President Donald Trump signed a bill last week overturning a controversial regulation put in place by the Obama administration that sought to rate the effectiveness of programs training K-12 teachers.
The rules, released by the U.S. Department of Education last fall, required states to rate teacher-prep programs every year based on such criteria as the number of graduates who get jobs in high-needs schools and their impact on student-learning outcomes. Programs were to use what they learned from the ratings to improve training.
Critics objected to the idea of judging teacher-training programs on their graduates’ impact on student achievement. Yet others saw value in checking up on education schools to ensure they are sending high-quality teachers into classrooms.
