The U.S. Department of Education’s most recent report on teacher preparation and credentialing includes a slew of new information, thanks to new provisions in the 2008 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. These include admissions requirements for all traditional and alternative teacher preparation programs, the number of student teaching hours required during preparation, details Continue Reading »

Credit: National Education Association

A year and a half ago, Dennis Van Roekel, president of the 3.2-million-member National Education Association, asked an independent panel of highly accomplished teachers to create a bold, new vision for their profession and then recommend what the NEA should do to make that vision a reality.

Van Roekel got just what aContinue Reading »

Halloween spirit. Determined to give kindergartners a pumpkin patch experience despite not having the funds for a field trip, teachers at a California school spent a week scouring local stores for the cheapest pumpkins. In the end, the pumpkin patch outside of the elementary school was 160 pumpkins big – large enough for every kindergartner and special education student to take one home.  (The Continue Reading »

On Friday, we’re hosting what is sure to be a lively discussion about reform in teacher preparation programs. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan first will release his plan for teacher education reform and improvement. Then, National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel and Teach For America Founder and CEO Wendy Kopp will chime in with their thoughts, and afterward, a distingContinue Reading »

I support the National Council of Teacher Quality’s national review of teacher preparation programs, but even a worthy project has limitations.  In my first post on NCTQ’s review, I argued that the local teacher labor market curtails the ratings’ impact.  A school of education’s location is likely more important to an aspiring teacher than a national rating.  For many rural and suburban areas, Continue Reading »

In case you missed it, the National Council on Teacher Quality is launching a partnership with US News to grade every single college of education across the country. Using comprehensive grading criteria (all of which are based on research of best practices in the training of teachers) that they’ve field-tested in Texas and Illinois, NCTQ will be sending surveys to every school of educatioContinue Reading »

Laura Bornfreund on the Shortcomings of Teacher Preparation Programs: “In our own independent research, we’ve found preparation programs that train teachers for placement in the early grades to be lacking coursework in the developmental sciences, family and community engagement, and content. Clinical experiences are too few and opportunities to teach students are separate from pedagogContinue Reading »

In 1998, Congress inserted a provision into the Higher Education Act that required states to hold their teacher preparation programs accountable. For the first time, states would have to develop a set of criteria to identify low-performing and at-risk programs and identify those programs that failed to meet their own criteria.

The initial response to the accountability requirements illusContinue Reading »

To become a teacher in Delaware, you must attend a regionally-accredited four-year institution that has also been accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). Yet, when Wesley College lost NCATE accreditation due to overworked faculty, poor organization, and a lack of institutional focus, the state stepped in, ignoring its own rules in the process, and alContinue Reading »

Will raising cut scores for applying to teacher prep programs make for better teacher candidates – or just fewer of them? (The Providence Journal)

Want to explain the science of the gingerbread house to your kids or your students? (GFI)

Wonder if maybe the auto industry isn’t the only thing failing in Detroit? (The Detroit Free Press)

Ever wonder what it Continue Reading »