Why Teachers Colleges get a Flunking Grade
Harold Kwalwasser, October 25, 2013Wall St. Journal, Oct. 24, 2013, with Barbara Nemko, Napa Co., California Superintendent of Schools:
Education gurus in recent years have taken to lamenting the sorry state of teacher training in the United States. Arthur Levine, the former president of the Teachers College at Columbia University, wrote a scathing report in 2006 on its deficiencies. Harvard Graduate School of Education Prof. Katherine Merseth made an even glummer assessment in 2009. Four months ago, the National Council on Teacher Quality released a report asserting that approximately 1,100 of the nation’s 1,400 teacher-preparation programs are inadequate. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has dismissed the programs as the “Bermuda Triangle” of higher education.
How can new teachers be expected to educate children without first having been trained well? The problem, put simply, is that entrance requirements to most colleges of education are too lax, and the requirements for graduation are too low.
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