OFFICIAL E-NEWSLETTER OF
The Need for Professional Development
According to the survey results, most U.S. teachers feel well-prepared to teach subject-area content. More than half of the U.S. lower secondary teachers surveyed have a master’s degree, compared to about 41 percent of non-U.S. teachers, suggesting the demand and need for professional development for educators in the United States. “It may be that American teachers feel they are sufficiently prepared to do their jobs, or it could be that they think the professional development opportunities they are offered are not particularly useful,” said James Lynn Woodworth, the commissioner of National Center for Education Statistics. Nearly half of the U.S. teachers who participated in the survey noted work schedule conflicts as a major barrier keeping them from participating in professional development programs. Another reason was a lack of incentives for participation. According to the survey, the top three areas of need for professional development are information and communication technology skills for teaching, teaching students with special needs, and approaches to individualized learning. “Access to high-quality professional development has been paramount to my development as a teacher,” said Gonzalez. “I have experienced professional development enhance my impact as a teacher by exposing me to new strategies and tools that I can use to better engage and teach my students, making an enormous impact in the experience that students have in my classroom,” said King.
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here is a current and future teacher shortage in many different teaching fields and in many communities across the country. The CFP Foundation knows that students associated with college athletic programs offer a pool of individuals who reflect the desired characteristics and skills to be prime targets for recruitment into the field of teaching. The current population of student-athletes reflects the diversity we hope to eventually see reflected in the educator workforce. By providing athletic and academic departments a platform to assist with the marketing and recruitment of studentathletes and other students into the teaching profession, the Go Teach project can make an immediate impact across the country. The more qualified candidates who enroll in teacher preparation programs, the more great teachers will be in the classroom. The Go Teach Project aims to give athletic and academic departments a platform and the tools needed to assist with the recruitment of qualified student-athletes into the teaching profession. Any college can get the Go Teach Project started on their campus by following an easy eight-step process.
GO TEACH LONGHORNS: Texas is one of the first universities to embrace and offer the Go Teach program, designed for student-athletes with an interest to become teachers.
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