A new kind of teacher training program requires candidates to prove they are effective in the classroom before they can earn their master’s degree. Match Education operates charter schools and a graduate program that trains teachers for high-poverty schools. The latter graduated its first class of 21 students in December 2013.
“What’s unique about Match’s program is that our teachers have to do more than just pass their classes to earn their degree,” said Scott McCue, COO of Match’s two-year teacher residency. Candidates who enroll in the residency can also pursue their master’s. Approximately 150 public school teachers have completed the residency.
To receive their master’s degree as well, residents must prove they are effective as a first-year teacher through several tests: classroom observations, student test scores, student survey results, and principal evaluations.
In their first year of the residency, prospective teachers tutor, student-teach, and receive coaching in Boston, along with taking classes. In the second year, residents teach full-time in schools across the country.
One of the new master’s graduates is Veronica Gentile, who says Match’s hands-on approach and high standards helped prepare her to teach math at Boston Preparatory Charter Public School, where she is now a second-year teacher.
—Staff Reports
Image by ISKME.
Joy Pullmann is a research fellow on education policy for The Heartland Institute and managing editor of The Federalist, a web magazine on politics, policy, and culture.
