This year, elementary and secondary schools enrolled a record 53.2 million students, nearly half-a-million ahead of last year's total. And schools are only going to be getting more crowded in the next few years: according to the Department of Education, new enrollment records will continue for at least the next seven years.

The largest portion of the increase over the next decade will be in grades 9-12, with an additional 1.3 million public high school students by the year 2008. While every region of the country will experience significant increases, southern and western states will experience the greatest boom in K-12 enrollment. And that doesn't even include students enrolled in private and church-related schools.

With an avalanche of young people descending on the schools for a decade to come, an obvious question comes to mind: where will all the teachers come from? And further, how will they be trained in a way that will make them effective classroom instructors?

Is There a Teacher Shortage?

A teacher shortage does exist, according to Dottie Myatt, Assistant Professor of Education and Director of Union University's Teacher Education Program. Those shortages are particularly acute in special education, math and the sciences. 

Over the next decade, an estimated 2.5 million teachers will be needed, according to Stanley Ikenberry, president of the American Council on Education (ACE). That is 20 percent above normal replacement levels. A recent ACE report highlighted the same issue Myatt cites: a shortage of qualified teachers, particularly in math and science. The ACE report indicates that in high-poverty areas, as many as 70 percent of students in 7th through 12th grades are in science classes led by unqualified teachers.

Who teaches the teachers?

Despite the impending shortage of teachers, institutions with teacher education programs like Union's are working hard to enhance the preparation process for future teachers. In part, that means raising the standards for those who are admitted to such programs and those who are ultimately licensed to teach.

Union education leaders believe such enhancements are vital, even though that is likely to exacerbate the teacher shortage. As Myatt observes, "As we raise the standard for teacher education . . . it becomes more of a challenge for some people to become licensed." 

Tom Rosebrough echoes the reality of heightened standards. Dean of Union's School of Education since 1996, Rosebrough believes "people don't realize the strides that the profession of teacher education has taken over the last fifteen or twenty years. The baby boomers who primarily occupy the schools right now, teaching in our classrooms, were not prepared in the same way that we are preparing teachers now."

Part of that enhanced preparation is a greater emphasis on field experience and student teaching, starting in the freshman year and going right through the senior year. "Teachers who are 50, 55, 60 years old now," says Rosebrough, "didn't see a classroom until their senior year when they did their student teaching, sink or swim."

It's also tougher to get into strong teacher education programs like Union's these days. One reason is expanded testing of teacher education candidates - both before and after their college years - to be sure they are academically prepared for teaching. Such testing is expanding as a result of a national trend toward greater accountability in education. 

Rosebrough explains: "They are tested for basic skills. The GPA required is higher for them than for anybody else in the University. They have to graduate with a minimum 2.5 GPA. They have to have 2.75 or 3.0 in their major, depending on their particular major, and they have to pass what is called the Praxis II at the end of their four year degree program, which is the new name for the national teacher exam. This new exam tests teachers on how they would respond to scenarios presented in case studies. They are tested in a subject area as well as in their professional education area."

Union's School of Education is now in the process of seeking accreditation by the National Council on the Accreditation for Teacher Education (NCATE). Such specialized accreditation - which is currently held by approximately 50% of the nation's teacher-education programs - means even higher standards and greater accountability. As Rosebrough points out, "With the national accreditation standards that we are meeting now, and actually have been meeting for some time through state standards, we have to show NCATE what our graduates can do as well as know. 

"The teacher tests can tell us what our teachers know but they can't tell us what our students can do. We have to show outside agencies like the State Department of Education, and now NCATE, that our pre-service teachers can perform in the classrooms. We have to follow up on those graduates as well and form partnerships with schools to help induct new teachers into the profession. Many new teachers drop out from frustration after the first couple of years, which is a national problem."

Facing Special Challenges

With challenges like teacher shortages and greater accountability, those who teach teachers face a difficult environment. Compounding the situation are two additional issues: technology and diversity.

"Technology is wonderful, in that the computer is the ultimate learning resource and the ultimate tutor," says Rosebrough. "It is a wonderful invention but it is so fickle. Schools can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, yet just three or four years later they are hopelessly out of date. Schools can't afford that - K-12 public schools cannot and neither can universities.

"At the same time, the computer is the most wonderful technology ever to come along to assist the teacher. Compared to other teaching inventions in the past like television or radio, there's no comparison. The computer goes beyond the teaching tool; it is a great resource for the teacher. It is almost like a person, a teacher's aide. You can place it in the corner of the room and kids can interact with it. It fits right in with progressive educational research because it gives kids interactive feedback, which they really need in order to learn."
As educators prepare those who will teach in the next century, one of their major goals is equipping those future teachers to use technology effectively.

Myatt points out that in 1996, the Tennessee Board of Education mandated technology knowledge and skills for teacher education. "Since that time we have seen that the new teachers who are out there in the schools are integrating the technology in their teaching in order to prepare their students for the world of technology. As educators, we must prepare those teachers to use the technology in their teaching and the students to use it in their learning as they are going to use it in the real world - not drill and practice but using spread sheets, databases, internet and word processing to prepare their students for the workplace."

While technology does not replace the teacher, Rosebrough emphasizes, it can be a valuable teaching tool that makes teachers more effective.

"The teacher still sets the structure and the goals, the learning outcomes for the classroom. That's an issue for us in the Teacher Education Program. How do we prepare teachers so that they can go out and perform as teachers in state-of-the-art classrooms? We have to prepare them as though they are going to walk into the school building that has the very best of equipment. It is the university's job to stay ahead of what the public school classrooms are doing." 

One way Union is striving to do that is through development of a state-of-the-art classroom for instructing future teachers in the use of technology.

"Teacher candidates need to learn to integrate the technology into the instruction and learning as it will be used in the real world," Myatt explains. "So Union put together a 21st century classroom. We have new PCs. All teacher candidates are required to take the instructional technology class, so we have a good sample of instructional software that they use. It is imperative that we stay ahead of what they are going to find in the classrooms. We find that most classrooms today have at least one computer. The problem is that not all teachers are using them. So we give them strategies for using technology - how do you take that one computer and use it with 25 students? We teach them how to do that."

Rosebrough believes that Union is in a unique position to deal with such issues, with four full-time people on the education faculty right now who are experts in classroom technology.

"They can apply technology to a classroom. They can help teachers enhance learning of kids through technology. We have four full-time people right now out of the full-time education faculty of 13 that are authorities in the field," he asserts.

Another challenge faced by today's educators - particularly in the public schools - is the issue of diversity. That includes relating to children of various cultures, races and languages, but it often means more than that.

"It also means diversity in handicapping conditions and the ability to deal with special education students" Rosebrough explains. "It means dealing with the diversity of teaching methods and learning styles."

Myatt adds: "Teacher education also must change in order to prepare teachers for the classrooms for today and for the future. In recent years multi-cultural issues have become critical - we have many different cultures in one classroom. If a teacher is not prepared to deal with that in an effective way, then the content - math, science or whatever it is - will not be there either."

A major diversity topic for schools is special education, "which continues to be one of the highest teacher demand areas," says Rosebrough. "It is a high burn out area for a lot of teachers. " One reason is the trend toward "mainstreaming" by including special education students into regular classroom settings.

Union's School of Education has five experienced faculty members in special education that can deal with the issue of diversity in terms of handicapping conditions in the classrooms, according to the education dean. Educators "want to make the environment as appropriate as possible, as normal as possible for all youngsters. We have the staff, the faculty to be able to show people how to do that."

There is yet another challenge schools face as they enter a new century: the changing nature of childhood in America.

Rosebrough believes today's teachers encounter "a different kind of children, a very alienated and isolated kind of children. If you look at statistics, one of the things that you find is that adolescents spend more than a fourth of their time alone. They have baby boomers as parents and baby boomers as a group tend to be a rather self-centered bunch, so the kids just go their way and the baby boomers just go their way. 

"It is not healthy for adolescents to spend that much time alone. They don't really want to spend that much time alone. They want attention. In fact almost two-thirds of them tell us that one of the things that they want most are teachers who pay personal attention to them in the classes. This is a basic human need we are talking about. I think you have the back drop of Columbine to point out that need." 
One of the strengths Union brings to teacher education, he believes, is a faith-based worldview that encourages sensitivity to the needs of people.

"At Union, we prepare teachers who want to make a personal difference in children's lives, who will give that kind of personal attention. One of the reasons that they are going into teaching to begin with is they want to make that kind of difference. Both at the undergraduate and the graduate level, we emphasize that sensitivity to the interests and experience of their students is one of the key criteria for teaching them."

Despite the challenges faced by educators today, Myatt is excited about the quality of young people she sees coming to Union to become future teachers.

"I don't see a change in the excitement and the enthusiasm of college students who want to be teachers. That is one of the things that lights my fire about preparing teachers. If they don't have that passion for teaching, they won't be successful. That passion can only come from God. Teaching is a demanding profession, but unless you are called by God to do it and have the excitement and passion for it, you just won't make it because it is too hard. I tell our candidates every semester: if you don't feel that God is calling you into this profession, don't go into teaching."