 7 percent of teachers were under-prepared.

Students in high-poverty neighborhoods were three times as likely to have an under-prepared teacher as those in low-poverty districts, the report found.

Ensuring every student has a qualified teacher was one of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign promises, said Gregory McGinity, senior adviser to Richard Riordan, the governor's secretary of education. Schwarzenegger has said he will consider salary incentives for hard-to-staff fields and regions.

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Copyright (c) 2003 San Jose Mercury News

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