GSE Dean Stresses Teacher Training

By CLAIRE A. PASTERNACK

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

When Ellen Condliffe Lagemann was appointed dean of the Graduate School of Education (GSE) last spring, she called on Harvard to use its resources to improve the nation’s public schools.

At a national press conference Wednesday announcing a $20 million Carnegie Corporation plan for improving teacher training, Lagemann used her platform as GSE dean to stress the importance of improving education schools.

“Schools of education tend to be at the margins of the university,” she said.

Lagemann said that teaching is often considered a female profession and that teachers are frequently ill-prepared for the classroom and face low wages and poor morale.

Her views echo University President Lawrence H. Summers’ expressed commitment to K-12 education and the role graduate schools can play in shaping America’s teachers.

“Dean Lagemann and I have made clear that we believe the school needs to substantially sharpen its focus towards what is a central domestic problem in America—the efficacy of public schools in preparing people for the next generation,” Summers said.

Though Harvard’s Education School will not receive a stipend, Lagemann said she supports the project, which will give $5 million to each of four graduate schools of education. The schools will match the grant money and create residency programs for recently graduated teachers.

The Carnegie Corporation’s plan seeks to bring education schools to prominent positions within universities by inviting schools’ top professors to teach some graduate education classes.

The plan also calls for experienced teachers from local public schools to interact with education schools.

Lagemann said that GSE already uses some of the ideas the plan outlines and that schools nationwide would benefit from similar implementation.

“There is a definite commitment at Harvard to link the Ed School to the Law School, the Business School, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Public Health,” she said.

Lagemann also cited a joint program between the School of Education and the Business School to train school superintendents.

So far, the Carnegie Corporation has identified four schools it will include in the project—Bank Street College of Education in New York City; California State University, Northridge; Michigan State University; and the University of Virginia—with four more to follow. Carnegie Corporation Education Division Chair Daniel Fallon said he expects the plan to grow and affect education across America.

“One by one, the states will adopt these policies,” he said. “That will be the engine for reform.”

—Staff Writer Claire A. Pasternack can be reached at cpastern@fas.harvard.edu.