Test colleges on how they prep teachers

By Joe B. Wyatt

Imagine a surgeon who consistently botches a simple operation, setting back his unwary patients for life. Imagine that other surgeons trained at the same medical school make the same mistakes in large numbers. Before long, regulators would order that medical school to change and improve or risk losing both its accreditation and federal funding.

Substitute "teacher" for "surgeon," "students" for "patients," and you'll wonder why more colleges with education departments don't have malpractice insurance.

These schools of education train new legions of educators, sending them out into classrooms to have a profound effect on future generations. But schools of education are not held to the same level of accountability as their counterparts in the medical and legal professions.

Poor results from recent state testing of teachers is but one hint at how underscrutinized the training of education professionals really is. Here's another hint: 85% of community-college students must begin with a remedial course in English or math. One-third of four-year college freshmen do the same.

Nearly every state imposes tough requirements on would-be doctors and lawyers and the schools that train them. These schools must meet national accreditation standards that are administered by professional peers and that cover everything from graduation rates to libraries to faculty salaries.

Only once the standards are met can the schools' graduates sit for rigorous licensing examinations. Detailed performance records are open to policymakers and citizens alike.

Education programs are cash cows

Only a handful of states require accreditation for teacher-education programs. Of the more than 1,200 schools of education in the United States, only 500 are accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. More than 700 schools of education, producing one-third of our country's new teachers each year, don't face this system of professional, peer review.

Many schools of education do a very good job. But for too many colleges and universities, their education school is a cash cow that's treated like an academic stepchild. Such weakly supported schools offer mediocre preparation for otherwise motivated teachers-in-training.

Studies consistently show teacher quality is the leading factor in student achievement, more important even than economic conditions. Yet our schools are in crisis, and teaching is a main culprit. A study comparing low- and high-achieving elementary school students in New York has found teacher qualifications accounted for 90% of the variation between the best and worst students. Other research shows eighth-graders whose teachers have math degrees score much higher on standardized tests than those with teachers without such training.

More than 20% of math students and more than half of students taking physical sciences are taught by teachers without degrees in those fields. Nationally, nearly 40% of secondary school teachers do not have degrees in their subject areas.

Beyond teacher preparation, there's school accountability. At a minimum, schools of education should be accredited by a recognized body in order to maintain their eligibility for federal and state student aid. The results of teacher-certification exams should be published on a school-by-school basis.

There's evidence reform works. A 1997 study by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Work found that Arkansas, North Carolina and West Virginia - the three states that required accreditation for all education schools in the 1980s - showed greater-than-average increases in student achievement in subsequent years.

More states are pressing the issue

Forty-four states require new teachers to pass subject-area competency tests. Massachusetts' governor now proposes to extend his state's tests to all teachers, after reversing his bureaucracy's efforts to lower the minimum grade for new-teacher certification because so few graduates passed. New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Maryland have toughened up certification requirements in recent months. New York is considering closing education programs if at least 80% of their graduates can't pass state exams.

Parents need to be assured their child's teacher is as prepared as their pediatrician. At a time when jobs depend on mastering basic literacy, math and science, we will jeopardize both our children and our nation if we don't hold educators to the same uniformly high standards as other professionals.

Joe B. Wyatt is chancellor of Vanderbilt University.

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