Elizabeth Foster and Anne Simmons, Recruiting New Teachers, Inc.
October 2002
A new report by Massachusetts-based Recruiting New Teachers, Inc. (RNT) identifies America's 1100 community colleges as an untapped resource for attracting and training educators and helping to alleviate teacher shortages. The authors deem community colleges - where over a fifth of public school teachers begin their education - an insufficiently appreciated solution for a host of logical (and mostly obvious) reasons. For example, they typically enroll large numbers of local, minority students who may be better able to identify with urban kids and who are more likely to remain in their community to teach. The bulk of the report consists of observations about community-college teacher training programs and the students who enroll in them, with a few pages given over to profiles of exemplary programs. But RNT's vision of the community college's role - as feeder of would-be teachers to four-year colleges via "interinstitutional collaborations" - is too cramped. It neglects a far more interesting role for community colleges that could really revolutionize the teacher preparation process: as purveyors of fast, focused training in teaching fundamentals to college-educated people seeking alternative certification. This report is not available online, but hard copies can be ordered for $24.95 plus shipping and handling by calling 617-489-6000, emailing [email protected] or visiting http://www.recruitingteachers.org/news/2002TappingPotential.html.
