SETTING THE TEACHING QUALITY BAR: The National Council On Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has just released a controversial report, taking a tough line on teacher preparation programs. In this report you can find how the NCTQ is stacking teacher prep programs against one another, as well as how programs were rated. Notable points include:
· No elementary school prep programs earned a perfect four stars.
· Admission requirements for all teacher prep programs are heartrendingly low. Only a quarter of teacher prep programs are selective enough to take the top half of their class; others accept lower ranking students.
· Only seven percent of programs match student teachers with top performing senior teachers.
Education pundits, including some who are often on the opposite side of issue, are fuming. Check out what Diane Ravitch and Linda Darling-Hammond have to say. The ratings have been published by the U.S. News and World Report, infamous for rating colleges and universities. NCTQ hopes to provide future teachers with information on where to shop for the best programs, and administrators with data on the quality of education their teachers are getting. Find more conversation around NCTQ in the twittersphere at #teacherprep.
