Winter 2002

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Branches of Learning

SEEKING DATA FOR DEEPER-LEVEL CHANGE A report from the School of Education

by John Stifler '92G

ESTABLISHING SPEAKING RIGHTS: School of Ed grad student Ray Sharick. (For larger view of Ben Barnhart photo, click in right navigation.) THE PRINTER IN RAYMOND SHARICK'S office in Hills South is somewhat slow. It is methodically printing out data that Sharick has collected online, mostly statistics on the number of certified teachers in public schools in various parts of America. The machine makes a steady shuttling sound as page after page emerges. The data are printed in a stately fashion, as if some rule somewhere says that the serious, formal work of academic research must absolutely be reflected in the orderly, unhurried way the office equipment works. But then, everything about Sharick’s office, like everything in his conversation, appearance, and demeanor, bespeaks a calm, unhurried approach and a definite goal. As a doctoral candidate at the School of Education, Sharick has spent the past four years seeking answers to the question, What gets people into the teaching profession, and what keeps them there? HOW VITAL IS THAT QUESTION? Ask anybody who has worked in a school system what will do most to raise the quality of education in America, and the answer is almost always: Get more good teachers into the classrooms. This answer is usually followed by another, rather plaintive question: How do you find those teachers? Especially, how do you find teachers of math, sciences and other subjects requiring technical skills for which there’s a more lucrative market somewhere else? Sharick has no definite answers yet, but he is certain he will get them; then he hopes to use them to make improvements in educational practice. His eye is not so much on the completion date for his dissertation, probably sometime in 2003, as on where he wants to go after he has the degree in hand. “Getting and understanding the data means being able to speak with credibility,” he said one morning last October as the printer continued to whir. “What I need here at UMass is to do my job in research, establish that credibility.” WHAT ATTRACTS GOOD TEACHERS? BESIDES better pay, Sharick stresses measures that reduce the isolation of the job. “A lot of times, the reason for someone’s staying only a short time in the profession is that brand-new teachers are put in difficult situations without much support,” he says. “They think to themselves, ‘I could be making more money doing something else,’ and they leave.” An encouraging sign is the interest in mentoring programs – “buddy systems” pairing young teachers with experienced ones “to help them get through the first two to four years.” But teachers at all levels need time with peers, says Sharick. “If you’re teaching third grade, you know that to talk to an adult at the end of the day is a great relief.” AT 34, SHARICK HAS ALREADY served several years in the trenches. After earning a B.A. from Penn State, he taught sixth and seventh grades in Virginia, then third and fifth grades in Pittsburgh, also earning a master’s degree in education. Searching for a place to study for his doctorate, he chose the School of Ed at UMass for the combination of practical courses – he has taken classes in administration, supervision of student teachers, personnel issues, educational policy and literacy – and theoretically oriented courses about what learning and knowledge really are. The blend of practice and theory has led him to articulate some specific challenges to teacher recruitment and retention. One trend he notes is that “there are a lot of certified teachers out there, but they are not necessarily certified in the areas where teachers are needed.” Should school districts refuse to put unqualified teachers into classrooms, and should they hold fast to a policy of hiring only those with the proper certificates? “I haven’t gotten into that one yet,” says Sharick. The one thing of which he’s certain is that schools need “deeper-level, systematic” change. He recommends adding a fifth year to teachers’ college training – a fifth year of practical, classroom-oriented study added to four years of degree work in an academic major. SHARICK'S STATISTICAL RESEARCH IS LEAVENED by a good deal of fieldwork. He has supervised new teachers and worked with mentors in Springfield, Hadley, Holyoke, South Hadley, and Amherst. He’s part of a research group surveying school principals who are hiring “alternatively certified” teachers – people with expertise in a discipline but without teaching experience or training – and has worked with MINT (the Massachusetts Institute for New Teachers), the state’s program to offer such certification. The attitude of many school administrators toward alternative certification, says Sharick, is “Would you want to fly in a plane with a pilot who’d been flying only seven weeks?” But MINT proponents are undiscouraged. Combining that seven weeks’ basic training with strong support systems in the classroom should create a generation of teachers with strengths in both content and method. Sharick also speaks of improving teachers’ self-image. Between the inherent difficulties of the work and the seemingly inherent frustrations of bureaucracy, he feels, teachers have developed “a culture of complaint.” One antidote is strong leadership, especially from the principal’s office: “You need someone who’s a champion for the school.” But teachers themselves need to project a sense of professional mastery and pride, and he sees an opportunity for those who train teachers to foster that pride. Although he doesn’t mention it, his own teaching in the School of Education is exemplary; last year Sharick received the Distinguished Teaching Assistant Award. SHARICK HOPES TO GAIN SEVERAL years’ experience in administration, probably as a principal; then he may return to higher education, either to teach future teachers or to conduct more research and develop further policy recommendations. “Or else – ” he pauses – “Well, I’ve never seen myself as a politician, but maybe I will be able to get involved in making policy.” In the meantime, he lives with his wife and two daughters in Amherst, and the daily 25-minute walk to campus gives him welcome time to reflect on his work. The central theme, which he articulates at the end of the morning’s conversation in his office, is this: “I can do something. I can make a contribution that’s going to affect people in a very positive way.”

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Data for change

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SIDEBAR: School of Education

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