ERIC Number: ED459160
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2001-Feb
Pages: 5
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
California's Initiative To Attract Highly Qualified Teachers into Low Performing Schools.
Curtis-Pierce, Ellen
The California Governor's Teaching Fellowship is a multi-year, statewide initiative designed to recruit more teachers into the profession. It offers competitive, merit-based awards to encourage highly qualified prospective teachers to work in low-performing schools for 4 years after attaining teaching credentials. Administered by California State University, the fellowships provide $20,000 to help pay education and living expenses during enrollment in continuous, full-time, post-baccalaureate teacher education. The impetus for this initiative is rooted in research which consistently shows that teacher quality has more of an impact on student achievement than any other single factor. California data show that schools serving the neediest students are likely to have substantial proportions of underqualified staff. As the student population becomes increasingly diverse, teachers must learn how to effectively serve student needs (through new models of induction and ongoing professional development). In an atmosphere of heightened accountability, there is tension between the public's legitimate need to know and the school's legitimate need to explore its own performance. Data from the first 18 months of the initiative validate its merits. Many of the first group of 250 students have completed their credential programs and are now teaching in low-performing California schools. (SM)
Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Accountability, Beginning Teachers, Educational Finance, Educational Quality, Elementary Secondary Education, Fellowships, Graduate Study, Higher Education, Low Achievement, Preservice Teacher Education, State Government, Teacher Certification, Teacher Competencies, Teacher Recruitment, Teacher Shortage, Teaching Skills
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: California
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A