THE ABELL FOUNDATION. TEACHER CERTIFICATION RECONSIDERED: STUMBLING FOR QUALITY (OCT. 8, 2001).
The importance of good teaching to the academic success of students is intuitively obvious to any parent and is well substantiated by a body of sound research. Correspondingly, ensuring that good teachers staff public schools is a critical policy objective in Maryland and across the nation. All states, including Maryland, have developed regulatory policies under the seemingly logical theory that requiring credentials of teachers is simply good government in action. These regulations prescribe the process for certifying teachers, whereby individuals who want to teach must first complete extensive coursework (usually completed in an undergraduate program), in both the field of education and the subject they intend to teach. At the heart of this policy is a claim by the education establishment that taking the coursework needed to obtain certification is not only the best, but also the only acceptable means for preparing teachers. This assertion, some claim, is supported by a body of research consisting of 100 to 200 studies. This report reveals in detail the shortcomings found in this research. In fact, the academic research attempting to link teacher certification with student achievement is astonishingly deficient. To reach this conclusion, we reviewed every published study or paper—along with many unpublished dissertations—cited by prominent national advocates of teacher certification. We found roughly 150 studies, going back 50 years, which explored or purported to explore the relationship between teacher preparation and student achievement. To our knowledge, there has been no comparable effort by analysts to drill systematically down through these layers of evidence in order to determine what value lies at the core.
FREDERICK M. HESS. PROGRESSIVE POLICY INSTITUTE. TEAR DOWN THIS WALL: THE CASE FOR A RADICAL OVERHAUL OF TEACHER CERTIFICATION (NOV. 27, 2001).
(America needs better teachers. Empirical evidence of the importance of teacher quality is mounting, and has sparked a dialogue about the quality of the nation's teaching force. In Tennessee, research by William Sanders has quantified the cumulative effects of even one or two bad teachers on a student. He found substantial differences in student achievement based on the sequence in which a student had particular teachers. Similar studies elsewhere have shown the same results. Perversely, the students who need the very best teachers are the ones most likely to be hurt by the shortfall of quality teachers)
For more information visit: http://www.ppionline.org, (visited Dec. 3, 2001).
US DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, MEETING THE HIGHLY QUALIFIED TEACHERS CHALLENGE (June 16, 2002)
U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige issued a report to Congress noting the chronic failure of education schools and traditional systems of teacher certification for ensuring a sufficient supply of quality teachers in the nation’s schools. Meeting the Highly Qualified Teachers Challenge contains a careful analysis of state report card data now required of states under Title II of the 1998 Reauthorized Higher Education Act. According to the Secretary, not only are questions on most teacher licensure tests at a high school level of difficulty, but many states also establish an absurdly low passing score. Yet, teachers are required to take courses that do not deepen their content knowledge.
For more visit http://www.ed.gov/offices/OPE/News/teacherprep/index.html, visited June 17, 2002.
National Council on Teacher Quality, "Innovative Preparation Key to Teach for America's Remarkable Retention Rates," October 3, 2001.
Given the current controversy on the effectiveness of Teach for America, NCTQ has prepared a report summarizing research on the reliability and innovative aspects of the program. This report is only available on the web or by contacting NCTQ.
