Name: Tan Sokhema
Subject: Philosophy of Education
Homework 1
I. Key term:
1. Supply and demand: a principle of supply and demand. When teacher supply exceeds
demand, salaries tend to decline. Conversely, high demand and low supply tend to increase
salaries.
2. Certification: public school must be certified by the state in their chosen subject areas or
grade levels. At one time, most states granted certification based on documentation that the
candidate possessed appropriate professional preparation and good moral character.
3. Alternative Certification: Most states have introduced alternative certification programs,
partly to attract more talented candidates to teaching and partly in reaction to current or
anticipated shortages in teaching fields such as science and math. These programs help
prospective teachers pursue certification without following the traditional preparation path at
schools and colleges of education. promote intense supervision and compressed formal course
work during the first few years of teaching assignment. Such programs almost always require
professional development activities and courses while learning to teach.
4. A Nation at Risk (1983), the best known and most influential of the national reports, was
prepared by the National Commission on Excellence in Education sponsored by the U.S.
Department of Education. Arguing that the United States is “at risk” in the sense that its
“once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, industry, service, and technological
innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world,” the commission
concluded that one major aspect of decline has been a “rising tide of mediocrity” in the
schools.
5. Basic skill testing: Testing basic skills Some efforts to improve the teaching force focus on
basic skills testing of preservice teachers, new teachers, and sometimes experienced teachers.
Drawing on the argument that teachers whose scores are low in reading, mathematics,
communications, and or professional knowledge probably are ineffective in their teaching,
many states have introduced requirements that prospective teachers pass some form of
minimum skills test in reading and language, math, subject-area specialty, and/or
Praxis examination Praxis examination professional knowledge. More than forty states now
use the Praxis test developed by the Educational Testing
6. National Reports: Among many calls for educational reform over the past two decades, the
most widely known come from a series of national reports on the state of education in US.
7. Reflective Teaching: Thoughtful practitioners Reflective Teaching In accordance with
recent emphasis on improving students’ thinking and comprehension skills, many institutions
emphasize reflective teaching as a central theme in teacher education. Refl ective teachers
frequently observe and think about the results of their teaching and adjust their methods
accordingly. Closely related terms such as inquiry-oriented teacher education, expert decision
making, and higher-order self-reflection also describe this concept.
8. No child left behind: NCLB “represents a sweeping overhaul of federal efforts to support
elementary and secondary education” and “sets the goal of having every child making the
grade on state-defined education standards by the end of the 2013–14 school year.” As part of
the overhaul, NCLB “outlines the minimum qualifications needed by teachers and
professionals who work on any facet of classroom instruction. It requires that states develop
plans to achieve the goal that all teachers of core academic subjects be highly qualified by the
end of the 2005–06 school year.
9. Under NCLB, a “highly qualified teacher” must have (1) a bachelor’s degree, (2) full state
certification and licensure as defined by the state, and (3) “demonstrated competency as
defined by the state in each core academic subject he or she teaches.
10. Professional Development School: the PDS is designed to link a local school district with
a college or school of education, but in a more comprehensive and systematic fashion.
College faculty members function as classroom teachers and serve as mentors for new
teachers.
11. Teacher empowerment activities, which can range from increasing the role of teachers in
school-wide decision making to providing teachers with more autonomy in the classroom.
Important efforts to empower teachers include the following:41
1. School-Based Management.
2. Lead teacher
3. Professional practice communities
