The 74 Million – Matt Barnum
“For decades, efforts to improve teacher preparation has focused on recruiting new people (“the best and the brightest!”), creating tougher entry requirements (“a bar exam for teachers!”) and giving teachers practical training (“more clinical practice!”). A recently formed coalition of unions and many reform groups, dubbed “Teach Strong,” firmly backs these policies. But a new report from Washington, D.C.-based Bellwether Education Partners, entitled “No Guarantee,” raises questions about this approach, arguing that instead of raising the bar for those who enter teaching, we should actually lower it, while at the same time, making it tougher to remain in the classroom. That’s Chad Aldeman and Ashley LiBetti Mitchel’s provocative conclusion, based on years of research, which has generally failed to turn up convincing evidence of the best way to train teachers or on how to predict who will perform well once they start teaching.”(more)