The effects of COVID-19 on teacher preparation

Abstract

COVID-19 profoundly affected teacher preparation during the 2019-20 school year. Based on survey responses from nearly all Washington state teacher education programs (TEPs), Kathryn Choate, Dan Goldhaber, and Roddy Theobald find that the pandemic had predictable but concerning effects on teacher preparation. Most notably, student-teaching requirements were greatly reduced or waived completely for many candidates. Survey responses do not suggest that the pandemic has had an immediate impact on TEP applications or enrollment, but there is still considerable ambiguity about how TEPs will operate going forward and what long-term effects the pandemic will have on the front end of the teacher pipeline.