College education graduates are not prepared for the classroom, Oklahoma politicians and educators said Monday at a round-table discussion.
"New teachers are woefully underprepared," said U.S. Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee.
No plan exists right now offering a solution, Boehner said. Often new teachers leave after three years, sometimes for economic reasons but most often from sheer frustration and lack of preparedness.
OU President David L. Boren said students planning to become teachers should have the majority of their credit hours in the subject they want to teach.
"You've got to have a depth of knowledge of the subject you're teaching," Boren said.
Norman superintendent Joseph Siano said his new teachers are assigned to spend 72 hours with a mentor teacher. Siano said he thought this program was helping to prepare teachers for the classroom.
Officials also discussed the No Child Left Behind bill which focuses on all kids receiving an equal education. No Child Left Behind provides the proper measurements to aid states in putting a highly qualified teacher in every classroom, ensuring every child is able to read by the third grade.
The bill gives parents annual report cards on school achievement and alternatives when schools consistently underachieve. It also transforms federal bilingual education programs into a single program with an emphasis on helping students learn English. No Child Left Behind expands local control over federal education funds and allows for flexibility throughout all school districts in America.
"I've dealt with thousands of issues and none have etched a place in my soul like this one," Boehner said.
Brian Campbell, administrator with the Chickasaw Nation, said teachers face many social problems, especially teaching children from broken homes. One teacher he had spoken with had 19 children from broken homes and she expressed to him the difficulty she felt keeping students with emotional issues on track, Campbell said.
Boehner said teachers in tough neighborhoods definitely have a large part of the burden. He also emphasized early childhood programs such as Headstart should incorporate some educational content into their programs.
Dolores Mize, assistant vice chancellor for the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, asked Boehner to keep GEAR-UP a priority.
The GEAR-UP program is a grant program that enables and increases the number of low-income students who are preparing to enter into post-secondary education. GEAR-UP provides five-year grants to states and partnerships to arrange services to middle and high schools with students below the poverty line.
Boehner assured those in attendance at the round-table discussion that education was going to be at the forefront of many politicians' minds for years to come.
"As long as people are talking about education, politicians are going to do what people want and put more money into education," Boehner said.
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