Yet another study showing that poor kids get stuck with the weakest teachers:

 The neediest students in California high schools are being taught by the least prepared teachers, a new study shows.

Fewer than half the principals in high-poverty schools said their teachers had the skills to encourage critical thinking and problem-solving among their students, while more than two-thirds of their counterparts in wealthier communities said their teachers possessed those abilities, the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning said in a study being released today.

The nonprofit center also found that teachers in the lowest-performing schools are more than twice as likely as those in the highest-achieving schools to be working without at least a preliminary credential.

The center's study, "The Status of the Teaching Profession 2009," is the latest to show that the most disadvantaged students don't have access to the same quality of teaching as those in more affluent, high-achieving schools.

 

California's neediest high school students have the least prepared teachers, study says

The good news: A steep drop in the total number of 'underprepared' teachers. The bad: Aspiring teachers aren't being taught how to emphasize critical thinking skills and 'real world' learning.

By Mitchell Landsberg

December 14, 2009

www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-teachers14-2009dec14,0,5920055.story