Education Dean Testifies Before Congressional Subcommittee

Lawrence J. Johnson, dean of the University of Cincinnati College of Education and president of the Ohio Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, testified on the state of teacher education before a U.S. House subcommittee on April 24. The subcommittee on labor, health and human services, education and related agencies is under the House Committee on Appropriations.

Johnson's testimony focused on key components to a quality teacher education program, the challenges facing today's teachers and schools, and opportunities and concerns affecting teacher education today.

"There are serious challenges facing the teachers of today that we as teacher educators must try to understand and try to address," Johnson testified. "There is an increase of violence and unrest in many of our schools. This unfortunate trend has not been limited to our urban core and is now confronting teachers everywhere. The ravages of poverty continue to intensify and there is an ever-increasing number of students living in poverty and coming to school hungry. More students live in single-parent homes, forcing one parent to take on the heroic challenge of raising his or her children to be productive citizens.

"As if these challenges weren't enough, there is a growing number of seductive traps that lure our students into trouble," Johnson continued before the subcommittee. "Drugs, alcohol, early sexual experimentation and other disastrous distractions are always lurking in the shadows to undermine and limit the potential of our students." He also addressed research that suggests the most challenged schools have under-prepared teachers and high job turnover.

Johnson outlined how teacher preparation programs like UC's College of Education can address these issues while developing a "caring, qualified and competent teacher" for every classroom. This includes teacher candidates who have strong content knowledge in subjects they will teach, extensive clinical experience in classrooms under the guidance of experienced, mentor teachers, experience working with diverse student populations, technology expertise and ongoing professional development.

Johnson also called for the creation of a seamless pre-kindergarten through college level educational system, an ongoing initiative between the University of Cincinnati and the partner public schools in Greater Cincinnati. "Education is the key to opportunity and opportunity is the fuel that has made this country great. Students from the early ages must believe that college is a real option for them and that they have access to higher education. Our colleges of education are portals for universities to make effective links with schools by forging the university and school partnerships."

Johnson says after his testimony, the subcommittee asked him what he felt was essential to any educational reform. "I told them we first have to recognize that teaching is really hard work--there are no easy solutions."

After his testimony, Johnson says he also spoke with Ohio congressman and chairman of the subcommittee Ralph Regula, who began his career as a schoolteacher and also served on the Ohio Board of Education. "I told him that teaching was a developmental process. Teachers don't reach their peak until their sixth or seventh year in the classroom. Colleges of education need to be doing ongoing consulting with teachers after they graduate, and UC is providing those professional development opportunities."

The nationally recognized Cincinnati Initiative for Teacher Education (CITE) addresses these needs by providing teacher internships for UC teacher education students in partner public schools in Cincinnati. Furthermore, the college is completing the second year of a $2.7 million three-year technology initiative, half of which is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, to provide professional development and technology expertise for UC students, faculty and the area public school teachers who work with the UC teacher interns.