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Texas Creates Tougher Teacher Training Standards
Amidst criticism from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan that too many colleges of education are "cash cows" that send unprepared, ineffective instructors into the nation's classrooms, Texas has become one of the first states to strengthen its standards for teacher training programs, the Houston Chronicle reports.
Last month, Texas' State Board for Educator Certification gave initial approval of a new rating system that will hold training programs accountable for their graduates' job performance. Programs whose teachers chronically fail to help students excel academically could risk having their accreditation revoked. The Board is expected to finalize its approval in February.
Though the Houston Independent School District has been using student test scores to calculate teacher bonuses for a few years, linking student achievement to teacher training is uncharted territory for Texas' largest school district and most other public school districts across the country. But the sheer number of different paths one can take to gain teacher certification in Texas begs for more oversight.
Texas has 177 accredited educator training programs. Some are run by universities and community colleges while others are run by school districts or for-profit companies. In one program a student can become a teacher after just a few months of course work, while other programs require at least a year of rigorous training.
Huh, and in Indiana our Sec.
Huh, and in Indiana our Sec. of Education wants to make it easier, so anyone can teach. Go figure
good ideas
This all sounds great - more accountability and data. It is too bad that it will be YEARS before data is collected and we can see if it helps!
Wow, I'm surprised to see
Wow, I'm surprised to see this coming out of Texas. More government oversight?
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Political Humor: http://politiclolz.com
Something on Education from Mother Jones?
Just as I got fed up enough and decided to cancel. Damn.
The majority of Texas teachers are alternatively certified. We have 72 such programs. It was very easy to become a millionaire doing this. You missed your chance.
The oversight came from the work of a conscientious legislator that slipped the bill into the pile. The education schools should have fought this alt-cert movement. They didn't. They could have killed it if they had ORGANIZED FOR POWER.
Did I just say that? My bad. I'll go shop at Wal-Mart now.
American education will
American education will continue to suffer until we assign accountability where it truly belongs - PARENTS ARE FIRST AND FOREMOST RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EDUCATION OF THEIR CHILD! Then, the individual child needs to be held accountable for their actions (or lack there of). Somewhere between the 70's and 90's a horrible mistake was made. Some idiot decided that children's psyche would be forever damaged if they failed. Presto - no kid is allowed to fail. Guess what? This has made a generation of people who don't know how to pull themselves up after a fall. Part of life is learning how to cope when things don't go well (failure), and getting up to try again. If a kid doesn't turn his assignment in when it is due, that earns the kid a zero. No make up. No half grade. A big fat zero. Problem here is that some grading systems in the US have computer programs that automatically "adjust" a zero to a 50%. All we are succeeding in doing is dumbing down America.
Grain of salt
Watch for teachers from politically unconnected programs to be routed to schools where test scores are difficult to raise. This is the Texas school board. Do you really think they are more interested in educating kids than in purging political and religious dissidence?
Thanks...
for publicizing this update - I don't think a lot of people know about it and a Mother Jones article will go a long way. I know I'll be updating my data about Texas Teacher Certification so that we have up-to-date info for our users. Thanks!