U.S. teachers: out off the Bermuda triangle
Unlike other professional schools, teacher preparation programs
are held to inconsistent and often weak standards, enabling
ineffective programs to receive state approval and national
accreditation, states the Association of American Educators, AAE. As a result too few
teachers receiving the knowledge and skills they need to be
successful in the classroom.
Higher education teacher preparation programs prepare nearly 90%
of the 240,000 new teachers who are hired each year.
In a speech
at Virginia University, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan put
it like this: "In all but a few states, education schools act as
the Bermuda Triangle of higher education-students sail in but no
one knows what happens to them after they come out. No one knows
which students are succeeding as teachers, which are struggling,
and what training was useful or not."
Towards more student success
With the teaching profession growing and evolving, one theme
that remains constant is the fact that effective teachers are the
key to student success. Studies have shown that education
schools are deeply in need of reform. From attracting top high
school graduates, to improving the quality of instruction,
institutions that prepare future teachers must be able to produce
results. In order to bring our colleges of education into a new era
of success, AAE now joins the list of endorsers of the National Council on Teacher
Quality's (NCTQ) project to rank colleges of education in
an effort to better prepare future educators.
The AAE members agree that the US teacher preparation system
needs to be reformed. In addition to supporting alternative
certification programs for degreed professionals and intense
training programs like Teach For America, AAE members are eager to
see changes in how our new teachers are trained.