Giving Compass' Take:

• The Hechinger Report examines how teachers draw up lesson plans mainly by themselves and suggests that working with other educators is a better option, especially for new teachers.

• Could this system of apprenticeship work beyond lesson plans? How can nonprofits in the education space encourage a more collaborative environment in general?

• Here's how to create a school culture where teachers lead innovation.

When David Krulwich decided to make a mid-career switch from attorney to math teacher in 2001, he was delighted to find that teaching was a profession he found rewarding and fun. But he was also troubled. Every day he’d teach in a classroom, alone, and at night he’d go home and plan the next day’s lessons, alone. It was his first year, yet his duties were the same as a someone with 10 years on the job.

“I don’t know why we expect brand-new teachers to plan lessons that are going to be particularly effective if they’ve never done it before,” said Krulwich.

Other countries put in a wealth of supports for teachers before they are left in charge of their own classrooms. In Japan, for example, teachers must go through a full year’s apprenticeship with a “master teacher.”

In the United States, by contrast, the period of apprenticeship is often brief. According to a 2017 report from the National Council on Teacher Quality, one-third of states do not require that teachers go through at least 10 weeks of full-time student teaching. Those states include New York and California.

“It’s a very strange system,” said Krulwich. “To new teachers, it’s solitary.”

Krulwich wasn’t the only person who thought there had to be a better way. His friend Ken Baum did as well — and Baum was opening a new school in the Bronx, called the Urban Assembly School for Applied Math and Science, where he wanted Krulwich to be the assistant principal. One of the founding principles: teachers shouldn’t have to go it alone. Instead, every day, new teachers work with veteran teachers and administrators to write all of their lesson plans together.

Read the full article about ways to make teaching less solitary by Sharon Lurye at The Hechinger Report.