Eric.ed.gov – Incoherent by Design: What You Should Know about Differences between Undergraduate and Graduate Training of Elementary Teachers

This brief quantifies the fundamentally chaotic nature of elementary teacher preparation for initial certification, which is by far the most popular choice of individuals who consider teaching. In order to understand the different approaches taken by programs housed on the same university campus, researchers examined 13 institutions that offer both a graduate and undergraduate program preparing new elementary and/or secondary teachers. While there is overlap in the topics each undergraduate/graduate program pair covers, what’s more striking are the different course requirements–even though both programs are offered by the same education school at the same institution. Ideally, teacher candidates in each program pair should receive preparation that is not only consistent, but also high quality in its design. Teacher candidates in elementary programs should begin teacher preparation having demonstrated sufficient mastery of a broad range of content–including literature and composition, history and geography, and the basic sciences–to be able to deliver robust instruction. Their training should address early reading, elementary math, classroom management, assessment and data, and methods and design of instruction. Training for secondary teachers should address methods specific to their subject, adolescent literacy, classroom management, as well as assessment and data. Teacher preparation is likely to only add value when each of these courses is an integral and inseparable part of training focused on specific skills. The following are appended: (1) Examples of courses categorized under topic headings; and (2) Elementary program pairs.