The National Center for Education Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics has released a new (June 2001) study of public-school teacher preparation and development, based on data gathered in 2000 and meant to be compared with similar data from two years earlier. This 50 page report mostly consists of tables, though there are several interpretive pages at the beginning. I was struck by how many teachers say they participate in professional development. For example, 80 percent said they took part during the previous year in professional development related to state or district curriculum and standards, 74 percent learned about technology and 72 percent learned more about their subject areas. The time spent in these pursuits, however, mostly amounted to fewer than 8 hours in the year. According to the teachers, "in-depth study in the subject area of main teaching assignment" was most apt to improve their classroom teaching-and, not surprisingly, the more they studied the more improved they felt. (For example, among those who studied their subject area 8 hours or less, just 13 percent felt that it helped their teaching "a lot," while among those who studied more than 8 hours the figure was 37 percent.) Teachers also reported on how well prepared they judge themselves to be. Sixty-one percent said they felt "very well prepared" to "meet the overall demands of teaching assignments" but those numbers felt sharply when it came to teaching children with disabilities (32 percent), integrating technology into the classroom (27 percent) and addressing the needs of children with limited English proficiency (also 27 percent). You can get this report from the web by surfing to http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/2001088.pdf. The contact person at the Education Department is Bernard Greene, (202) 502-7348.
