Student teaching process needs major improvements

Published 1:30 am Friday, March 28, 2025

The state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction reported that in 2024 only 50.3% of K-12 students were on track with English, 39.7% with math and 43.5% with science.

So, who or what is to blame for those low scores? OSPI? Teachers? Parents? Students? Cell phones? Subjects? Yes, a subject, such as math, can be a turn-off—I never scored higher than a D. However, the competency and creativity of an experienced teacher may well be the most important contribution to a student’s success. Unfortunately, the OSPI’s job training mill is not designed to produce competency and creativity, let alone excellence.

The 14 weeks in-class practicum for student teachers and the 28 weeks of uninspiring lectures on educational theories do not make experienced teachers. Heck, I spent three years on the job to learn the printing trade.

A New York Times article reported that “teacher training programs have frequently come under attack as ill-conceived or mediocre.” Arne Dunkin, President Obama’s Secretary of Education, stated in the same article, “When I talk to teachers … they feel they weren’t well prepared.”

I certainly was not well prepared after my 14 weeks of teacher training, however, because I fulfilled all of OSPI’s requirements, I was considered a qualified history teacher according to the standards of the Washington Professional Educators Standards Board. I was qualified to “do effective teaching that is evidence-based, meaningful … and documents student learning.”

I was not prepared to “do effective teaching” because during those 14 weeks I did not teach a single history lesson. I was placed into German language classes, with my mentor teacher rarely present. Also, the College of Education tested me only for my English and math knowledge (WEST-B tests), but not for my history knowledge. None of the educational theories lecturers addressed the how and what and why of history teaching.

The 1983 landmark report on education, A Nation at Risk, recommends that “teacher education programs need substantial improvements … the college curriculum is weighted too heavily with courses on educational methods.”

Former Seattle school board member Donald Nielsen suggested in his 2014 book Every School to “eliminate” or “substantially modify” certification laws. Yes, a first step to “substantially modify” certification laws must be to upgrade the teacher training program.

To rectify my lack of meaningful history teaching training, I convinced history teacher Ed Frodel of North Kitsap High School to take me under his wing for one year (He is the founder of West Sound Academy). I soon realized I was on the road to Damascus. I learned how to teach “evidence-based” history, how to use primary sources, how to include art, literature and philosophy, and how to “document student learning.” Best of all, I ended up with a year’s worth of tried and tested lesson plans and avoided years of trial and error. No college could have given me a more meaningful, enjoyable and substantive apprenticeship. Every student teacher should have such truly useful experience.

We expect our cars to be worked on by experienced mechanics, but our kids’ education is determined by the luck of the draw. Students may get an experienced pro or an inexperienced rookie.

The present road to becoming a teacher in Washington is confusing, arbitrary and expensive. A large number of in-state and out-of-state teacher training institutions offer in-person classes, 100% online classes or hybrids. OSPI oversees 56 traditional teacher training schemes, diluted by various alternatives and exemptions, and various new requirements.

It’s time to deconstruct the present hodge-podge of the teacher certification processes and implement a meaningful and affordable, non-experimental, in-class, teacher training practicum:

•As private industry trains and pays its future professionals on its premises, for several years, the school district industry should train and pay its future teachers on-premises, under the tutelage of a master teacher, for a minimum of at least one year.

•Student teachers must have a bachelor’s degree or a minimum of 60 credit hours from an accredited college in the subject they are teaching.

Such reform will benefit students, provide purposeful and affordable training for future teachers, and benefit school districts by directly supervising the “making” of new teachers.

Jim Behrend went to school in Germany, Switzerland and the US. He taught AP European and World history at North Kitsap High School.