Train Teachers Like Doctors?

In an Op-Ed piece in yesterday’s NY Times, three administrators of the Banks Street School proposed that teachers be trained like doctors.  The key idea is that a teacher residency program would improve teacher training, reduce teacher turnover, and increase teacher effectiveness.  In the type of teacher residency they propose, a new teacher would be paid to work for a year, along with and under the supervision of an experienced master teacher while studying child development and teaching methods. This differs from traditional student teaching, which typically runs from 10 to 20 weeks, beginning mostly with observation in a classroom and progressing to teaching full-time with the lead teacher observing, though time in the classroom can vary widely among programs and states, as can what counts as “full-time teaching.” 

They assert that such a residency program would improve our schools and reduce the high cost of excessive turnover.  They estimate that it costs the U.S. $2.2 billion each year to replace teachers who leave their jobs. Of course, some of this turnover is natural, expected, and characteristic of any job; new teachers, however, are estimated to leave teaching at a much higher rate than normal for a typical job, as much as 50% turnover is a widely cited figure.  This article, along with others, such as Valerie Strauss’s Washington Post piece, The Real Reasons Behind the U.S. Teacher Shortage, decries a shortage of teacher throughout the U.S.

The authors argue that we should spend more money on teacher training and development and compare the costs of a residency program to the public money spent on training and developing new physicians.  The U.S. now spends $11.5 billion annually on medical education, which comes out to about $500,000 for each new doctor.  Good doctors are essential, but so are good teachers.  By their estimate, good residency programs would cost about $65,000 per year, including tuition and stipends.  They point to some areas in the public education budget to begin finding these dollars, such as substitute teachers and the $6000 to $18,000 spent per teacher on professional development, much of which is deemed by teachers as “ineffective.”  Sounds like a good idea.