OUT OF FIELD TEACHING IS WIDESPREAD

NUMEROUS STUDIES SHOW THAT OUT OF FIELD TEACHING IS WIDESPREAD

RICHARD M. INGERSOLL, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, FEBRUARY 24, 1998, Federal News Service HEADLINE: HOUSE EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE COMMITTEE SUBCOMMITTEE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD, YOUTH AND FAMILIES // acs-VT2000

The findings of this research have been shocking, and as a result, have been featured in a number of major education policy reports and commissions, and widely reported and commented upon in the national media. They have, moreover, been replicated; other researchers have conducted statistical analyses of the various independent cycles of NCES` Schools and Staffing Survey and have found similar results. [widespread out of field teaching]

NEWLY HIRED TEACHERS ARE MOST OFTEN ASKED TO TEACH IN AN AREA WHICH THEY HAVE NOT BEEN PREPARED IN

Out-of-field teaching also greatly varies across schools, teachers, and classrooms. For instance, recently hired teachers are more often assigned to teach subjects which do not match their training, than are more experienced teachers. Low-income public schools have higher levels of out-of-field teaching than do schools in more affluent communities.

AFFIRMATIVE CURRICULUM CHANGES WILL INCREASE OUT OF FIELD TEACHING

TEACHERS ARE ASKED TO TEACH THINGS THEY DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHEN CURRICULUM CHANGES

Eleanor Dougherty, Lecturer, Georgetown University, Fall, 1998; Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law GETTING BEYOND POLICY: SCHOOL REFORM IN PRACTICE // acs-VT2000

As Robert Floden observes:

The resulting predicament for teachers is that they are asked to teach content they have never learned. Teachers are expected to help students understand how historical evidence should be evaluated, but those teachers have not typically learned the procedures and criteria for such evaluation. Teachers are asked, in other words, to teach more than they understand. n31