Published: January 4, 2007
The School-College Divide and Teacher Preparation
Rethinking the education school could put an end to the age-old argument over whether teaching is a profession or a craft.
In the information economy of 21st-century America, teachers have a job that is fundamentally different from that of past generations of teachers: They must educate all students to achieve history’s highest learning outcomes . To compete globally and sustain a democratic society, the nation requires the most educated population it has ever had. To get decent jobs, our children will need to know more than ever before. The quality of tomorrow in the United States depends fundamentally on the quality of our teacher force.
As the country faces an acute teacher shortage, our 1,200 college- and university-based teacher education programs can make a crucial contribution. But in a four-year study, colleagues and I found that—despite exemplary exceptions—too many of these programs graduate inadequately prepared teachers. Too many maintain low admission and graduation standards; their faculties and curricula are disconnected from school practice and practitioners; their alumni have not learned to teach in standards- based, accountability-driven schools; and accreditation does not ensure their quality.
Responding to the urgent need for more and better teachers, entities other than colleges and universities—federal, state, and local governments, school boards and school districts, for-profit and not-for-profit certification programs—have entered the teacher education arena. The federal No Child Left Behind Act defined “highly qualified” teachers as persons with subject-matter mastery, but not necessarily with preparation in traditional university-based teacher education programs. Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia have alternative routes to fast-track teachers into classrooms and...
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