By Stacy Mantle
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Arizona's growing teacher-preparation alternatives may help schools keep teachers in their communities, but new research suggests programs offering more clinical classroom experience may better prepare educators before they take charge of their own classrooms.

Researchers from WestEd presented preliminary findings from the Arizona Teacher Pathways Research-Practice Partnership to the State Board of Education on Aug. 24.

The partnership includes WestEd, the State Board and The Arizona Department of Education and is examining differences among the state's expanding teacher-preparation pathways. WestEd researchers Reino Makkonen and Alicia Okpareke presented the findings to the board.

Rather than comparing traditional and alternative programs, researchers examined programs' individual characteristics, including coursework, mentoring, clinical experience and when participants became teachers of record.

“We're seeing sort of higher job retention in the classroom-based programs, but you see higher preparedness maybe in the programs with more clinical practice opportunities,” said WestEd researcher Reino Makkonen. “So, it's a balance when we think about these two outcomes.”

Some teachers complete preparation and certification before becoming responsible for a classroom. Others become teachers of record during their final clinical experience, while some begin teaching while completing virtually their entire preparation program.

The early findings suggest those differences matter.

Statewide, researchers said 76% of teachers in the group studied remained in Arizona's education workforce for at least three years, while 68% remained with their original local education agency.

Classroom-based and local "grow your own" programs showed particularly high retention. 

Those programs frequently recruit people who live in or have ties to the communities where they eventually teach.

“These programs are cultivating teachers who stay. What the question is then is what is the quality of the teaching and the prep that they receive as a teacher of record from the start,” said Alicia Okpareke, senior researcher at WestEd.

But retention is only one side of the equation.

Researchers found signs that greater clinical experience before taking responsibility for a classroom could be associated with stronger preparation.

Candidates who completed a practicum before student teaching had higher first-time passing rates on several secondary mathematics certification exams. Researchers cautioned that licensure tests are only one measure of preparedness, but said the pattern appeared consistently across the math examinations they examined.

“Clinical practice kind of stands out as a variable that's worthy of continued attention,” said Okpareke. “And we're trying to balance this idea of seeing retention and wanting teachers to stay, but also wanting them to feel prepared and be effective from year one as well.”

That creates a challenge for policymakers: programs that place prospective teachers into classrooms quickly may help schools recruit and retain local educators, while programs providing more supervised clinical experience may better prepare teachers before their first year.

“We're seeing sort of higher job retention in the classroom-based programs, but you see higher preparedness maybe in the programs with more clinical practice opportunities,” said Okpareke.

Researchers said clinical practice deserves further study as Arizona considers how its teacher-preparation pathways should evolve.

The goal, they said, is to find ways to give classroom-based candidates stronger clinical and mentoring opportunities while helping traditionally prepared teachers develop stronger connections to the communities where they work.

Editor’s note:   A grant from the Arizona Local News Foundation made this story possible. The foundation awarded 15 newsrooms to pay for solutions-focused education reporters for two years. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.

Stacy Mantle
Education Solutions Reporter

smantle@iniusa.org

Meet Stacy
Stacy Mantle is joining the team at Independent Newsmedia, Inc. as an Education Solutions journalist, thanks to a grant from the Arizona Community Collaborative. She has a long history in education that ranges from teaching junior high and middle school to developing curriculum and standards-based assessments.

Community: A longtime advocate for animal welfare, Stacy is deeply involved in rescue efforts and volunteers with several nonprofit organizations.

Random Fact: Once upon a time, she shared her home with a pet coyote and two wolf hybrids. The experiences were wild enough to become the subject of her first book!

Education: She holds a BA in English with a minor in Political Science, a Post-baccalaureate in Secondary Education, and an MBA with a emphasis on Marketing.

Hobbies: In her spare time, Stacy writes fast-paced urban fantasy novels, crafts small-batch artisan soap, and is always up for hiking or off-roading through the Arizona wilderness with her husband of 23 years.