A pilot program to beef up Iowa teacher preparation is underway.
35 teachers-in-training are undergoing a more intensive student teaching experience this year. Students from UNI and Dordt College are holding down assignments for a full academic year.
Department of Education Director Brad Buck says when he was a student teacher years ago, his assignment lasted 16 weeks:
"I saw what school was like for a portion, but not the whole school year,” Buck says. “The intent of this is, does it robustly prepare them or their first year of teaching to have gone through an experience of a school year from start to finish?”
The pilot project is part of the legislature’s 2013 education reform bill. Buck says he’s looking forward to evaluating the program once the school year is over and the new teachers take on their first teaching jobs.
“This is a full year,” Buck says, “so students have the experience of starting a school year, having parent teacher conferences, and closing out a school year.”
University of Northern Iowa and Dordt College each received about half-a-million dollars to conduct the pilot project.