The Dark Underbelly of the American School District part 4: Teacher Education
Many children with learning disabilities are not getting the education they need. Today we’ll talk about teacher education.
The National Council on Teacher Quality evaluates all teacher training programs across the country every year. Here is their review of how teachers were taught to teach elementary reading in 2023. They found that only 25% of teacher education programs nationwide prepared candidates to teach reading. Over 40% of schools were teaching outdated programs that do not have evidence based data showing efficacy. Only 23% of programs received an “A” in preparing candidates to teach reading. 38% of programs received an “F.”
The movement by states to recognize the importance of how we teach reading is still new. California recently adopted the science of reading as a requirement for teacher education programs. The state has also mandated that current teachers get education in these techniques and that by 2025 they must pass a proficiency exam.
However, we need to ask how good those exams are. From National Council on Teacher Quality: “Of the 25 elementary teacher reading licensure tests in use by states, the majority (15) are weak. Just six exams are rated “strong” and four are rated ‘acceptable.” Teachers are not being held to sufficient standards, and they go into classrooms thinking they are prepared when they are not.
In addition, many states do not require students entering teaching programs to pass any academic standards. You can look up the different states here. For California there are no state requirements for a specific level of GPA or passing of academic exams. Some programs require passing a basic test by the end of the degree. However, that means the student is too busy grappling with fundamental material to learn more advanced and nuanced issues. The NCTQ recommendations for CA are:
1. “Require that teacher preparation programs screen candidates for academic proficiency prior to admission.” (such as a 3.0 GPA or passing a test)
2. “Support programs that encourage greater numbers of qualified individuals of color to enter and successfully complete teacher preparation programs.” (such as scholarships and mentoring)
3. “Consider requiring candidates to pass subject-matter tests as a condition of admission into teacher programs.” (basic math, English, science)
How to teach our teachers becomes even more problematic when we look at math and writing. Typical interventions for math include teaching the same way but going slower. But we do have evidence based math interventions from The National Panel on Math. Finland’s answer to improving math skills was smaller classes with more discussion time and less repetition. They found that class discussion with a teacher was the best way for kids to understand mathematical concepts and work through mistaken thinking. This resulted in a decreased need for rote repetition and improved understanding.
Writing is every bit as complicated for the brain to learn as reading. Furthermore, you can be great at reading, but struggle with writing. Like dyslexia, writing goes through the language processing centers in the brain. It is an immensely complicated process that requires a wide range of student skills. Writing Next has produced a list of 12 research driven methods that help kids learn to write. In addition, Joan Sedita in The Writing Rope has pulled together many of the diverse strands that students must pull together to write. While both these systems provide useful tools they are not required learning for teachers.
What a new teacher brings to the classroom is highly variable. They may have learned very little about good education techniques in school. Or they may have been highly motivated to research and pursued best practices on their own. This means we have many dedicated teachers with a wide range of actual teaching skills.
If you look at professional development classes offered by the Placer County Office of Education, they include numerous workshops on managing behavior, suicide prevention, and computer program facility. There are also courses on Universal Design for Learning. This idea was generated many years ago by CAST. The goal of UDL is to structure general classroom teaching so that the content is presented in a variety of ways. Thus, it becomes accessible to children with a broad range of learning styles and capacities. This is a vital first step in providing children with learning differences a Free and Accessible Public Education. (FAPE)
However, UDL is just step one in improving public education, and the Placer County Office of Education is noticeably lacking in a wide range of teacher education classes for understanding learning disabilities. It will be much harder for a teacher to design a UDL class if they don’t fully understand learning differences.
What did I not see in PCOE’s continuing education offerings for teachers? There were no courses in “recognizing dyslexia in your students,” or “what is dyscalculia and how does it present at different ages,” or “what is dysgraphia and how is it different in first grade vs sixth grade students” or “how do executive function delays effect student learning” or “how to incorporate executive function skills practice in the classroom.” Remember, these kids are 30% of the average classroom.
Public school teachers are on the front line when student’s struggle. We need them to have sufficient understanding of learning differences to recognize when a student needs additional assessment. Unfortunately, I have personally had a Placer county principal ask me “what is executive dysgraphia?” and know of math teachers who have never heard of dyscalculia. That might seem surprising, but considering the current state of teacher education in this country, it’s makes sense.
Next week: Detecting children with special education needs and the failure of Child Find.
I’m working on a book and seeking families, teachers, and school professionals with stories to tell. If you’ve been through this struggle, I’d love to hear from you. Everything will, of course, be confidential. You can reach me at: 241kcawley@gmail.com
Kathleen Cawley is a physician assistant and author. She is a regular guest columnist for the Auburn Journal and Folsom Telegraph where she writes on parenting and childhood. Her books, Navigating the Shock of Parenthood: Warty Truths and Modern Practicalities — from a mom with twins, And Grandma Becky’s Blue Tongue, a children’s picture book, are available where books are sold.
