New York University

The standards for admission into either the institution or its teacher preparation program should be sufficiently selective to ensure that teacher candidates come from only the top half of the college-going population. In order to ensure that any test used as a screen is able to provide sufficient selectivity, it must be normed to the college-going population.

The program only partly meets the standard because while it requires that candidates provide a score on one of the standardized tests of proficiency commonly used in higher education for graduate admission, it does not ensure that they have the requisite academic talent by requiring that their grade point averages (GPA) be high, or by demonstrating that the average GPA for the incoming class of teacher candidates is high.

A diverse teacher workforce benefits all students, particularly students of color. While there has been real progress over the last twenty years in diversifying the teacher workforce,¹ these gains have not kept pace with a rapidly diversifying student population. To accelerate progress, strategic recruitment efforts by teacher preparation programs are essential.

• Teacher prep enrollment: 55 percent candidates of color²
• New York teacher workforce: 20 percent teachers of color³
• Local demographics: 53 percent persons of color⁴

Programs earning an A+ contribute significantly to the diversification of the teacher workforce. Programs earn this grade when the percentage of enrolled candidates of color exceeds the diversity of the state teacher workforce by 10 or more percentage points and also meets or exceeds the diversity of the local population.

New York University is found to be 34.4 percentage points more diverse than the New York teacher workforce and 1.5 percentage points more diverse than the local population.

Courses reviewed: LITC-GE 2001, and LITC-GE 2002

The research-based content proven to be necessary for teaching all children to read should be clearly evident in course materials such as lecture topics, assignments and textbooks. All of a program's required reading courses — not just some courses — should impart what is necessary to teach reading.

The program partly meets the standard because its coursework covers three of the five of the components of effective reading instruction:

• Phonemic Awareness
• Phonics
• Comprehension Strategies

but does not address:

• Fluency
• Vocabulary

Student teaching serves a critical role in preparing teacher candidates to take the reins of their own classroom. This apprenticeship allows candidates to build on coursework by learning directly from an established teacher, and practice and refine essential instructional and management skills.

Student teaching should be at least 10 weeks long in order to offer opportunities for repeated cycles of practice and growth. It should be full- or nearly-full-time, and include several weeks during which the candidate has primary responsibility for teaching the whole class for full days, so that the candidate can experience the full demands of being a teacher.

In addition, there are two essential steps that programs should take to safeguard the value of the experience:

1. Supply student teachers with sufficient feedback by requiring supervisors to provide student teachers with at least four instances of written feedback based on observations.

2. Establish a structured process for selecting strong cooperating teachers that includes the collection of sufficient information to confirm that cooperating teachers have relevant skills, including ability as a mentor and instructional effectiveness as measured by student learning.

No rating could be determined for this program because the institution did not provide the information necessary for evaluation.

New teachers and their principals consistently report that classroom management is one of their greatest challenges. Teachers will be better prepared to establish a positive classroom environment if, during their preparation programs, they practice and receive feedback on the five classroom management strategies shown by conclusive research to be useful for all students. These strategies are:

1. Rules and Routines – Establishing classroom rules and routines that set expectations for behavior;
2. Learning Time – Maximizing the time that students are engaged in learning by pacing lessons appropriately, managing class materials and the physical setup of the classroom, and teaching interesting lessons;
3. Praise – Using meaningful praise and other forms of positive reinforcement to encourage appropriate behavior;
4. Low-profile Redirection – Using unobtrusive means that do not interrupt instruction to prevent and manage minimally disruptive behavior; and
5. Consequences – Addressing more serious misbehavior with consistent, appropriate consequences.

Student teaching and residency are crucial times for the development and refinement of classroom management skills. The first few months of school are just as critical for candidates in alternative programs who have full responsibility for a classroom of children. Evaluation and observation forms used during these experiences can shape the feedback that participants receive on key classroom management strategies.

A review of program evaluation and/or observation instruments finds that they provide feedback on student teachers' use of the following classroom management strategies:

• Rules and Routines
• Learning Time (manage time; manage materials)
• Low-profile Redirection

The program partly meets the standard because the feedback provided to student teachers addresses some of the critical classroom management strategies.

Next Steps
Consider modifying evaluation and observation instruments to provide participants with feedback on their use of the following strategies:

• Learning Time (manage student engagement; manage the physical classroom)
• Praise
• Consequences