Obama's Rx For Teacher Preparation
If you want an in-depth look at the types of teacher preparation programs Sen. Barack Obama has proposed in his education plan and highlighted in his stump speeches, check out my colleague, Vaishali Honawar's story this week on Boston's teacher residency programs. Under the residency model, private teacher preparation groups or university-based teacher programs partner with high-needs school districts to offer beefed-up field experiences to prospective teachers.
The Democratic presidential nominee helped get language steering funds for federal teacher programs into the latest version of the Higher Education Act, passed this summer. His education plan calls for funding 200 such programs that would each prepare about 150 candidates per year. Under Obama's plan, prospective teachers would receive a living stipend during the year-long residency, and would be obligated to teach in the district for at least three years. The programs would be partly funded by federal grants.
