Pre-kindergarten through third grade student teachers turn to look at teaching mentor Patricia Kilbourne, standing far left, as she is introduced Tuesday during the Mentor Teachers and Principles pilot program meeting in the Chattanooga Room at the University Center. Hamilton County Principal of the Year Stephanie Hinton, bottom right, was introduced as a speaker shortly after.The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga School of Education has rethought how it prepares its students to become teachers and taken a new approach that educators hope will help right the ship in Hamilton County.
The lion’s share of teachers in the county school system are products of the program, but over the years it has done a poor job of preparing future teachers for the rigors of the classroom, research shows.
The Times Free Press previously reported that in 2014, the National Council on Teacher Quality ranked UTC’s elementary education program as one of the worst in the nation – 327 of 394 – while other Tennessee teacher prep programs placed in the top 50.
But education leaders in the community are hoping that is about to change.
On Tuesday afternoon a select group of a couple dozen college students met with established teachers in the community as part of a new Student Teacher Pilot Program.