Public/Non-Members

A Case for Collaboration

Attracting, preparing, and retaining high-quality preschool through 12th grade (P-12) teachers are critical needs of our nation. There is a consensus that highly “qualified” teachers are what matter most in determining student learning; indeed, William Sanders’ studies on the effects of high-quality teaching are part of today’s political discourse. But high teacher attrition (29% in the first year) and growing teacher retirements, from an aging workforce, require that two million teachers in this decade will need to be replaced. Another four hundred to five hundred thousand teachers will be needed to grow the system to accommodate population growth and class-size reduction. Teacher shortages are acute in particular parts of the country and in certain subject areas–such as mathematics, science, special education, and bilingual education. In addition, there is a great need for teachers of color as well as for teachers in high-need schools.

The perceived inability of traditional 4-year colleges to respond to the quantity and quality problem has caused many to turn to community colleges for an answer. As they have for at least a century, 2-year colleges can and ought to play a role in the recruitment and preparation of quality teachers.Their involvement is particularly important in that over 50% of students of color begin higher education in these institutions. Community colleges enroll 42% of all African Americans and 55% of Hispanic students in higher education.

The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) has been making a concerted effort to work with and learn from alternative routes to teacher certification. Community colleges are part of both the alternative route system and the traditional system. This issue paper looks at the role of community colleges in teacher preparation and suggests ways in which AACTE institutions should work with community colleges.