Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, understands that teachers must be better prepared in the future. At present, the standards for entry into teaching are a hodgepodge, are set by every state and district at varying levels, and many new teachers arrive with an online degree or with only a few weeks of “training.” This is not good enough.
In Finland, which has an excellent school system, all teachers are prepared over the course of a five-year program that includes subject matter knowledge and pedagogical skill. No one is allowed to teach without that deep and well-planned preparation for the classroom. Finland has eight universities. All of them follow the same protocol. Entry into teaching is highly selective because there are so few entry points. Only one of every ten people who apply are accepted into the teacher education program.
By contrast, we let everyone in and then allow huge numbers to fail after they enter the classroom. Some survive, many don’t.
We don’t have eight universities like Finland, we have thousands. How then to raise the standard for entry into teaching?
Randi Weingarten has proposed a rigorous examination for entry into the teaching profession. She would have it developed by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Schools and colleges of education may keep their own entry standards, but their graduates must be prepared for the examination, which would include subject matter knowledge and pedagogical ability.
In her explanation of the proposal in the Wall Street Journal, Weingarten wrote:
“Setting a bar for entry into the teaching profession requires strengthening and aligning many components. Standards for admission to and completion of teacher-preparation programs should be appropriately high. Curricula should address the specific knowledge and skills that competent beginning teachers need. Preparation must include extensive experience in actual classrooms working with accomplished teachers. Mastery should be demonstrated not just through a written exam but also through demonstrations of a candidate’s ability to teach. High standards for entry into the profession should apply to all prospective teachers, whether they pursue traditional or alternative certification.”
“The teaching profession is full of dedicated, talented teachers, but much of their expertise is developed only once they’re on the job. Better preparing teachers for entry into the profession will dramatically reduce the loss of new teachers—nearly half of whom leave after fewer than five years—and the loss of knowledge that goes with it. As widespread teacher retirements sweep across the nation’s schools (1.6 million in the next decade alone), our proposal will help create a constant supply of well-prepared educators ready from day one to help children achieve at high levels.”
Randi is right. We can’t just say, “Let’s improve recruitment into the profession” and leave the free market to work its magic. Nothing will change.
Real change does not come about because of hope and expectation.
It comes about when there are real plans, based on facts and attainable goals, with a strategy in hand.
Imagine: a national exam developed by educators for educators, to identify those who are well prepared to teach.
And then, once in the classroom, teachers should be evaluated as professionals by professionals, not by cockeyed metrics dreamed up by statisticians.
Teaching must be recognized as a profession that requires well prepared professionals. Teachers must have the autonomy in the classroom to do what they know is best for their students.
This is a great beginning. It should change the conversation from blaming teachers for conditions beyond their control to taking concrete steps to ensure that those who enter the classroom are well qualified. It puts us on a path towards the day when teaching is as prestigious as other professions.
Commonn Core’s changes to curriculum is adding to the challenges of teachers staying on top of whatever they are teaching. New 6th grade math standards include statistics not typically taught in this grade. For example, in NY, box and whisker plots were previously part of Algebra (taught in 8th or 9th grade) and now they are part of 6th grade math. Also unfortunate is that current students in 7th and 8th grade never had 6th grade CC math yet these grade standards assume they have had CC all along. Both teachers arnd students are being thrust into a program that is not being rolled out thoughtfully.
You have materials already to supplement. Do you really think teachers memorize what they have learned college, for crying out loud? This is just reformist hogwash, and I am disappointed Diane actually thinks Weingarten’s nutty idea is okay. It isn’t. Common Core, by the way, is a Bill Gates-type FRAUD.
Diane, here’s one point in which I must respectfully disagree. I also have some grievances with Randi’s past cooperation with charter schools, although that is obviously not the issue here.
This is not the action we ought to see from teachers’ unions, in my opinion. I believe we need something more radical than even that of Karen Lewis, but people would be forced to put their careers on the line. That would obviously not be very popular.
Why would we raise standards on incoming teachers when the market will diminish? Some colleges and universities have already reported diminishing undergraduate candidates to become teachers (see the study out of Indiana, I believe). Who in their right mind would want to become a future teacher in this environment? And we want to make it even more difficult to enter, within this already dismal environment?
This reminds me of a political action to place a band aid on a cut that is not there – to passively trick people into believing something must be done in order to save face. There is not, I REPEAT, not a problem with teacher quality in this country. No entry test, evaluation system, or ongoing professional development will solve a problem that does not exist.
“Reformers” aren’t interested in raising the standards but in lowering them so that any idiot off the street can teach. And that is what Randi really wants, too. Get rid of education schools and deprofessionalize the occupation.
The working conditions are horrendous, and that is why fewer people are going into the field. I am not going to sit here and have an attorney try to tell teachers they need to clean up their act.
Blunt…but correct.
I too disagree that another standardized procedure, whether it is the “National Board” type exam or anything else. Randi’s solution is looking for a problem. What is the the report of National Board success by states and ethnicities?
And what’s even more ironic is that we are placing the worth of a future teacher on a test score.
Talk about contradictory.
in case you missed it
On Thu, Dec 13, 2012 at 2:44 PM, Diane Ravitch’s blog wrote:
> ** > dianerav posted: “Randi Weingarten, President of the American > Federation of Teachers, understands that teachers must be better prepared > in the future. At present, the standards for entry into teaching are a > hodgepodge, are set by every state and district at varying levels,” Respond > to this post by replying above this line > New post on *Diane Ravitch’s blog* > Randi Weingartens Excellent > Proposal for the Teaching Profession by > dianerav > > Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, > understands that teachers must be better prepared in the future. At > present, the standards for entry into teaching are a hodgepodge, are set by > every state and district at varying levels, and many new teachers arrive > with an online degree or with only a few weeks of “training.” This is not > good enough. > > In Finland, which has an excellent school system, all teachers are > prepared over the course of a five-year program that includes subject > matter knowledge and pedagogical skill. No one is allowed to teach without > that deep and well-planned preparation for the classroom. Finland has eight > universities. All of them follow the same protocol. Entry into teaching is > highly selective because there are so few entry points. Only one of every > ten people who apply are accepted into the teacher education program. > > By contrast, we let everyone in and then allow huge numbers to fail after > they enter the classroom. Some survive, many don’t. > > We don’t have eight universities like Finland, we have thousands. How then > to raise the standard for entry into teaching? > > Randi Weingarten has proposeda rigorous examination for entry into the teaching > profession . She would have it developed by the > National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Schools and colleges of > education may keep their own entry standards, but their graduates must be > prepared for the examination, which would include subject matter knowledge > and pedagogical ability. > > In her explanation of the proposal
I am a master teacher. Students of all levels have consistently applauded me. I have ten years experience in NYC high schools. I was hired in 1996 with a temporary license. Deficient 18 credits in Spanish(subject area), 18 credits in pedagogy, all 4 state exams, a Master’s degree, child abuse workshop, and my supervisors all labeled me a “role model teacher” in my first year.
New York State Department of Education stated to me that after ten years of teaching full time, I must complete two courses in adolescent pedagogy in order to obtain my professional license(7-12). I asked Commisioner King to waive the requirement based on experience. He refused. New York let me teach for ten years without the two courses, yet now they refuse.
Mr. Holecek, supervisor of NYSED wrote to me the two courses required. I completed them in 3 weeks then he told me one of them was wrong. Then I asked why he would not accept a graduate level pedagogy course on foreign language from Middlebury College. He claimed the word “adolescence” was missing in the course description. In foreign language instruction there is no such thing as adolescent methodology. Point being that the state of NY does not know what they are doing. I asked Matilda Cuomo to help me. She said “The State needs you more than you need them!”. I do not teach anymore because of these errors. I have no more funds after 16 of investing in a Spanish and Italian license (starting salary $28K, ending salary $55K.
Let’s remember that teaching is also an art form, theater,etc. If you don’t have the right personality, nor how to handle many people simultaneously your ship will sink. These skills cannot be assessed in a teacher examination.
I’m afraid I agree with ME. I was never a good test taker. I did go to a good university by dint of hard work. Some of the best teachers I have known are not necessarily great test takers. I really wish we could test people to see how much they love kids — or at least like being around them. That to me is so much more important. Or maybe they just love imparting information. But a test will not help us find the best teachers. I think it’s just exactly what we disagree with regarding the over-testing of our children.
I think agreement on the basic skills needed for teachers to be amply prepared to begin their teaching careers could be a good thing. The trick would be not micromanaging or prescribing preparation. However, testing, or certifying teachers is another thing altogether. I wonder if Finland requires a “certification test” for teachers after completing all their coursework, or if they trust that successfully completing the courses is a better route.
For God’s sake, teachers have to take all kinds of courses, not only in education but in all kinds of content areas. Again, Weingarten is pushing a LIE, and it figures since she has had Broad connections in the past, that the problem in education is with teachers. It isn’t. These lies need to STOP.
I finished my undergrad degree in 1985. In order to get my initial license, I had to pass a written exam – at the time it was the C-Best. I passed the Miller’s Analogy Test to prove I was smart enough for grad school. I passed the NTE exam in social studies to make sure I was qualified enough to teach history without spending another year and $3,000 to pick up another economics course and an additional geography course. I have taught grades 7-12, English and history, in a variety of settings in Oregon and Washington for the past 26 years. I have continued to take classes and workshops to hone and improve my skills -I currently hold a Master’s degree plus 56 additional credits. I agree with the statement by ME above – there is no problem to fix. Are there teachers who should not be teaching? Yes. Are there doctors or lawyers who should not be practicing? Yes. Perhaps the problem lies with those who are doing the hiring.
On another point, how come no one has mentioned that Finland’s teachers are also paid a stipend during their time in school and that they do not leave school debt-ridden by student loans? Or that their programs don’t cost them anything?
Who cares about Finland? Quit talking about Finland. THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF THIS COUNTRY IS ONLY ONE-TENTH THE SIZE OF THE ENTIRE STUDENT POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES. Add to that the fact the country is NOT diverse like the United States.
I am sick, sick, SICK of this being used as an example when it is apples and oranges. Not only that, but the privatizers will go after that country as well.
When politicians stop looking to compare the U.S. to other countries, via TIMMS & PIRLS, PISA, etc…, I’ll be willing to quit looking at what makes countries like Finland so effective.
I think it makes some sense, simply to point out to politicians that, yes, Finland gets great results…and they are also highly unionized and force teachers and administrators to join the same union.
Unions are more effective in Europe.
…also, yes, the Asian countries score well on the tests…but they can’t think and are void of critical thinking skills. Is this what we want for our kids?
I think some people are not looking at the big picture here. Yes, it’s true that many things cannot be measured by taking a test. Some people are terrible test takers, but excellent at their profession. I know excellent doctors and lawyers who had to take the LSAT/MCAT several times before passing to get into school. I know excellent lawyers who had to take the bar exam several times before passing. So what? Should we remove the test taking requirements just because it’s difficult? I think not. I also do not think it’s fair to compare one entrance or exit exam to the myriad of standardized tests our students are having to take. I’m not against tests, I’m against over-testing.
The big picture in education is that there are a far greater number of unqualified teachers entering the workforce. People are becoming teachers because it’s easier than becoming a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. Of course there are exceptions, and there are people who are natural teachers and very good at it despite their amount of schooling, and their are people who think they will really love teaching. But I think this is becoming the exception more than the rule, and I am not comfortable with that.
I see some good points “ME” brought up. I agree that the test will dissuade many from wanting to be a teacher. That’s why we have got to RAISE TEACHER PAY to compensate for the more difficult standards. If teachers were paid like engineers, doctors, and lawyers, don’t you think it would attract more people…more smart, motivated people to the profession?
I have taught for 16 years in public schools. I teach cream of the crop students at my high school and I talk to them about what they want to major in in college. Many of them would make excellent teachers, and many of them think they would love doing what I do. When I ask them why they don’t want to major in education they tell me it’s because of the pay, and that their parents don’t want them to be a teacher because it is not as respectable a job as being an engineer or a doctor. That hurts.
To add to my thought above…it wouldn’t have to be a “test” to get into education school. It could simply be a GPA requirement, and/or a well-rounded resume requirement. What if education schools only accepted the top 10% of a class? I’m just tired of hearing C and D students say “well, I guess I’ll be a teacher….” Oh, and please forgive my mis-use of “their” above. For the record I am not an English teacher!
“The big picture in education is that there are a far greater number of unqualified teachers entering the workforce.”
Evidence?
“That’s why we have got to RAISE TEACHER PAY to compensate for the more difficult standards. If teachers were paid like engineers, doctors, and lawyers, don’t you think it would attract more people…more smart, motivated people to the profession? ”
I agree, but that will never happen. And by attracting would-be doctors into education, would we really increase learning outcomes? All this suggestion does, is again, imply that our current pool of teachers is not smart enough or hard enough workers to get the job done. I have been around education, and enough teachers, to know this is false.
I have also seen a good many very intelligent people crash and burn as teachers. It’s not “smarts” that makes a teacher great – its the way that great teachers find ways to relate to their students and get them to do things that they would normally not do.
Allow me to clarify: The “far greater number of unqualified teachers entering the workforce” …I was referring to the rise over recent years of teachers entering the workforce who came from TFA or online certification programs, or that are not certified at all and are teaching for 2 years on a temporary certification (I could look up some stats on this if you like, I think they are on this blog somewhere). I was NOT referring to teachers who come from traditional education and certification programs.
I have to agree and disagree with you on the “smarts.” I think all great teachers have lots of smarts. Yes, they have other things too, and those other things are probably more important than just having smarts. But smarts sure helps. I don’t think I know any dumb great teachers. Also, I don’t think we are attracting would-be doctors, I think medical schools are attracting would-be teachers.
The working conditions are horrendous. No amount of testing is going to create “great” teachers.
This mole Weingarten should be tossed out of the union.
I, too, disagree that a “bar exam” is helpful. First of all, you simply cannot paper and pencil “test” the types of skills which are necessary to do great teaching. Second, using a test to screen for “better” candidates means inevitably screening out by class and race as too often test scores are tied into family background characteristics. Most of us in this forum agree that high-stakes testing is damagind education for kids. It is no different for the adults. Frankly, I do not want teaching to come to resemble the extreme lack of diversity found in law or medicine. We need a diverse teaching force to reach our diverse students.
Lastly, all of this feeds into the “bad teacher” rhetoric. NO MORE! Our K-12 schools do not struggle because of teacher education (although I agree that fast-track, alternative or online programs should be abolished). Rather, teachers from the SAME schools of education who go into affluent districts do very well. The problem is inequality, vastly unequal teaching/learning environments, lack of support in large urban districts, and the high concentrations of new/uncertified teachers in our low-income schools.
As I argue here: http://mskatiesramblings.blogspot.com/2012/12/now-ed-prep-is-problem-change.html Teacher prep is not a “problem”. There are always ways to improve the process, but it is not “broken”. Please stop feeding the “bad teacher” monster.
Is there a hideous lack of diversity in doctors? I’m assuming you mean a bunch of white people are doctors. I’d like to see some stats on that, because I see MANY non-white doctor names in my phone book. My daughter’s pediatrician is Hispanic, her pulminologist is African-American, our dentist is Indian, and my family doc is Asian. Hmmmm, maybe it’s just here.
There is a hideous lack of class diversity, yes.
Oh, and it looks like lacking racial diversity too: http://www.amsa.org/AMSA/Homepage/About/Priorities/Diversity.aspx
“Racial and ethnic minorities comprise 26% of the total population of the United States, yet only roughly 6% of practicing physicians are Latino, African American and Native American.”
OK, then I guess we can address all of this when we fix our nation’s poverty problem. I am not saying we have to have a test or that it should just be a test to get into education school, it could be a combination of things. But I think we need to do something to attract the best and brightest to the profession, and keep them in the profession. Why do so many teachers quit before 5 years?
What is happening now is not going to improve the prospects for more teachers of a higher quality. It will NOT happen. They want churn and newbies. They want test prep drones who never stay long enough for a pension, family health benefits or a top salary. The deformers want to deprofessioanlize teaching. We are driving away many and when the economy improves there will be even less and the elite won’t need the TFA stepping stone scab position any longer.
Stop using the phrase “the best and brightest”. We don’t want the “best and brightest” – they’re the problem. As Diane has pointed out, the phrase originated in describing the people that got us into Vietnam. Now the “best and brightest” are the TFA people. I don’t want my kid taught by “the best and brightest”, but by people who care about children and know how to teach.
I take offense to your comment that the best and brightest are the problem. I am one of the best and brightest. I care deeply about my students. With my grades and test scores I could have been ANYTHING and I chose to be a teacher. Probably many people on this blog are the same. I am sorry that it brings up negative connotations, I meant it literally and not as a reference or comparison to people who caused the Vietnam war. I didn’t realize they redefined those two words, maybe I should have checked Wikipedia first. I can change semantics, not a big deal for me but obviously a big deal for others. I also take offense to the fact that someone can get an online degree or have only a few weeks of training and go out into the teaching force. I realize there is a lack of diversity in teachers (and apparently also doctors and lawyers) but giving a test or not giving a test isn’t going to fix THAT problem. THAT problem is caused by poverty, and until we fix poverty we aren’t going to see a real solution to the diversity problem. So should we just continue on our current path letting TFA and online degrees take away teaching jobs from university grads? I wonder where Obama plans to get his 100,000 teachers in just 4 years?
I have been reading the comments here, and they have opened my eyes to things I didn’t see before. That’s why I love this blog. I keep an open mind. I am shocked that this Weingarten is not fully supported by teachers, and that sets off all kinds of alarms. I admit I do not pay as close attention to union happenings because we don’t have collective bargaining power here in Texas. I also admit (after reading all the comments here) that perhaps this particular test is not the best (oops sorry…there’s that word again) idea, I think we can do better than putting more money in Pearson’s pocket. But at the same time I believe that standards need to be raised for the teaching profession. Being a teacher is as important or more important than any other profession, and people need to respect the teaching profession as such. There ARE other ways to do this than just testing, I’ve read several great ideas here.
“using a test to screen for “better” candidates means inevitably screening out by class and race as too often test scores are tied into family background characteristics.”
I would have to agree. In fact, in my experience teaching at ed schools, throughout the time period when so many hoops have been added to college of ed and certification requirements, (yes, this is not the first wave of teacher ed scapegoating and “reform”), it’s primarily prospective teachers from under-represented groups (i.e., low income and people of color) whom I have seen screened out of programs.
We know that diversity in the teacher workforce has declined over the past couple decades, in places like Chicago, and I think one of the unintended causes is the gate keeping at the pipeline.
As long as public education in this country continues down the path of com-modification by moneyed interests, new ideas for teacher education/certification are meaningless.
National Board standards can only promise a better educated teacher who will be:
working longer, being paid less, receiving less benefits and still at the mercy of an authoritarian, profits before children business model of administration.
What we need now is direct action!
Reconsider your support for this mole, Diane. Weingarten isn’t even a teacher. This is utter garbage that is virtually taken out of the National Council for Teacher Quality playbook. I am sick of my profession being degraded and demeaned.
The only people who will benefit from such a crackpot idea are the people from Pearson and its ilk.
Blunt…but correct.
Now that gets my attention. We don’t have unions down here, so I don’t pay as close attention to who’s who, but I’m listening now.
The bottom line is those in power….politicians, wealthy deformers, some in our unions…do NOT respect teachers. This is lip service to just add more slop to the pot. How many more initiatives, plans, crock of crap reform ideas are they going to throw at us? The plan is to keep the teachers on the hamster wheel of “reform”: tired, exhausted, demeaned, weary and spinning from one change to another. We have to document our teaching, collect data, report growth, etc, etc, etc…there a no time left to teach.
I get what you’re saying. We may not have union power in this right to work state, but we have Rick Perry…and he’s notorious for his cronyism. And Bill Hammond, don’t even get me started.
Weingarten has only one year co – teaching experience. Ravitch proposes a minimum of 7 years experience for principals. And look what we have for our advocate? The union is part of our problem!
i wholeheartedly agree with one caveat. If you raise the standards for enry into he profession without raising starting salaries you will have widespread teacher’s shortages.
Which is what they want…churn. They do not want teachers to stay and earn benefits and pension. Our state expends close to 100 million a year on teacher salaries, and politicians want that money. They also want our pensions, and in many states they are dipping into pension for money to be used elsewhere.
A pay increase would be nice but to really entice qualified and enthusiastic candidates better working conditions and being treated with professional respect would go a lot further.
K, Susannunes, know you don’t want me to say this. . . but. . . I watched a documentary on Finland’s school system and I have to say that I didn’t see a big difference between the teachers there and the teachers here. I’m going to have to say that policy is what has messed us up.
When I started teaching in the 90s, we were on the right path. But NCLB pretty much put a stop to that in everything including implementing best practice.
I’d rather get rid of really bad policy and let teachers teach again.
I would add that if teachers passed a rigorous nationally normed exam to enter the profession, it should be recognized, and certificated, by every state. No more jumping through hoops, hoops and more hoops when you move to another state. It is ridiculous what we have to go through to be recertified if we have to move.
Agree!
Absolutely right. At the moment, many small private colleges function like near diploma mills (although sometimes it needs to be said in collaboration with the UFT). The current system for accreditation through NCATE largely depends on outcomes assessment, which essentially imports product standards into education, as if our graduates are products teacher ed programs produce. Professional Standards based on those in high status professions such as speech and hearing or medical school are much more adequate. Then teaching could be made more attractive by reducing classroom hours (as is done in much of Europe) and of course raising pay. This is of course exactly the opposite approach followed in many charters, which is why they’re doomed to fail.
Regarding schools of education, Diane wrote: “we let everyone in and then allow huge numbers to fail after they enter the classroom.”
Is that what they do at NYU? They accept anyone with a heartbeat? I doubt it, and there is no open door policy at any school of ed where I’ve taught. There are also mentoring programs that are required for novice teachers in my state and school district.
I have to disagree with the characterization of the bar exam idea as “excellent,” too. Of course a lawyer would value having a bar exam for teachers, but she was not trained as an educator herself, so how would she have any idea about the ed school experience and how applicable that training is to classroom teaching? Maybe she just really believes the “reform” propaganda.
If ed schools are so bad, why do they produce teachers who do well in areas that are not dominated by low income families? Please don’t claim that ed schools do not prepare teachers to work with diverse populations, because I’ve taught education courses for decades, at 8 different colleges, and in my experience, they most certainly are trained in this. The issue is still poverty, not bad teachers and not poor teacher training.
Weingarten is earning over $400K. No public school K-12 teacher in my city makes a six figure income, regardless of education and experience. Probably the only way salaries are ever going to change dramatically is if “reformers” have their way, abolish unions, privatize education, increase class sizes and “let the markets decide” –so salaries could decrease, too. Why Weingarten would not recognize that this is precisely what her “reform” buddies are aiming for is beyond me.
And why on earth did teachers elect this non-educator to be the union leader?
Michael Mulgrew, NYC UFT president, is much more outstanding than Weingarten! A veteran history teacher who understands and represents the voice of teachers. This is who we need!
I didn’t say that Ed schools let everyone in, although some do. What I wrote was that many districts and states have very low entry standards for new teachers–Tony Bennett lowered the standards as his parting legacy in Indiana–and many states accept online degrees for teachers. Today, most masters degrees in education are produced by online “universities.”
I took the quote directly from this statement up top, which is above the quote from Randi, so it looks like you wrote it and were referring to Teacher Ed here:
“Finland has eight universities. All of them follow the same protocol. Entry into teaching is highly selective because there are so few entry points. Only one of every ten people who apply are accepted into the teacher education program.
By contrast, we let everyone in and then allow huge numbers to fail after they enter the classroom. Some survive, many don’t.”
I’ve taught at brick and mortar ed schools, as well as online universities (though none of the famous ones, nor any on Bruce Baker’s chart), and where I’ve worked, they don’t accept just anyone in degree programs and courses are rigorous, I have high expectations of teachers and I don’t lower them based on the setting where I work.
I spent the last 40 years in education and I have seen the reputable university teacher education programs being pressured by school systems to losen their standards in order to let in substitute teachers from all walks of life, due to huge numbers of vacancies. These vacancies were created by the school systems – hire, no support, not retaining, revolving door. Years and years of this practice, along with every small university, online programs, off-shore programs – free market at a frenzy! Student loans became the vulture practices and, since ‘anybody can teach’ they came from near and far. Add TFA, with all the problems that they added to an already bad situation. Teacher ed. Programs could not produce the number of graduates needed to replace the lost teachers. Many universities are able to maintain their standards, but they compete against all those who hang out their shingles. Now, people ARE coming to teaching from everywhere! Parapros were recruited for years, too. Again, taught by alternative certif. programs. How many years do you think we need to communicate that teachers are not valued, uneducated and the lowest scoring groups at colleges? We are kidding ourselves, there is no teaching profession. Everybody and their brother made decisions to solve the education and staffing crisis. Legislators, Big$ and AFT are doing their part to run off the last traditionally trained teacher who knew his or her craft.
AFT and D. Ravitch are trying to solve ALL the past ills with another test to prove that there still is a teaching profession and it is of quality. Are you kidding? Do they think we are stupid? Stop treating us that way. Non-educators screwed it up royally, and teachers now have to pull it out of the WC, and pay the price.
I am so sad and disappointed that many ofmus predicted this, and that teachers and kids continue to pay the ultimate price. We as a nation are not capable of enough maturity and respect to speak and listen to teachers. Everybody tries to speak for us and dictate their nonsense to improve education. It may never change! I am seriously thinking that this will help unravel education as we knew it. Some may say that is good. As Dr. Phil would say: how’s it working for you? We know the answer…not well at all. One thing is for sure, trained teachers are not the problem. Hire, support, mentor, let them teach, retain. Try that for 40 years and we would have a better chance to educate our kids.
I am certain I took and passed MANY “standardized” exams to get where I am, today–a highly-qualified, Master’s degree totin’, exceptionally dedicated, loved, and accomplished professional educator. In fact, I pass a multitude of non-standard tests every day, every class period, with (near-to) every student.
Thank you, Mary-Faith, for giving me the idea to petition the State regarding course-work and certification.
In Florida, every educator who has even one ESOL kid in class has to take courses or earn in-service points signifying that they are knowledgeable enough to teach ESOL students. The number of hours required vary based on the teacher’s subject.
I first taught Social Sciences and had to complete 60 hours. I did that. After five years, I began teaching ELA which requires 300 hours of ESOL instruction instruction. (Funny sentence, eh? LOL) I took several courses, then the test prep in-service, then the State exam. I passed, and was awarded the ESOL certification on my teaching certificate.
STILL, the State wants–no, requires–that I complete another 60-hours ESOL course “for certification.”
I do not understand how I could have earned the ESOL certification and still be required to take more course-work or in-service hours to obtain certificaton.
Egads~
I asked my assemlywoman and state senator, to contact the state dept. of ed., both had liasons. Yet neither were effective in repairing the state evaluators’ errors and getting a teacher of excellence back in the classroom. New York State, inlike others, acts like the Mafia. “Give me your money and shut up and don’t bother us!” NY is a state gov. run by
criminals for the benefit of criminals
…criminals, Michael Bloomberg. The creator of the Demonization of educators.
I think that teaching credentials could be reduced to a apprenticeship program tied to a short test to prove you understand the area you are going to teach in. It doesn’t seem to me that there is a ton to learn in school that will make you a better teacher. Teaching is very personality driven. Some people are good at and some aren’t and it doesn’t seem that classes or tests have much to do with this. I think a person could spend a year in a class, hopefully subsidized by the government to make it more feasible, decide if its for them and then try to get a teaching job. I am usually against these reformy kinds of things but I don’t see why people need an education degree to teach. Every education class I have taken was very easy and mostly inapplicable to my job.
Over the years, I have taught literally thousands of students who have had minimal training but had jobs teaching children in private school classrooms. In my experience, when teachers have not learned anything about child development, learning and teaching, what they do most is drill, drill, drill. And they don’t readily recognize that this could be a problem for children, even when they discuss behavior issues.
Learning content and pedagogical content knowledge is not enough. Teachers teach children, not subjects.
I used to be a Licensed Professional Counselor (I let my license lapse for a variety of reasons), which involved taking a very rigorous licensure test. I suppose it’s a good thing for counselors to know their Freud from their Skinner and the basics of experiments like the Milgram experiment or Harlow’s monkey experiment. The thing is, though, some of the people who know the academic material inside and out make lousy counselors because they lack people skills. Some of the most empathetic and gifted healers are lousy test takers. Unfortunately, there really isn’t a test that can determine who’s really good at counseling. I suspect the same is true of teaching.
What caught my eye is that National Boards will create the exam. National Boards is now owned by Pearson. This means that Pearson will control every step of education from teacher training to text books, to test prep, to high stakes testing.
So Randi will resign or step down and then go work for Pearson. Kind of how Klein left and then walked into a plum position created for him by Rupert.
Yes, let Randi step down to a positon of her level!
Whoops! My comment below is more accurate for Linda above, RE: Pearson.
Exactly what susanunes said at 4:52 PM, and correct. And, Linda, below, you’re probably going to be proven right.
I agree with those who are against the idea of a bar exam. Remember teachers are NOT in control of our profession, nor will a bar exam make it so. Wages will remain low and shortages will ensue. BTW, who is going to pay the teacher during her year long “clinical year?” The teacher herself will need to get a job to support herself during this year, just as student teachers do today.
If this is Randi’s big idea, she needs to go–NOW. This and “solution unionism” are both jokes, both appeasement strategies.
Maybe she is just killing time until she finds another gig.
Saying teachers aren’t in control is certainly understating it. They are treated like garbage by tyrants and crooks in their school sites and in the central office. If there is truly a problem in public education, it is with administrators who are held to no standards of accountability. Naturally, the reformers would make the work environment immeasurably worse.
If our very own union inadvertently states that teacher preparation and quality is the problem with education, isn’t this appeasement. Stating that a bar exam is necessary, says that teachers are inadequate, and aren’t up to the job. Why isnt my two MAs ( both in academic subjects) and my BA in history and education not enough? Why is Randi allowing the deformers to frame the conversation?
“If our very own union inadvertently states that teacher preparation and quality is the problem with education, isn’t this appeasement?”
Weingarten = Neville Chamberlain.
Because she is one of them. She was even involved with the Broad Academy back in 2002.
Yes, and she’s also been deeply involved with corporate privatizers at the Aspen Institute.
The woman is neither a teacher nor a bona fide union person, but a “collaborator” (her term, not mine) with those who are out to privatize the schools and neutralize the union.
Without question, she is one of “them,” so she should take a ride in Bloomberg’s private jet to her future job consulting for Pearson and Murdoch. That’s who she represents and where she belongs.
I meant aren’t instead of isn’t , ugh.
Randi for sale! Who wants her? She does not represent the true spirit if union. And our union was role modelled after the Europeans. In Germany the union reps also have positions on the Boards of their companies to ensure workers’ rights and make their voices heard.
This “teacher bar exam” notion is just more “crappy teachers are the big education problem” folderol.
Of course this idea, along with all of the other standardized testing, comes from educrats who themselves have not acquired education credentials or experience by tests or any other means.
I heartily enjoy irony but this stopped being funny a long time ago.
Of course it is. This is National Council for Teacher Quality boilerplate by one of the biggest backstabbers in education. Why she hasn’t been kicked out of education entirely is a mystery to me.
Sorry Diane, I can’t agree with you or Randi on this one. Bar type exams would ensure success. We all know lawyers take rigorous bar exams and look at how many ineffective lawyers there are out there. Especially the ineffective lawyers that become politicians.
We need our teacher education programs to improve. More opportunities to observe experience teachers should be required. Content knowledge should also be required even for elementary certification.and a rigorous mentoring program should be developed that teams experience with new teachers.
We also need to improve compensation to attract talent.
The last thing we need is more tests.
Uh, you don’t need a lot of “content knowledge” to teach elementary. You don’t need to know advanced calculus or algebra to teach kids simple mathematics. You DO, however, need a LOT of training in pedagogy, child psychology, and classroom management for K-6.
This stuff is already being done. Weingarten, a lawyer, has made a career out of backstabbing teachers. She needs to be railroaded out of education entirely.
Great point, rratto, about “the ineffective lawyers that become politicians!” A button on “Pissed Off Teacher Blog:”
“Those who can, teach. Those who cannot pass laws about teaching.”
I have to weigh in also, this is a distractions from what we should be talking about. We have enough schooling/testing/student teacher experience to warrant a T.D. not a J.D.
Nervous as Randi is on the special task force for NYS Education Reform. Can pretty much predict what will come from the panel….more of the same from this past year.We’ll have to all smile and agree that ultimately it will be good for us all.
Diane, I normally agree with you, but I can’t here. As dozens of other posters have noted, this is nothing more than another attempt to deligitimize teachers by portraying teachers, and not the myriad of “reform” tenets, in addition to the various inequalities in our society, as the primary issues facing public education today.
This is wrong.
Anyone check this out yet? http://www.ed.gov/blog/2012/12/kansas-students-weigh-in-on-education-reform/
click through to the vid, ugh.
Don’t just click through the video. I forced myself to watch the whole thing. Then read the students comments about working on this project.
Weingarten a leader? More testing the answer? Diane, I admire you tremendously, but Weingarten is simply out of touch with the on the ground complexities of what teachers are facing and, as a result, she plays right into the “blame the teacher” propaganda. Frankly, I’m very surprised you support this.
Cynthia, I have always said we need higher standards by which to admit people into the teaching profession. This is not a new idea for me. The question has always been how to get higher standards when admission to the profession is so diffused, and at a time when more and more people are getting education degrees (especially masters) from online “universities” of dubious quality. As you know from what I write, I never play “blame the teacher.” I blame poverty; I blame reactionary politicians; I blame corporate profiteers. And at the same time, I think we need an actionable plan to raise the standards for those who enter the classroom to teach. An online degree is not good enough. Nor is it enough to have five weeks of training like TFA. Nor is it enough to have a bachelor’s degree and pass a test, as Tony Bennett in Indiana wants. The teaching profession will not get the prestige and respect it deserves unless it owns up to policing entry into its ranks, as other professions do, and takes that job away from state legislatures and Congress.
Diane
Diane,
Please reconsider your position. We can not test our way out of this box we’ve been placed in.
We need to bolster our teacher ed programs in our universities.
The other component of Randi’s proposal was a full year of student teaching. Again an untenable situation. How many teacher recruits can afford to pay tuition while working for an entire year for free, then have to take a bar type of exam to gain entry?
The risks are too high while the reward is being labeled a failure in the American public’s eye. Why would anyone support their child’s venture into the teaching profession ever again? Hopes that a ‘ bar type’ of exam will bring respect to our profession are unfounded in reality.
Let’s require more experience teaching kids as a requirement for administrative positions. Let’s require extensive classroom experience before we will even listen to the reform wonks.
Let’s continue to expose the flaws and hidden agendas of the barbarians at our classroom doors who proposed deforms rather than real reforms.
Let’s stop blaming ourselves.
Bar exams, indentured status for new teachers? No way.. not when we lead the world in so many ways, not when grad rates are at all time highs, not when we’ve been closing the achievement gaps, not when college degrees awarded are at historic highs, not when the so called reformers refuse to address the real underlying issues of poverty, healthcare, single parent households, children having children, and races to nowhere.
Randi’s proposal is off base. Exams should be required to gain entry into an education program a big difference than a final exam to screen others out. Next they’ll be developing a ‘bell curve’ for potential teachers.
Unfortunately the bell is cracked
I agree completely with Dr. Ravitch here. A good first step would be to rewrite teacher contracts so there is no automatic increase is salary because a teacher “earned” a dubious degree. This will take away the incentive for teachers to seek out low cost (by which I mean both in money and in terms of effort) programs and take away the temptation from education schools (both private and public) to use these programs as cash cows.
This should be a clue of how bad this idea is, Diane.
Why would you say that?
How would having a “bar” exam through NBPTS, which Pearson now scores, give teachers control? Doesn’t Teacher Ed already have the same issue with the edTPA and Pearson?
Also, how do you propose that “policing entry” into the ranks be taken away from state legislatures and Congress? (Shouldn’t we add corporations and ALEC to that?) State legislatures have long had a legal hold on establishing certification requirements and many states are already permitting completely online teacher certification programs.
A case in point is the totally online teacher prep program at Western Governors University, which was established by 19 governors, has NCATE accreditation (as well as big name corporate sponsors), and Duncan has called for more programs like this. How can we unring the bell?
BTW, I turned down several opportunities to prepare people for initial certification in strictly online programs, because I didn’t think it an appropriate medium for that. The vast majority of people whom I have been training online the last several years work at private schools, are already teaching children in classrooms and, due to minimal state requirements in most locations for such settings, few have had ANY teacher training whatsoever. (And they will not become state certified.)
I think Randi’s proposal is an excellent one.
harlanfalstaff and teachingeconomist both agree with you, Diane. That should give you some pause.
Having said that, I don’t have a problem with a national board exam for our profession, like exists for other professions. It won’t ensure high-quality teachers, just like some of the PEs I worked with in industry weren’t really terrific engineers, but it will establish a sort of minimum standard. Sort of a “certificate of trainability”, now that our teacher ed programs are not as reliable as they once were.
One of the more frustrating aspects about some posts on here is that the merits of arguments are sometimes ignored and judgements are made based on who has made the argument.
I don’t think this is a good idea. She is I think trying to get rid of much of the student testing and the results being used to judge the competence of a teacher. If not, she should be doing this.This proposal would do to teacher training and becoming a teacher what testing is doing to our educational system. It would turn it into a test prep system. Because someone can score high on a test doesn’t predict how succesful a person would be as a teacher.
You got it right. I can see it now. In college course selection books across the nation..
Teacher Bar exam prep 101~Professor xyz former consultant of Pearson ~ Text, Test Preparedness, practice, practice and more mindless practice~ publisher Pearson~ syllabus test prep strategies, ABCor D- you decide, data distorting, ~ rigor or rigor mortis ~ How to select another career
Perfect class to lead another generation of test prep instructors labeled as new ‘ bar certified’ teachers.
Yes, Jacques. We need action a.s.a.p. A mass protest in Washington DC by teachers for teachers.
Et tu, Brute? I clicked on the post from Ravitch in which she writes of her support for Weingarten’s call for a ‘bar exam’ for teachers, felt a tightness in my chest, and immediately clicked out. I had to wait until this morning to go back to it, when I could hope (and be pleased to see) that there would be voices of dissent to ease the deep sense of betrayal and hopelessness. Katie Osgood, among others, posted that we need to refuse the meme of the ‘bad teacher’ as it fits neatly within the education de-formers’ playbook. How is it that Ravitch and Linda Darling Hammond, who seem to understand the devastating impact of high stakes testing on children, deny that the same processes are at work in any high stakes environment? How is it that the deeper knowledge of community building; of challenging each other within the context of loving relationships; of exploring teaching and learning from positions of humility, uncertainty, integrity and love; of believing in and supporting the knowledge of our students, of their courage and their capacity to dig deep and venture into new possibilities, is abandoned when it comes to teacher education? Why do our teacher educator leaders so readily accept that we are doing a bad job, and then accept ‘reforms’ that are impersonal and technocratic when teaching is deeply personal, relationship based, and uncertain?
When I entered graduate school in middle age to become a teacher, after practicing in psychology for many years, I was shocked that my adviser suggested that I might be “too smart” to be a teacher. For a long time I understood that statement to reflect that person’s elitism. But I am coming to think about how teaching, especially as women’s work, has always been disparaged within the academy. Teacher educators are on the lowest rungs of the academic hierarchy. Mostly women, many who gained access to the middle class through teaching, teacher educators face the double barreled insecurity of gender and class in the halls of the academy. How much do we internalize these negative ideas about ourselves and our work? What do we do to prove our worth and who are we proving it to? I fear that, once again, the corporate deformers are skilled at accessing our insecurities, creating a false crisis and narrative about the crisis from these insecurities, and then exploiting our fears and self-loathing.
More concretely, Ravitch and Darling Hammond extol the virtues of Finland’s teacher education programs, but then take the wrong lessons from them. How do we go from paid graduate work with intense focus on collaboration, on examining the intersection between theory and practice, on a deep respect for the complexities and subtleties of the work, to a bar exam? Why not the lesson of: we need to put more money, time and resources into giving teacher educators, k12 teachers, and students time to explore this complex work? Why not, we need to trust educators that, when given the resources, they know what to do with them?
Education deformers have been successful at controlling the narrative about k12 education because they access our secret-even to ourselves-sense that black, brown and poor children are really not quite as capable as white children from wealthy homes, that they need ‘character work’ (see Jim Horn’s post in Schools Matter for more on this). Similarly, the ongoing juggernaut looking to demand high stakes accountability from teacher education grow from a secret-even to ourselves-belief that people who become teachers, and people who become teacher educators, are really ‘not smart’ and need some extra oversight, need to prove themselves.
As a classroom teacher, as a university faculty, I have to attend very carefully to any inclinations I have to decide that any child or student is not capable, or not quite worth the struggle. My practice, I learn over and over again, and have to relearn with each new group of students, must be predicated on a deep trust in the students and in myself, to explore the unknowns, to challenge each other, to enter the ongoing uncertainty of this work. Each semester I relearn that the cores of teaching are trust and the capacity to listen. Discourses of bar exams, accountability, and gaining respect for the profession deny this work, seek to please and appease while silencing the centrality of these values. I refuse that discourse. I wish more of us would.
PS: And any lawyer will tell you that the bar exam is just a huge hurdle, but not a particularly meaningful one for practice.
Barbara, I believe that if Albert Shaker were alive and AFT President today,teachers would not be in this predicament. Unlike Weingarten, he was a veteran teacher, a great voice as union leader, and somewhat spiritual in his writings in his NYTimes column.
Randi will never fit the bill. She is only competant as a burocrat. Even when speaking publically she cannot tow the line. When she was pres. of NYC UFT she could not handle 2,000 union reps yelling simultaneously at her that teachers wanted to strike against Blooomberg’s new contract proposal. She put her face in her hands, turned beet red, and whimpered ” I am not going to prison like Joan of Arc!”………prison? This bloomin idiot doesn’t even know basic European history. And she represents educators?!!!*#.
Bloomberg’s Bloomberg’s bogus contract proposal
It seems we have failed to look beyond the current paradigm again. I took the National Teacher Exam to get certified, and yet I am not qualified according to today’s reformers. What we need to do, in my opinion, is design a college education which guarantees that if you finish, you’re qualified. Rigor in the curriculum, not some high stakes standardized test, will produce quality educators. It doesn’t matter what your incoming GPA is either, it is your completion of a top notch program that should clarify your candidacy as a applicant for a teaching position. Einstein was thought to be slow by his grade school teachers, yet he was obviously brilliant. People who are not qualified should be weeded out by their inability to complete a rigorous curriculum, not a #2 pencil test. Early in college is where people should realize that they are not cut out for teaching, not 2 years after they enter the classroom and $100,000 dollars in debt.
Adding another high stakes test is not just a bad idea, it is ridiculous and suggests that deformers and our current administration are on the right path. This idea suggests that any degree, or even no degree, is sufficient as long as you pass the test, sounds like TFA to me. Sorry to respectfully disagree on this one.
I never mind respectful disagreement. That’s the best kind.
I certainly don’t buy the reformers’ narrative.
I argue with them all the time, and I defend teachers.
But there is an important point here: the only way to reformers out of the way is for the profession to take control of the profession; to design the entry standards and hold them high.
This should be done by teachers, not by politicians.
Absolutely Diane, we do need to work on this!. As any experienced student teacher supervisor can tell you, the college education of some of the people who make it to student teaching is lacking. Let’s not wait for someone with no teaching experience to force change that isn’t supported by research on the colleges. We need an open dialogue with higher education. Thank you for being the hub of true reform. I agree with everything suggested in the article but the test.
I don’t disagree that we as teachers need to continue to raise the bar for members of our profession…not to satisfy the reformers but to make sure that we are always striving to be the best we can be AND to be certain we are providing our students with what they need to succeed. As for Randi’s proposal of a type of “bar exam” for teachers, however, I have to wonder how that is different from the current rigorous National Board for Professional Teaching Standards program? I have participated in that process and achieved after two years of trying the first time in 2003 and I just renewed. The process involves more than just sitting for an exam, and it has been rigorously designed in an effort to distill the practice and the pedagogy so that those who meet the standards and achieve national board status can point to that achievement as something similar to having “passed the bar.” I don’t get how that is different enough that we need something “new.” Why not just promote the national board process and incentivize those who go through the process in a meaningful way so that everyone aspires to become national board certified? If you can help me distinguish the difference between what NBPTS offers and what Randi is proposing, I would appreciate it.
Thanks, Diane, for all you do.
“PS: And any lawyer will tell you that the bar exam is just a huge hurdle, but not a particularly meaningful one for practice.”
As a lawyer, I generally agree with this statement, although the bar does tend to weed out the worst of the worst. There is also a huge oversupply of prospective lawyers, so the bar poses little downside to the legal industry in terms of supply.
Wow!! So another test that Pearson can control.
I am shocked by this whole post. Weingarten has just sold out Newark, and yet you praise her efforts for a “bar exam”???? In fact there was a Twitter War of Words over this between Weingarten and Julie Canavagh. Julie rightfully pointed out that there are more pressing issues for teachers and students than this idea.
Let’s take a look at Randi’s past to consider this new proposal:
She supported mayoral control. That worked out great (NOT)!!
She supported Gates and allowed VAM to come to NYC,
She supported Klein’s proposal for using excessed teachers as ATRs–Unforgivable!!!
Agreeing to take away teachers’ parking permit.
Her party for Brill (Yuck!!)
And the list goes on and on and on…
I can also go into her contracts with DC, Colorado and other places that got teachers fired because of VAM.
I don’t know why you would ever praise Weingarten. She did not lead Chicago to victory. In fact, she would have negotiated another bad contract. Thank God they had Karen Lewis to lead them.
I have to say I was so taken aback by your introduction at the AFT conference with all those praises for Randi yet no mention of Duncan and his policies.
Very disappointed in this post. But of course it’s your blog and you are entitled to your opinions.
SHE IS RIGHT!
The idea that a Bar type exam will put teachers in control of the profession just doesn’t make sense. By the very nature of “public” schools, the government is in control over the teaching profession. It is further controlled by localities, school boards, parent groups, and the like. Certifications are publically controlled too. Even TFA members must eventually become state certified or get waivers, again, from the state. Because of his, salaries are negotiated with the government and based on what the government can afford to pay its largest group of employees, which is never very much.
Our real fight should not be against ourselves, using the language of the reformers–teacher effectiveness–to wage our battles. Trying to raise the bar says teachers are the problem, and we need to be better. It says that we need to be better so the corporate disaster capitalists will leave us alone. they will never leave us alone and just let us teach, because they want to privitize education, not develop better teachers. The AFT is fighing at cross-purposes here. Our fight is too remain public employees, however problematic that is for our personal finances. We must re-focus the conversation away from ourselves and teacher quality issues, to the issue of those who wish to dismantle the public sphere. This is the real issue. Teacher effectiveness is one the bricks they are using to take down the public sphere. While the AFT is busy on the front of teacher quality, the privitizers are bringing down the public schools one brick at a time.
Exactly, “divide and conquer” is a very effective strategy and one that “reformers” attempt to use, such as by separating teachers from their unions. It seems that is playing out right here, too.
We need to figure out how we can all get on the same page. I don’t see that happening with Randi at the helm proffering these notions, and I feel very disillusioned that she and her plans have Diane’s support.
Agree, very disappointed and questioning Dr. Ravitch’s motive and involvemens. As Maya Angelou tells us: When a person shows you who they are…believe them the first time. Diane has been on the other side before and changed her mind. It may be happening again. Too bad! Disappointing!
If you haven’t noticed, Diane throws things out there. She invites and expects our reactions and seriously considers our opinions and even changes her own! I am not at all disillusioned that she has expressed support for Randi’s suggestion because she cares so deeply about the teaching profession. This is a forum for exploration of alternatives, so rather than taking Diane to task, add to the debate. If there is one thing that Diane has demonstrated it is that she is open to all serious dialogue.
How will it differ from Praxis 2 which test pedicogical as well as content knowledge? Nearly every state requires this testing for certification. Certainly, each state is able to set its own cut score so maybe we should set a national cut score.
I just don’t believe a paper and pencil examination can do this. If we want to talk about an authentic performance based assessment, we might have an idea. The Praxis 3 tried to take us there.
I find it disturbing that the solution we offer for controlling teacher quality is another test. The next thing we know TFA will be offering five week test prep courses.
Obviously we need quality teachers, but people don’t want to acknowledge the difference in teaching in a school that has the resources, students and support that make it easier for the teacher to succeed vs. the opposite. I will admit that I was a better teacher in a better district. Now I am in the inner city and it is much tougher to do be an effective teacher as I battle with discipline problems, lack of materials and lack of support from administrators. Teaching is a complex job which is highly influenced by more than just a teacher’s ability to teach. Switch the “good” teachers from the suburbs with the “bad” teachers in the city and I doubt the results will change much. Somehow we need to address the real problems of why there is such a disparity in learning between these populations.
What the AFT and Leadership have failed to recognize is that the real issue with Education in our country is not the educators but the lack of funding at the Federal and State level to meet the demands of a changing society and to steal a phrase ” The World is flat”. Budget cuts force larger class size, budget cuts force the cutting of programs and teachers. Then we cut class materials and new technologies. We think that we can address these issues with sound bites and new ideas that do not provide real answers to what I have listed above. The politicians cannot have it both ways. You cannot cut your way to excellence. When politicians talk of cutting unfunded mandates, they do not realize as an example, that the valuable special ed programs are mandated. They are even covered under the Disabilities Act, where if schools do not provide services ( budget or not) they can be sued under this Act. The real mandates they want cut are pensions and benefits. Politicians speak of a “Sound, Basic, education….. buzz words for the minimum education for our students. The education that we owe our students is a well rounded education that combines Academics,Arts, Athletics and Activities!. This is really about unfunding schools and allowing Corporate take over. In New York State we have had a policy for years of “contracting out” state work, to relieve taxpayers of the pensions and benefits costs of real State Workers. The Comptroller is now saying, this may not have been a savings, in fact costs have risen dramatically for the private interests to perform state /public works. He has called for a means test and a study of long term costs. Anyone can bid low but raise the cost of this service little by little over time to make up for such low bids. Buisness does this often. Does anyone remember the fiasco of Halliburton in Iraq? Private company taking over military function. After all was said and done the only tangable results were profits. Come on Randi, get off the sidelines and into the game! Get back in the trenches. Rural schools face the very same issues as Urban school. Do you really feel that the answer is a Bar exam for educators? Make the politicians EARN that PAC money we give, make them aware of the challenges that they know nothing about.
There seem to be some people on here who have knee-jerk reactions to testing. Testing in itself it’s not only not bad, it’s actually a necessary part of teaching and learning. The test is not the problem; the problem is how it’s used. If the teaching profession, like the law and medical professions, were to establish a set of board exams covering fundamental theory, content, and practical application for teaching that were developed and administered by professional educators and designed as a gateway to the profession I can’t see how that would be bad. The key is that these tests would have to be independent of the state and federal governments and the teacher prep institutions – just as the medical and legal exams are. Yes, there are many intangibles in teaching that can never be tested. There are many things, though, that can. The idea of leaving the evaluation of teacher trainees to the same faculty who prepared them and who have a vested interest in their success is a bit like letting a fox supervise the henhouse. The only way to ensure a consistently high level of teacher preparation is outside accountability. The best way to do that is to have ‘neutral’ teaching professionals provide it. (Note that this is NOT Pearson or ETS or… This would need to be completely controlled by a national panel of teachers and teacher trainers.). There seem to be a lot of poorly informed reactionaries on this site who are, in my opinion, just as dangerous and harmful to teaching as the corporate-sponsored reformers they despise. “My way or the highway” politics is never helpful on either side, nor is it ever “right”. It simply creates intransigence and stagnation.