Most states are doing little or nothing to hold teacher-education programs accountable for the quality of their graduates, according to a new report that also criticizes colleges for setting low standards for education majors.
As a result, several alternative teacher-preparation programs, such as Teach for America and the New Teacher Project, have been created in recent years to “offer solutions to serious problems that many university-based teacher-preparation programs appear unwilling to address,” says the report, which was released on Thursday by the Center for American Progress, a progressive policy think-tank.
That competitive pressure, however, has done little to push states to improve how they monitor teacher preparation or penalize programs that don’t set high standards, says the report, titled “Measuring What Matters” and written by Edward Crowe, an independent consultant.
While a few states, such as Florida, Louisiana, and Tennessee, are linking data on student test scores to teacher preparation, most are collecting too little data on how teachers perform in the classroom and not connecting that information to particular colleges, the report says.
In addition, the “crazy quilt” of state tests required for teacher licensing--numbering about 1,100--sets minimal standards for what teaching candidates should know and does not measure what a teacher will do in the classroom, says the report.
Colleges, by contrast, are largely not selective enough in accepting students for education programs, lack a rigorous curriculum, and don’t give teaching candidates enough classroom training.
“What I want to ask ... is why universities have failed so long to address the quality of their teacher-preparation programs,” Cynthia G. Brown, vice president for education policy at the center, asked a panel of speakers at an event to discuss the report.
Jane E. West, vice president for policy, programs, and professional issues at the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, said that the report was timely and that her association was working to unify its members on the theme of accountability.
But she cautioned that an accountability system for teachers had to include more than just results from standardized tests and that much data would have to be collected before it became clear what works or doesn’t work in the classroom.
In addition, there are several political hurdles, including getting cooperation from lawmakers and college presidents. The political will to support a more-comprehensive accountability system will not grow until teachers and colleges of education perceive that the new system is fair, she said.
