Scholars Square Off Over Bias in Teacher-Training Content

Are education schools spoonfeeding the nation’s prospective teachers biased academic fare, as one scholar contends? Or do they just offer thin intellectual gruel?

Two researchers who have investigated those questions were scheduled to square off in a debate in Washington late last week sponsored by the Progressive Policy Institute, a think tank linked to the centrist Democratic Leadership Council.

David M. Steiner, an associate professor of education at Boston University, and Dan W. Butin, an assistant education professor at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pa., have reached different conclusions in their...