(From Inside Higher Ed):
By Jacqueline Thomsen
Students expect their teachers to be prepared to lead, but sometimes that simply isn’t the case.
With a wide variety of teacher preparation programs and an increasing demand for educators, alternative preparation options are springing up alongside existing traditional programs. And leaders at a new graduate school of education are hoping to make sure teachers are in the classroom as soon as they can prove they’re ready.
The Woodrow Wilson Academy for Teaching and Learning, which the Woodrow Wilson Foundation on Tuesday announced it will create, will be a competency-based program, letting students graduate as soon as they’re deemed able to handle all of the school’s main competencies. Rather than following the course work traditionally given to students in graduate classes, incoming students will be assessed on how well they can perform a task or demonstrate a skill. They will then be able to follow a customizable path of education and continue to be assessed until they are deemed ready for the classroom. CONTINUE READING HERE