Three years ago BU began to target only teacher applicants with high SAT scores. BU also doubled the amount of time prospective teachers must spend in math class and made an ethics course mandatory. Some schools, among them George Mason University's Graduate School of Education, are tying teacher training to professional development schools - public schools that bridge the chasm between the theorists at universities and the practitioners dealing with real children in real classrooms. These schools work closely with teacher training institutions and allow prospective teachers to use their classrooms for extensive field experience. The program uses the school's veteran teachers as mentors to the student teachers and also brings university professors out of their ivory tower and into a real classroom.
New teachers say the extended practical experience is extremely beneficial.
Dean Gary R. Galluzzo of George Mason is a strong advocate of professional development schools. He remembers going through teacher training and not seeing any students until his first day of student teaching. Another way to improve the quality of teaching is through alternative certification programs. The nation's first true alternative certification program was pioneered by New Jersey in the '80s. The program, which attracted more minorities to teaching than the regular teacher college route, put college graduates with a bachelor's degree into K-12 classrooms where they worked with a mentor teacher while taking an abbreviated teacher training program evenings and weekends.