Teaching and Learning
Addressing Teacher Quality in the Age of
Accountability
Research
More than ever before, education presents the dual challenges of teacher quality and school accountability. There is a projected need for two million new teachers by 2009. The regulations that govern teacher education increase continually but often with limited resources. The need for teacher education programs to meet increased standards and coursework competes with the need to maintain graduation schedules. Schools and educators must balance good teaching practices against the time and effort required for schools to change, while facing the immediate challenges of federal and state accountability measures for increased student achievement.
Enhancing Pedagogy
Based on his experience as co-principal investigator on a five-year Federal Teacher Quality Enhancement grant, professor Tariq Tanvir Akmal seeks to move to the next phase of teacher quality issues that relate to the “whole” school. He believes a comprehensive program of school improvement grounded in the model of professional learning communities may be used to align teacher and principal leadership programs to simultaneously improve content/pedagogical knowledge and leadership.
Akmal and his colleagues will implement and study approaches that connect teacher/principal preparation with support through the induction period and continuous-growth professional development models to increase educator effectiveness and longevity in the field.
Impact
Because many previous studies have focused on programs and schools in the East, it is imperative to learn how and why certain schools across Washington and the Northwest have succeeded in meeting achievement goals, closing the achievement gap, providing positive and supportive learning environments for students and educators, and developing teacher and principal leadership. With funding, Akmal intends to expand the national discourse on the role of teacher education in school improvement and to further define feasible models for school improvement nationwide.
Contact Information
Tariq Tanvir Akmal, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Teaching and Learning
Washington State University
PO Box 642132
Pullman, WA 99164-2132
Telephone: 509-335-4703
E-mail: takmal@wsu.edu
Society, Communication, and Learning
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A member of WSU faculty since 1997, Tariq Akmal has served as principal investigator or co-principal investigator on grants funded by the U.S. Department of Education, National Science Foundation, and Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board. He has received several teaching award nominations and a college award for service. Among Akmal's major publications are “Overcoming Resistance to Change: A Case Study of Revision and Renewal in a Secondary Education Teacher Preparation Program” (Teaching and Teacher Education), “Keeping History from Repeating Itself: Involving Parents about Retention Decisions to Support Student Achievement” (Research in Middle Level Education), and “Making Decisions in the Dark: Disconnects between Retention Research and Middle Level Practice” (NASSP Bulletin). He is co-authoring a book on school retention. |
