For example,
in the mid-1980s, North Carolina created the Teaching Fellows
Program, an effort to attract bright young college students into teaching, give them rigorous preparation, and keep them
in the profession — at one point, the initiative even funded scholarships for 11,000 new recruits to
enroll in revamped
teacher education sequences at a number of the state's universities.
(e) The board shall establish the information needed
in an application for the approval of a charter school; provided that the application shall include, but not be limited to, a description of: (i) the mission, purpose, innovation and specialized focus of the proposed charter school; (ii) the innovative methods to be used
in the charter school and how they differ from the district or districts from which the charter school is expected to
enroll students; (iii) the organization of the school by ages of students or grades to be taught, an estimate of the total enrollment of the school and the district or districts from which the school will
enroll students; (iv) the method for admission to the charter school; (v) the educational
program, instructional methodology and services to be offered to students, including research on how the proposed
program may improve the academic performance of the subgroups listed
in the recruitment and retention plan; (vi) the school's capacity to address the particular needs of limited English - proficient students, if applicable, to learn English and learn content matter, including the employment of staff that meets the criteria established by the department; (vii) how the school shall involve parents as partners
in the
education of their children; (viii) the school governance and bylaws; (ix) a proposed arrangement or contract with an organization that shall manage or operate the school, including any proposed or agreed upon payments to such organization; (x) the financial plan for the operation of the school; (xi) the provision of school facilities and pupil transportation; (xii) the number and qualifications of
teachers and administrators to be employed; (xiii) procedures for evaluation and professional development for
teachers and administrators; (xiv) a statement of equal educational opportunity which shall state that charter schools shall be open to all students, on a space available basis, and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, creed, sex, gender identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, mental or physical disability, age, ancestry, athletic performance, special need, proficiency
in the English language or academic achievement; (xv) a student recruitment and retention plan, including deliberate, specific strategies the school will use to ensure the provision of equal educational opportunity as stated
in clause (xiv) and to attract,
enroll and retain a student population that, when compared to students
in similar grades
in schools from which the charter school is expected to
enroll students, contains a comparable academic and demographic profile; and (xvi) plans for disseminating successes and innovations of the charter school to other non-charter public schools.
The implied assumptions of the aforementioned linear formula are overly simplistic given the nonrandomness of the
teacher candidate population... If
teacher candidates who
enroll in a traditional
teacher education program are arguably different from
teacher candidates who
enroll in an alternative
program, and both groups are compared once they become
teachers, one group might have a distinct and unfair advantage over the other... What can not be overlooked, controlled for, or dismissed from these comparative investigations are
teachers» enduring qualities that go beyond their preparation (Boyd et al., 2006; Boyd, Grossman, Lankford, Loeb, & Wyckoff, 2007; Harris & Sass, 2007; Shulman, 1988; Wenglinsky, 2002).