SMHC

According to a new study, novice teachers in Baton Rouge and New Orleans who earned their teacher certification through the Louisiana Practitioner Teacher Program outperformed experienced teachers in improving students’ performance in math, reading, and language arts. Nearly all of the cities’ Teach for America participants earn certification through the Louisiana Practitioner Teacher Program, a fast-track process that is a local variation of The New Teacher Project. Critics of the alternative program claim that the study presents faulty conclusions by using a “value-added” analysis, which measures gains in test scores regardless of a student’s starting point. Critics argue that students of Teacher for America participants tend to have lower starting grades and are therefore more likely to demonstrate short-term improvement in a value-added analysis. But David Keeling, director of communications for The New Teacher Project, says the study is encouraging, and shows that alternatively certified teachers can measure up to traditionally certified teachers “if they are carefully selected and rigorously trained.”

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