Blog: Each child deserves an excellent teacher
Sep 26, 2012, 2:36 AM | Updated: 9:28 pm
At Arizona State University, the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College believes that
Each Child Deserves an Excellent Teacher.
MLFTC is the largest teacher credentialing institution in the United States. As such, we realize that the stakes are high, and that the teachers we graduate will serve Arizona children.
Because we want to prepare our graduates to have a strong understanding of curriculum, research, and best practices, and because we realize experiences in real classrooms matter, we are transforming our teacher certification programs.
The change is triggered by the need to include a stronger focus on content area knowledge, to require a field experience course each semester, and to accommodate two full semesters of student teaching.
We believe these changes in our college will help preservice teachers better deal with national accountability measures such as:
No Child Left Behind – Federal legislation that promotes standards-based, goal-oriented education reform, and specifically targets disadvantaged students. NCLB legislation is responsible for initiating the standardized testing movement.
Race to the Top – $4.35 billion competitive funding source through the Federal Education Recovery Act meant to trigger competition and advance reform efforts for state and K-12 districts.
Arizona was awarded $25 million in the third round of the competition, a portion of which is dedicated to the development of a data system for tracking individual school status and students’ progress.
Common Core State Standards – Another federal initiative that is aligned to the standards-based education reform effort. The Common Core that provide teachers with a set of criteria for learning, per grade level range. They are meant to be real world, and to prepare students for college and their future careers. Most states have adopted the Common Core as a way to map out what content is to be covered. This provides a minimum level of consistency in curriculum at a national level, across state boundaries.
The accountability movement has a strong foothold in Arizona, and Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College is leading the way–with big strides. Stay tuned…
