Statement of Arthur E. Wise
President, National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education
On the U.S. Department of Education Report on Teacher Quality “Meeting the Highly Qualified Teachers Challenge”

Released June 13, 2002

Title II Data

A new U.S. Department of Education report asks states to revamp licensing requirements to reduce the number of teacher preparation courses required for licensure. The report says “teacher preparation programs are failing” (p. viii, Meeting the Highly Qualified Teachers Challenge) at producing the kinds of teachers the nation requires.

Our view is that Title II data support a different conclusion. Title II data show that most programs graduate teachers who meet today’s state licensing requirements. These requirements include a content major for prospective teachers in 38 states. In the structure of government in America, the States have the right and responsibility to set standards for teacher preparation. Against these standards, teacher candidates, especially those at professionally accredited institutions are doing a commendable job. Teacher preparation programs today have met the challenge set when Congress passed Title II of the Higher Education Act in 1998.

The Department gives low marks to traditional teacher preparation programs, yet their graduates do remarkably well on the largest accountability study ever done in teacher preparation—Title II. Institutions report to states; states compile the information on institutions and send it to the U.S. Department of Education in order to determine which institutions are producing teacher candidates who meet today’s standards. Data show weakness at a few institutions, but the vast majority of candidates have passed with flying colors.

Since Title II has been implemented, institutions have changed entry and exit requirements for teacher preparation, and have tightened requirements for those being recommended for licensure. Title II data show that if states and the profession raise the level of expectation, institutions will rise to the challenge of those increased expectations.

While the Department says that teacher preparation programs are failing, it recognizes programs such as Teach for America. Whatever the merits of Teach for America, it is not an answer to staffing the nation’s schools. America must add 200,000 teachers a year to a teaching force of 3 million. In its entire history, Teach for America has placed 8,000 teachers in schools; approximately 2,000 of them are still teaching.

Revamping teacher preparation courses to vastly reduce the program to a Teach for America format is not the answer. Just because one is an Albert Einstein does not mean that he or she can successfully teach seventh grade algebra to middle schoolers.

Teaching Skill and Content Knowledge

Teaching Skill

In terms of teaching skill, graduates of teacher preparation programs outperform those who have not been prepared. The Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas found that students of all ethnic backgrounds scored significantly higher on the Texas student assessment when the great majority of their teachers were fully prepared and licensed [1]. Other studies support this data.

Many eminent experts believe that the balance of existing studies supports the proposition that teaching is a skill that can and should be taught. Most if not all other professions prepare their entrants with skills courses and practice in an academic setting. Common sense and experience indicate that there is nothing unique about teaching that its practitioners should be prepared differently from such other licensed professionals as doctors, engineers, accountants, and pilots. These professionals require grounding in the profession’s knowledge base and in how to apply it as required through extended supervised practice. The pilot doesn’t learn to fly the plane while it’s in the air; neither does the doctor operate for the first time alone. The public understands these analogies.

Content Knowledge

A landmark ETS study in 1999, the largest study of teacher qualifications completed to date, studied 270,000 teacher candidates who took Praxis II, a content knowledge exam used by 23 states as the state licensing examination for teachers. The study found that 91 percent of the graduates of institutions accredited through the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education passed this exam of content knowledge. Only 73 percent of those who did not study teacher preparation passed the exam of content knowledge—a difference of 18 percentile points. The study was conducted before Title II changed policies to ensure that most candidates passed the examination, and thus is a valid measure of the effectiveness of schools of education.

The misconception that those in teacher preparation do not know the subject matter they plan to teach or are otherwise poor students, is just that—a myth. Indeed, the Department’s report reveals that 38 states already require a degree in content knowledge for teacher preparation graduates. The majority of teachers are specialists in the subject they are teaching. Unfortunately, districts have routinely assigned teachers to teach out-of-field in some areas when they cannot find qualified teachers for specific subject areas.

America must address the fundamental issues of teacher retention and turnover through significant salary increases and changes in working conditions. If these are not addressed in a meaningful way, we cannot and will not have a uniformly high quality teaching force, and we will have to run faster and faster to stay in place.

State Licensing Reforms

The US Department of Education also calls for state licensing standards to increase in rigor. We agree that the licensing process is not all it needs to be, and reforms are necessary. But those reforms should include strong teacher preparation programs as an important part of licensure requirements. There must be increased rigor in the evaluation of new teachers as well as comprehensive assessment and a well thought out induction period for all new teachers—in other words, a reformed licensing system.

The U. S. Department of Education calls for increasing rigor in the assessment by states of teachers’ content knowledge. That step is important but states need to go further. The general public, parents, and students want and deserve to know that teachers can convey that content so that students learn. While many states are working on plans to assess teaching skills, few have implemented those plans. While many states have taken steps toward properly supervising—and assessing—beginning teachers, few have well-structured systems in place. States must implement licensing assessment systems that assure the public of the integrity of the license to teach—the title “teacher” must convey that the person who receives it has the knowledge and skill to help all students learn.

Read the U.S. Department of Education Report on Teacher Quality

Fuller, E. (1999). Does teacher certification matter? A comparison of elementary TAAS performance in 1997 between schools with high and low percentages of certified teachers. Charles A. Dana Center, Austin: University of Texas.