National leaders discuss underprepared teachers, the crisis facing poor districts, risk to students
More than half of all new teachers in California last year entered the profession underprepared, and teachers who lack full credentials are concentrated in the state's poorest schools. In 2000-01, 1.7 million children in California attended schools in which 20 percent of the teachers were underprepared.
How can we address the challenge of teacher preparation in the midst of the state's acute teacher shortage? How does teacher quality affect student performance? The crisis in teacher quality that is plaguing California schools will be addressed on Monday, January 28, at 9:45 a.m., when three of the nation's top leaders in education conduct an open press forum in at the Fairmont Hotel in downtown San Jose. Participants are:
- Bob Chase, president of the National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers union.
- Linda Darling-Hammond, professor of education at Stanford University and former director of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future.
- Ellen Moir, executive director of the New Teacher Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
The forum offers reporters and editors an opportunity to participate in a discussion with three of the most influential leaders on the national education scene. It takes place in conjunction with the UCSC New Teacher Center's Fourth Annual Symposium, a conference that is expected to draw more than 600 educators from across the country to address issues related to new teacher development.
The UCSC New Teacher Center is a national leader in the development of programs that support beginning teachers. For more information about the New Teacher Center and its annual symposium, visit www.newteachercenter.org or call the center at (831) 459-4323.
