Report Shows New Teachers Are Less Effective Than Those With Experience

North Carolina's News & Observer (4/9, Bonner) reported, "Rookie teachers are much less effective than their more experienced colleagues, a new report says, pointing to a need for better preparation for prospective teachers and for more support once they're standing in front of classrooms." The study by researchers from the University of North Carolina "showed that teachers who graduated from the state's public universities were in the middle of the pack in terms of effectiveness, while teachers who are in the Teach for America program excel in high school classrooms and in teaching middle school math." The results were based on "student scores on end-of-grade and end-of-course tests," which were "connected...to their teachers, how long they'd been teaching, and where they learned to teach."