Improvements in teacher colleges urged

7/1/2003 -- Colleges of education are failing to prepare new teachers for the realities of the modern classroom -- and much of what colleges teach is at odds with the expectations of the nation's policymakers and the public.

That was the main message of a panel discussion, titled Can Education Schools Be Saved?, at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C., June 9.

Teacher colleges are too concerned with pedagogy and inculcating new teachers in the importance of teaching children how to learn, says George K. Cunningham, a professor at the University of Louisville's College of Education.

Such training is important, of course, but Cunningham argues that colleges are ignoring the reality that the nation is moving toward a standards-based, outcomes-based education system. New teachers need to learn how to teach facts and boost academic achievement as defined by state test scores, he says.

John E. Stone, an education professor at East Tennessee State University and founder of the Education Consumers Clearinghouse, says new teachers are being told that students who learn the basics through rote memory or step-by-step methods will lack the ability to creatively apply what they learn. So, instead of teaching basic knowledge and then higher-level thinking skills, new teachers are being told to teach both at the same time.

"And that's the nub of the problem," he says. "This approach doesn't work, except with students who are unusually prepared, highly motivated, and well behaved -- not the reality in many of today's schools."

To prepare successful new teachers, colleges must put more of an emphasis on teaching the skills needed to boost academic performance and test scores, Stone says.

But there is little incentive to make this philosophical shift because teacher colleges have a virtual monopoly on the training and certification of teachers, he says.

Change will only occur, therefore, if policymakers create market forces to compel change, he says. One approach he recommends is to strengthen alternative training programs for teachers and break the monopoly held by teacher colleges.

Another option is to hold colleges accountable for the successful training of teachers, Stone says. "If policymakers want colleges of education to respect the public's priorities, they will have to independently audit the student learning gains produced by newly minted teachers."

David G. Imig, president and chief executive officer of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, offers a different view, noting that colleges of education are "pushing the boundaries and adding courses and experiences to make programs both more meaningful and more helpful."

Imig criticizes proposals to certify non-educators if they can pass a test of content knowledge for the subject they wish to teach -- a not-so-subtle slap at plans by the American Board of Certification of Teacher Excellence to create a nationwide alternative certification process.