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www.education-consumers.com | Phone & Fax - (423) 282-6832 | |
July 2002 | Volume 2, Number 7 | |
Charles Arthur, M.S.Ed. / President and Executive Director / Mastery Learning Institute / Portland, OR Virginia P. Baxt, Ed.D. / President / Education Agenda, Inc. Wayne Bishop, Ph.D. / Professor of Mathematics / Department of Mathematics / California State University-Los Angeles William L. Brown, Ph.D. / Director of Institutional Assessment / Lansing Community College Guy Bruce, Ed.D. / President, APEX Consulting / Assistant Professor, St. Cloud State University Louis Chandler, Ph.D. / Professor & Chairman / Department of Psychology in Education / University of Pittsburgh Andrea Clements,Ph.D. / Professor / College of Education / East Tennessee State University Donald Crawford, Ph.D. / Education Specialist / Otter Creek Institute Nathan Crow, B.A. / School Administration Consultant / Education Consumers Consultants Network George K. Cunningham, Ph.D. / Professor / School of Education / University of Louisville Mary Damer, M.Ed. / Instructor & Student Teaching Supervisor / Northern Illinois University Jerome Dancis, Ph.D. / Associate Professor / Department of Mathematics / University of Maryland-College Park Edwin J. Delattre, Ph.D. / Professor / College of Arts & Sciences / Professor & Dean Emeritus / School of Education / Boston University Benjamin F. Eller, Ed.D. / School of Education / Western Carolina University Lucien Ellington, Ed. D. / Professor & Co-director, Asia Program / College of Education and Applied Prof. Services / University of Tennessee at Chattanooga John Eshleman, Ed.D. / Apex Consulting David R. Feeney, Ed.D. / Director of Digital Education / Fox School of Business & Management / Temple University Carol C. Gambill, M.Ed. / Director-Special Projects / Curriculum & Instruction / Tennessee Department of Education Patrick Groff, Ed.D. / Professor of Education Emeritus / San Diego State University Bonnie Grossen, Ph.D. / Professor, College of Education / University of Oregon Richard Gruetzemacher, Ed.D. / Director / Planning, Evaluation, and Institutional Research / University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mark Y. Herring, Ed. D. / Professor & Dean of Libraries / Winthrop University |
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Featured Research: Meeting the Highly
Qualified Teachers Challenge Briefing: Meeting the Highly Qualified Teachers Challenge is a U. S. Department of Education (USDOE) report on the quality of America's teacher training. Drawing upon the data compiled under Title II of the 1998 Higher Education Act, the report is a guide to the teacher certification changes that will be required for states to comply with the new No Child Left Behind Act (NLCB). The changes will entail stronger requirements for teacher subject-matter competence and a de-emphasis on formal coursework in pedagogy. Teacher training institutions have strongly criticized the report and are opposing its recommendations. Following are the report's highlights:
This last recommendation is at the heart of the controversy. Teacher Education's Complaints Teacher education leaders such as Arthur Wise of the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and Linda Darling-Hammond, formerly of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, have been emphatically critical of the report. They say it selectively cites research sponsored by known critics. Darling-Hammond calls the report political and misleading. Wise argues that it ignores improvements in teacher education that have occurred since data collection on teacher quality was initiated in 1998. Other critics include Thomas Lashly and Gregory Bernhardt, both deans of education. While they agree that teacher education needs substantial improvement, they place most of the blame on factors outside of teacher education. As they see it, teacher education has been inadequately supported by university administrators, manipulated by academic special interests, hindered by schoolhouse politics and unprofessional working environments, and subjected to over-regulation. Déjà Vu All Over Again? If the controversy sounds familiar, there is a good reason. This is not the first time federal officials have examined teacher education and found it wanting. The teacher quality problem has been festering for at least 20 years. Consider Education Week's reports from U.S. House of Representatives hearings on teacher training quality in 1981: They were headlined, "For the Teachers of Teachers: A Crisis of Quality," and "A Search for Purpose and Identity." Teacher education programs were being blamed for a public perception of "widespread incompetence" among teachers. "'The bottom of the barrel is going into education,' [said] Eva C. Galambos of the Southern Regional Education Board in a representative statement." And what was the teacher training community's response? Generally the same as that of today-i.e., that the research critical of teacher education is biased and misleading, that universities do not support teacher-training programs, and that recent improvements are being ignored. In the years following the 1981 hearings, a few education schools were closed, teachers were tested, and tighter standards were implemented. In addition, five-year teacher training programs were created and NCATE revitalized its accreditation standards--several times. David Imig-then and now the Executive Director of the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education-promised that the schools of education would "continue to be dedicated to the principle of providing the highest quality teachers and administrators." Why NCLB Might Succeed Critics of Meeting the Qualified Teacher Challenge want to quarrel about suspected biases and inaccuracy, but they are ignoring a far more salient fact: the Title II data cited by the report brings to light the same teacher quality problems that were evident to the researchers and policymakers of nearly a generation ago. Clearly, the charge that the USDOE report is founded on bias and inaccuracies is outlandish. Teacher educators acknowledged these deficiencies in 1981 and purportedly have been working to correct them in the years since. Given that self-reform has accomplished so little, states may decide to do away with the teacher education monopoly. If they "streamline" teacher certification requirements as recommended by the USDOE report, schools of education will either have to ensure that teachers are knowledgeable and trained in proven skills, or face declining demand for their courses. Here's why: If coursework in the schools of education were not required for certification, most teachers would seek training better suited to real students and real schools. For years, teachers have complained that required courses in pedagogical theory and methods were out of touch with real classrooms-so much so that many states require education professors to spend time in the schools. Principals have voiced the same complaint, most recently in a California study of exceptionally good schools. In addition, these opinions are consistent with the research showing no clear link between teacher certification and the ability to improve student achievement. Meeting the Highly Qualified Teachers Challenge puts the facts of weak subject-matter preparation together with out-of-touch teaching methodologies and carries them to their logical conclusion: State certification requirements should ensure subject matter competence but let teachers and principals decide which teaching practices really work in the classroom.
The Education Consumers Consultants Network is an alliance of experienced and credentialed educators dedicated to serving the needs of parents, policymakers, and taxpayers for independent and consumer-friendly consulting. For more information, contact J. E. Stone, Ed.D., at (423) 282-6832, or write: professor@education-consumers.com |
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Daniel Hursh, Ph.D. / Professor of Educational Psychology / College of Human Resources & Education / West Virginia University Carol Jago, M.A. / English Teacher, Santa Monica High School / Director, California Reading & Literature Project / UCLA Jerry Jesness, M.A. / ESL Teacher & Author / Los Fresnos (TX) Schools Daniel Konieczko, M.Ed. / Science Teacher, Brunswick High School / Brunswick, ME Martin Kozloff, Ph.D. / Watson Distinguished Professor / School of Education / University of North Carolina at Wilmington Rob Kremer, M.B.A. / President / Oregon Education Coalition Elaine K. McEwan-Adkins, Ed.D. / Author & Consultant / McEwan-Adkins Group Richard P. Phelps, Ph.D. / Economist & Author Michael Podgursky, Ph.D. / Professor and Chairman / Department of Economics / University of Missouri J. Martin Rochester, Ph.D. / Curator's Distinguished Teaching Professor / Department of Political Science / University of Missouri-St. Louis Linda Ross, Ph.D. / Director & Instructional Design Specialist / Archimedia eLearning Solutions Valerie Copeland Rutledge, Ed.D. / Associate Professor / College of Education / University of Tennessee at Chattanooga / Member, Tenessee Board of Education Douglas Sears, Ph.D. / Professor & Dean / School of Education / Boston University Mark C. Schug, Ph.D. / Professor & Director / Center for Economic Education / University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Lewis Solmon, Ph.D. / Dean Emeritus / UCLA Graduate School of Education / Executive Vice President, Education / Director, Teacher Advancement Program / Milken Family Foundation Robert Spangler, Ed.D. / President / Spangler & Associates, LLC J. E. Stone, Ed.D. / Professor / College of Education / East Tennessee State University Sara Tarver, Ph.D / Professor / School of Education / University of Wisconsin-Madison John Towner, Ph.D. / Professor Emeritus / Woodring College of Education / Western Washington University Herbert Walberg, Ph.D. / Research Professor of Education & Psychology / Emeritus / College of Education / University of Illinois-Chicago John T. Wenders, Ph.D. / Professor of Economics, Emeritus / University of Idaho Richard Western, Ph.D. / Professor (retired) / School of Education / University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee |