Make an Investment in Student Teachers

Many schools face a challenge in hiring and retaining quality teachers. But part of the solution might already exist in schools in the form of student teachers. During my 16 years as a principal in a diverse public school district, my school has hosted many student teachers. I made it a point to get to know them, in part to create a pool of candidates to fill future teacher positions.

Principals should take the following actions if they wish to develop student teachers:

1. Place student teachers with high-quality cooperating teachers. Each semester, I received a list of potential cooperating teachers in my school from local colleges. I endorsed teachers I thought would lend good support to a student teacher and avoided the people I thought might be less qualified. This action creates the potential for quality experiences and skills development for student teachers from a mentor teacher.

2. Hold an orientation session for student teachers, articulating school culture, values, pedagogical practices, and operations. The principal’s presence in welcoming student teachers to the school community helps recognize them as valued educators. Throughout the semester and school year, other school curriculum leaders and support staff can hold sessions for student teachers, familiarizing them with school services and instructional practices.

3. Recruit student teachers to help with paid and volunteer positions such as lunch and playground supervision. Since principals do these duties routinely, you can get to know student teachers informally and get an impression of their potential to be a good future staff member. In a sense, it’s an ongoing candidate interview.

4. Engage in classroom observations of the student teacher. Look for pedagogical skills, content knowledge, relationship-​building skills with students and staff, a strong work ethic, and a dedication to future learning. Following observations, provide specific feedback. Later, you might be asked to write a letter of recommendation that highlights a student teacher’s skills and qualities.

5. Encourage student teachers to attend IEP and related special education meetings. With the permission of the parties involved, encourage student teachers to observe processes that offer insights into the legal and pedagogical elements involved with special education. Similarly, encourage student teachers to gain knowledge about school services for English language learners.

6. Get to know college student teacher supervisors. These relationships can help find promising student teacher candidates, and they can be vehicles to get more racially diverse student teachers into your school. Through conversation with college student teacher supervisors, principals can also gain valuable information about the specifics of a teacher preparation program’s approaches to teaching core subjects, team teaching, and inclusionary practices.

7. Engage in advocacy with the district’s human resources department. Alerting HR department staff to high-potential student teachers can create a pool of
qualified candidates for future job openings. This action will produce positive benefits for students in all schools.

Investing a small amount of effort in student teacher development can pay great dividends to the school and district, as well as to all of the pre-K–12 students those high-quality, caring teachers can reach.

Patrick Delmore is an instructor in the Education Department of Edgewood University in Madison, Wisconsin.