Is Six Weeks Enough Training?

Hello all,

An interesting set of stories on NPR's All Things Considered on Tuesday. Main story contains a fascinating chart of the number of people getting teaching certification through "alternate routes." A stunning jump from 2001. Apparently, alternate route types now account for one-third of all new teachers hired.

Of course, not all fledgling teachers have a nine-month to yearlong gestational period. In this NPR story (see link at bottom for the featured teacher), there's an interview with the president of a nonprofit group's "intense" SIX WEEK teacher-training program.

Is it effective? From the transcript:

BLOCK: And what about training here? I mean, Beverly Harvey was in this intensive crash course, I think six weeks of training and then she's thrown into the classroom. Is that really enough?

Mr. DALY: You know, one of the things that we struggle with in education is that there's no amount of training that's enough. And what we found is that the key is how you respond on the job, during the first year and during the second year. There's this distance between her mentor who has all these skills that she's practiced over the years, and Beverly who's just starting out. And the truth is that Beverly is probably going to close that distance rapidly. But there's no amount of training that can make her as good as that mentor before she's ever been in the classroom.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113278532