The Choosing to Teach Project

Choosing to Teach Project Dr. Eran Tamir Study Design What do we know from prior studies found? Teacher Quality is the single most important factor affecting student learning within schools Potential contribution to Jewish and General Education Recruitment – * Understanding who makes the commitment to teach and why * Identify the characteristics / models of teachers who are likely to stay Preparation – * What makes for effective Jewish teacher preparation? * Identify a general model of Context Specific Teacher Education Retention – * Studying the factors and conditions conductive to teacher retention The Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education Brandeis University What is the problem/issue we and others are concerned about? What do we know about this problem from the Literature Potential contribution to Jewish and General Education Research question Feasibility and opportunity Data New things we hope to achieve Implications for research and implications for practice What is the problem we want to address? The recruitment, preparation, and retention of high quality teachers offer serious challenges to effective teaching and learning in particular school contexts, like urban public, Catholic, and Jewish day schools. Main Research Question How do teacher education programs and school contexts interact with teachers’ backgrounds to shape their identity, practice and career commitments? What else do we know about these issues from the Literature Choosing to teach - *Teaching is considered the least lucrative academic career *Elite college graduates rarely choose teaching Effective preparation - *Coherent preparation with clear vision *Mentored internship School context - *School conditions are detrimental for teacher retention and career commitments Feasibility and opportunity * Exploiting DeLeT as a lab for ed. research * Reaching out to teacher prep. programs for other school settings and creating opportunities for a comparative research study * Collaborating with educational researchers from these programs * Opportunity for interdisciplinary research 1. What role do background and prior experiences play in teachers’ decision to choose teaching in specific school sectors? 2. Do elite college graduates who choose to prepare for teaching through context specific teacher education programs stay in teaching for long term? 3. How do context specific teacher education programs prepare teachers for particular schools? 4. How do graduates of context specific teacher education use their specific set of skills and strategies in the classroom? 5. How do these specific schools support beginning teachers? 6. What specific roles do heads and principals take in supporting beginning teachers? Informing educators and policy makers about the potential impact of context specific teacher preparation on teacher retention, commitments, and practice Please contact me Dr. Eran Tamir The Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education Brandeis University Etamir88@brandeis.edu 781-736-2072 What types of data did we collect? Interviews with teachers Interviews and focus groups with program faculty Interviews with heads of schools and principals Classroom observations and interviews with examplary teachers