On July 27th, I blogged about NCTQ’s study which severely criticized the state of clinical experiences (i.e., student teaching) in America’s university-based teacher preparation programs. The President of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) has now issued a response to the findings of the NCTQ study. NCATE cites five areas of the NCTQ study that raise “serious concerns.”
1. Weak External Validation of NCTQ Standards and Review Processes
2. A Narrow, Outdated Perspective on the Clinical Role in Educator Preparation
3. Biased Sampling
4. Misrepresentation of Accreditation Standards, Processes, and Rigor
5. Weak Guidance on How to Improve Clinical Preparation
NCATE concludes with a strong censure of NCTQ and a recommendation: “The resources that NCTQ is expending on reports with superficial methodologies and misleading information could much better be put to use in collaborating with organizations and institutions who recognize the problem and are transforming programs and processes to address the issues.”
To read the entire statement from NCATE, see http://www.ncate.org/Public/Newsroom/NCATENewsPressReleases/tabid/669/EntryId/151/NCATE-President-James-Cibulka-Responds-to-NCTQ-Report.aspx
