Opinion
Education Letter to the Editor

Another Accreditor’s View On Teacher ‘Dispositions’

February 21, 2006 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To the Editor:

You would not know from the article “Teacher-Hopeful Runs Afoul of ‘Dispositions’” (Feb. 1, 2006) that there are two federally recognized accreditors of teacher education programs in the United States, and that the one cited in the article, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, is not the one with which Le Moyne College is affiliated.

Le Moyne, along with over 100 other institutions nationwide, is currently a candidate for accreditation from the Teacher Education Accreditation Council. TEAC, in contrast to NCATE, does not rely on a program’s assessment of “dispositions,” which have become a recent point of national contention. It does, however, require evidence that a teacher education program’s graduates can teach all the students in their classes effectively and caringly.

There is rock-solid evidence that teachers’ expectations, particularly low expectations, are a contributing factor in the performance of the nation’s schools. While a teacher’s private beliefs and dispositions are solely that teacher’s business, the teacher’s behavior in the classroom that may flow from those expectations is the public’s concern and the proper subject of accreditation.

The effort to directly assess dispositions, misguided as it may be, is at its core an effort to ensure that the nation’s teachers do their best for each and every student, and not give up on students on account of their race, background, religion, heritage, wealth, parents, and so on. While TEAC goes about accreditation and the evaluation of its standards in a manner different from NCATE’s, the problem to be solved is the same for both accreditors.

Frank B. Murray

President

Teacher Education Accreditation Council

Washington, D.C.

The writer is also a professor of educational psychology at the University of Delaware school of education in Newark, Del.

A version of this article appeared in the February 22, 2006 edition of Education Week as Another Accreditor’s View On Teacher ‘Dispositions’

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Classroom Technology Webinar
How to Leverage Virtual Learning: Preparing Students for the Future
Hear from an expert panel how best to leverage virtual learning in your district to achieve your goals.
Content provided by Class
English-Language Learners Webinar AI and English Learners: What Teachers Need to Know
Explore the role of AI in multilingual education and its potential limitations.
Education Webinar The K-12 Leader: Data and Insights Every Marketer Needs to Know
Which topics are capturing the attention of district and school leaders? Discover how to align your content with the topics your target audience cares about most. 

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education From Our Research Center What's on the Minds of Educators, in Charts
Politics, gender equity, and technology—how teachers and administrators say these issues are affecting the field.
1 min read
Stylized illustration of a pie chart
Traci Daberko for Education Week
Education Briefly Stated: August 30, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: August 23, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: August 16, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read