Fordham Issues Low Grades To States on Teacher Quality

By Jeff Archer

State policymakers throughout the country deserve low marks for their efforts to raise teacher quality, according to a report card to be issued this week by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.

The Washington-based research organization, which supports deregulation and market-driven school improvement efforts, gives the United States as a whole a D-plus in its report, "The Quest for Better Teachers: Grading the States."

The low score largely reflects the failure of states both to reduce bureaucratic barriers to becoming a teacher and to give school administrators greater authority in hiring...