Better Educated Teachers Needed for Early Ed., Study Suggests
The early-ed initiative PreK Now, a project of the Pew Center on the States, just put out this report on early-childhood education and teacher preparation.
Studies suggest, it says, that teachers with bachelor's degrees and specialized training in early education are more effective than those educators who don't hold such credentials. In other words, it's not enough to be good with kids or to like working with them; teachers benefit from specific training.
Another finding: States are all over the map in terms of how much training they mandate. Some states require no more than a high school diploma, while others require a bachelor's degree, and in still others, it's a degree with special training or certification in elementary education.
The report recommends that states move toward requiring a bachelor's degree and specialized training in early education, and highlights some models for doing so. States should consider, for example, a tiered phase-in system to allow incremental progress over time and to set realistic goals and timelines for achieving them. Legislators did this in two successive iterations of the Head Start program to increase the number of teachers holding associates' degrees and ultimately, bachelor's degrees, for instance.
It also recommends creating stronger partnerships between universities and community providers to create avenues to early-ed certification and licensure.