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UH-Clear Lake School of Education wins national award
University of Houston-Clear Lake School of Education EC-4 Generalist student Gracie Reyna assists Baytown’s George Washington Carver Elementary School students as part of her yearlong student-teaching internship. Reyna’s three-member mentoring team – (background) Pre-Service Teacher Supervisor for Goose Creek Consolidated I.S.D. Annese Jones, UH-Clear Lake University Supervisor Pat Hutchins and Fourth-Grade Mentor Teacher Susan Hales – provides support and assistance for the novice teacher as she prepares to launch her career. UH-Clear Lake’s Pre-Service I & II Internship program was named winner of the Distinguished Program in Teacher Education Award by the Association of Teacher Educators. The program is credited with drastically reducing teacher attrition rates and assuring new teachers are well-prepared and ready for classroom assignment. George Washing Carver students pictured are (front, r to l) Rubi Olvera, Michael McCoy, (back l to r) Elizabeth Thompson and Susan Aramburo.
University of Houston-Clear Lake’s School of Education and its 10 partner schools districts won national recognition for an internship program that not only prepares teachers who can make a difference in area classrooms, but one that also helps ensure those teachers remain in the classroom.
The Association of Teacher Educators bestowed its highest honor, the Distinguished Program in Teacher Education Award, upon UH-Clear Lake’s Pre-Service Internship I and II program. The national award recognizes outstanding programs that demonstrate strong, viable partnerships between education agencies such as local school districts and institutions of higher education in the preparation of quality teachers.
“One of the biggest hurdles in the teaching profession is retention,” says Annese Jones, Supervisor of Pre-Service Teachers for the Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District. “We have so many teachers that leave in the first five years because there is so much more to teaching than people outside of teaching realize or could even comprehend.”
In fact, the national average retention rate is 50 percent among new teachers in the first five years, but among UH-Clear Lake teacher graduates retention is a remarkable 80 percent.
“The high retention rate comes from the fact that when they (the UH-Clear Lake graduates) get into that first year of teaching they are more prepared for it,” says Jones. “They have a better idea of what’s coming, what’s expected and how to handle it because they’ve spent a full year in the classroom gradually taking on more of the responsibility the teacher has – and they’ve done it with a lot of support.”
While most teacher preparation programs – there are 160 such programs in the state of Texas – require student-teachers have only about 12 weeks of classroom teaching before being certified, UH-Clear Lake, through its Internship I and II program, requires its teacher candidates to experience an entire school year. During that year, the intern receives support and guidance not just from one instructor, but from a three-person mentoring team comprised of experienced, professional educators from the university, the school district, and the classroom.
“It’s the most comprehensive program both in time and requirements,” says Jones, who has worked in partnership with UH-Clear Lake since the internship program began in 1992. “It’s a tough program, but it’s a good program.”
Internship I introduces the teacher candidate to the school, its teachings, philosophies and students. The intern is in the classroom once a week and explores different types of classes such as gifted and talented, and special education, and also the classes of the grades above and below the level they will teach. This helps the student understand where the kids are coming from and where they’ll go next, explains Jones. In this way they get to know all of the pieces, along with the dynamics of the classroom, and how to prepare lesson plans.
During Internship II the teacher candidate returns to the school and becomes like a second teacher in the classroom of a mentor teacher, an experienced teacher with a proven record of classroom success. Gradually the intern assumes more responsibility until finally they are managing and teaching the class. During this time the student teacher is expected to do everything the classroom teacher does from attending staff meetings, to meeting with parents, and even appearing at evening functions at the school.
So when the new UH-Clear Lake graduate begins his or her teaching career, Jones explains, “They walk in not as a typical first year teacher but more like a second year teacher.”
For UH-Clear Lake Intern II Gracie Reyna, completing her internship at George Washington Carver Elementary School in the Goose Creek Consolidated ISD, the program is invaluable. “It’s a lot of work and it’s really eye-opening. I can’t imagine myself stepping into being in charge of a classroom without the hands-on experience I’m getting now.”
Reyna, who will graduate in May with a Bachelor of Science and an EC-4 Generalist certification, believes, “You take the classes and you think ‘this is what I want to do,’ but until you are in the classroom like I am now and you get the full experience, that is when you know – I made the right choice.”
The intense preparation and extra support and guidance are paying off in other areas as well. The internships are performed at specially designated professional development schools within each of the 10 local independent school districts (Alvin, Clear Creek, Brazosport, Dickinson, Galena Park, Goose Creek Consolidated, La Marque, Pasadena, Pearland and Texas City). These participating schools have shown significant improvement in student achievement as well as teacher development.
In addition, a report by the Center for Research, Evaluation and Advancement of Teacher Education showed that schools within a 75-mile radius of the university, many of whom hire UH-Clear Lake teacher graduates, have experienced a significant, positive change in Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills scores – some as much as 20 points higher in mathematics and 17 points higher in reading.
“The difference is our students are in the same school with the same teacher and students for an entire year,” says UH-Clear Lake Program Area Chair and Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction Sue Brown, who also serves as chair of the Teacher Education Program. “They have time to learn the ‘culture’ of the school and become familiar with the students.”
All involved in the program agree it is the teamwork, collaboration and continual evaluation of the internship program that makes it strong and such a success.
“We have a lot of interaction and collaboration from our professional development schools,” says Wren Bump, university supervisor coordinator and chair of the Teacher Education Advisory Committee, a group comprising university and school district personnel who meet regularly to assess and monitor the program, and to determine placement of interns.
Jones adds, “Each party brings a special perspective. When we get together there is a ton of discussion and there is a lot of listening to both sides. The public schools need to hear about the current research and be reminded of theory, and the university needs to hear what life is like day-to-day for the teachers and the challenges they face. I truly believe that’s why the program is as successful as it is. It’s a good mesh of the two.”
Accepting the award in New Orleans on behalf of UH-Clear Lake and its consortium at the annual ATE conference were Bump, Brown, Jones and UH-Clear Lake Center for Professional Development of Teachers Director Harriet Sturgeon.
For more information about teacher education at UH-Clear Lake, visit the School of Education Web site, http://soe.uhcl.edu.
