Ohio State, along with the University of Dayton and the University of Cincinnati, has embarked on a five-year, $10 million study of Ohio’s 51 colleges of education to determine what makes a good teacher.
The program, titled “The Ohio Partnership for Accountability,” will study the performance and techniques of new and veteran teachers and recommend ways to better equip future educators by determining what types of preparation programs work best.
Teachers will be followed from the time they are in college until the study ends.
“I think this is a great move for the state of Ohio and its education programs. I know that I would appreciate constructive criticism to help better my teaching skills,” said Adam Rowe, a senior in education at Mount Vernon Nazarene College.
In 2001, the United States Congress approved the National Education Bill – the No Child Left Behind Act – which asks that highly qualified teachers be placed in all classrooms, insists they use teaching methods backed by research, and calls for improvement in literacy, teacher quality and encouragement of freedom and accountability. The bill was signed by President George W. Bush on Jan. 8, 2002.
Bill Loadman, associate dean for research in the College of Education at OSU and co-chair for the Ohio Partnership for Accountability, said the project is well overdue. It will help develop better teachers and put Ohio on a higher level nationally, he said.
Researchers will cover three areas: interviewing new teachers before they leave college, tracking them throughout the study and visiting experienced teachers to see how they do their job with a focus on the knowledge of teachers and students in the subjects of math and reading, Loadman said.
“We hope to get a better understanding as people progress throughout their course work and teaching experiences to determine what programs work best,” said Loadman. “We are interested in what things are related to student performance in the field by looking at what they are taught while they are in college.”
The program is funded through what Loadman calls a “patchwork quilt.” Money will come from three different sectors: federal, state and private. State money is provided by the Ohio Board of Regents and the Ohio Department of Education, while private contributions are made by the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, the Cleveland Foundation and Proctor and Gamble.
The study started Jan. 1 and will run through Jan. 1, 2009.
