Who's teaching your children? : why the teacher crisis is worse than you think and what can be done about it

Many of the problems afflicting American education are the result of a critical shortage of qualified teachers in the classrooms. The teacher crisis is surprisingly resistant to reforms and is getting worse. This analysis of the causes underlying the crisis seeks to offer concrete, affordable proposals for effective reform. Vivian Troen and Katherine Boles, two experienced classroom teachers and education consultants, argue that because teachers are recruited from a pool of underqualified candidates, given inadequate preparation, and dropped into a culture of isolation without mentoring, support, or incentives for excellence, they are programmed to fail. Half quit within their first five years. Troen and Boles offer an alternative, a model of reform they call the Millennium School, which changes the way teachers work and improves the quality of their teaching. When teaching becomes a real profession, they contend, more academically able people will be drawn into it, colleges will be forced to improve the quality of their education, and better-prepared teachers will enter the classroom and improve the profession. Many Of The Shortcomings Of American Education Can Be Traced To The Fact That There Is A Critical Shortage Of Qualified Teachers In The Classrooms. The Teacher Crisis Is Surprisingly Resistant To Current Reforms And Is Getting Worse. This Important Book Reveals The Causes Underlying The Seemingly Insoluble Problem And Offers Concrete, Affordable Proposals For Effective Reform.--jacket. Your Children Aren't Getting The Teachers They Deserve -- How Teaching Got To Be This Way -- Teacher Training : How Bad Is It? -- Mammas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Teachers -- Band-aids And Boondoggles : The Myths And Realities Of Education Reform -- The Millennium School : A Total Approach To Solving The Fundamental Problems Of Elementary School Education. Vivian Troen And Katherine C. Boles. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [205]-210) And Index. In the sixth grade I already know I am going to be a teacher.