Why would seasoned pros let novices take over their classroom and influence the results they achieve with students? And are these mentors well-suited to shape the next generation of teachers?
The National Council on Teacher Quality's report, "Student Teaching in the United States," suggests the answer to the second question is no.
The council blames schools of education, saying most do little or nothing to ensure that the teachers who mentor student teachers are exceptional at the craft and well-equipped to mentor a fellow adult.But Oregon colleges of education are pushing back against the report's conclusions, particularly its assertion that Oregon programs offer weak student teaching experiences with so-so mentors.
Leaders of Oregon teacher preparation programs say they take numerous steps to make certain the teachers who mentor their students, known as "cooperating teachers," are just that: great at getting results with kids and great at helping an aspiring teacher learn the ropes.
"When we seek cooperating teachers, that's where we start (when talking to principals): 'Who do you have who is an exemplary person doing a great job in the classroom?' It's a fundamental part of our conversation," says Michael Jaeger, dean of the college of education at Eastern Oregon University. "And if you're a great teacher, but you can't mentor, we don't want you."
During 2008-09, the most recent year for which figures are available, the 20 Oregon colleges and universities that prepare teachers had to find more than 3,200 teachers willing to accept a student teacher.
One of them was Michelle Lacaden, a language arts and social studies teacher at Portland's West Sylvan Middle School. She has served as the cooperating teacher for 15 student teachers so far.
It takes hours of extra work to coach college students on classroom management, review their lesson plans and share tips of the trade. But, she says, it's extremely satisfying to help launch new teachers into the profession the only way they'll really learn it -- by practicing in a real classroom with real students.
"Turning over your class to an inexperienced teacher can be potentially a scary thing," Lacaden said. "You have to have a lot of faith and you have to be very, very involved. But I feel it's worth it."
In the national study, council researchers looked for written evidence that its sample of schools of education nationwide, including at Eastern in La Grande and Linfield College in McMinnville, met five standards.
Among them: The teacher preparation program, not the school, selects the cooperating teacher; all cooperating teachers show evidence their pupils make large academic gains; and cooperating teachers possess the skills needed to mentor an adult.
Using that standard, the study rates Linfield's student teacher program as weak and Eastern's as poor.
Leaders of both programs blasted those ratings as inaccurate. They say their faculty rely on close, face-to-face relationships with principals in their area -- not formal letters or written policies -- to communicate the traits they seek in mentor teachers and ensure their students are placed with top-notch veterans.
In addition, university supervisors visit the classroom many times during each student teacher's placement and see for themselves whether the cooperating teacher is doing a good job.
"We ask principals to nominate the very, very best teachers," said Steven Bernhisel, chairman of the education department at Linfield. "Our faculty are quite familiar with the principals and teachers in our area, and we work to make sure the teachers our students are matched with are outstanding."
Keith Menk, deputy director of the Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission, acknowledges that getting teachers to agree to accept a student teacher is harder than it used to be, largely because teachers are under such pressure to raise test scores.
As a result, he says, school districts in Oregon and elsewhere are insisting they be in the driver's seat when it comes to deciding whether a teacher can serve as a cooperating teacher and how often.
"It's a struggle to find enough placements," Menk said. Still, he said, "districts will not place a student teacher with an educator they feel is a marginal performer."
Linda Mihata, who retired last month as head of Lakeridge High's English department, agreed to serve as cooperating teacher for five or so student teachers during her career. She said she had numerous motives -- to gain a second adult in the classroom, to learn from someone with fresh training, to free herself from teaching duties during the weeks the student teacher took over.
But the biggest reason, she said, was to give back to the profession she loves and help provide a skillful model for the next wave of teachers.
"It takes a good deal of time to communicate all the systems you have worked out over time for keeping track of papers, communicating with parents, managing behavior," Mihata said. "You advise them before school, during prep time, after school, on weekends. With a student teacher, you just stay late.
"But there is a payoff," she said, "when it comes time for your student to take over your classroom. It gave me some time to do some reading, do some of my own research. For teachers, that's a huge bonus. We never have any time."
At Lakeridge, she said, the question is less about whether the classroom teacher is equipped to be a mentor than whether the student teacher is up to the job. All who get chosen go through an in-person interview to make sure they have the commitment necessary to meet student and parent expectations.
"We want to make sure the quality is maintained in the classroom, even with a student teacher," Mihata said.
Still, the Lakeridge English department makes sure one strong teacher mentors a student teacher every year, she said. "The continuance of high-quality people in the classroom depends on the models we provide and should provide."
-- Betsy Hammond