Educational Leadership

actual work of teaching, but the reduced schedule would honor the fact that they’re still students of the profession.

Although early-career teachers crave time with experts, they like to have an authority figure, such as their principal or college professor, mandate such interaction. Teacher educators could, for example, ask precertified novices to work with experienced colleagues or to reflect on their teaching. New teachers would have time to not only learn about pedagogy in their coursework, but also directly apply it to their teaching and collaborate with colleagues.

It’s Our Responsibility
The responses of these precertified new
teachers indicate that some candidates
who enter alternative certification
programs realize what they’re missing
once they actually start teaching. By
that point, it’s not feasible to pull out
of one route and start another. If most
alternative routes to the classroom
bypass the very things alternatively cer-
tified novices want, it behooves those
who work with novices—and those
structuring alternative programs—to
think about how to approximate the
more traditional experiences these can-
didates would find helpful. This is par-
ticularly important for school districts
that hire many such teachers.

Jennifer Locraft Cuddapah is assistant professor of education and secondary education coordinator at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland; cuddapah@hood .edu. Anika Spratley Burtin is assistant professor of teacher preparation at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore Maryland; aspratl1@jhu.edu.

WANTED!

ASCD seeks two highly accomplished young educators for
recognition and $10,000 award.

Join ASCD in celebrating 10 years of honoring excellence in the next generation of educators— submit a nomination for the 2013 Outstanding Young Educator Award at www.ascd.org/oyea

For the past decade, ASCD’s Outstanding Young Educator Award (OYEA) Program has recognized creative and committed teachers and administrators under the age of 40 who are making a difference in the lives of children.

Who will win the next Outstanding Young Educator Award?

Do you know an emerging education leader who exemplifies excellence and equity in teaching and learning? Do you have a colleague that should be recognized for his or her outstanding work?

Share their spirit and successful strategies and skills with the education community by nominating them for ASCD’s prestigious Outstanding Young Educator Award Program.