The Obama administration has unveiled its long-delayed final regulations governing teacher preparation programs.
Key provisions of the new regulations include:
Providing transparency around the effectiveness of all preparation programs (traditional, alternative routes, and distance) by requiring states to report annually – at the program level – on the following measures:
o Placement and retention rates of graduates in their first three years of teaching, including placement and retention in high-need schools;
o Feedback from graduates and their employers on the effectiveness of program preparation;
o Student learning outcomes measured by novice teachers’ student growth, teacher evaluation results, and/or another state-determined measure that is relevant to students’ outcomes, including academic performance, and meaningfully differentiates amongst teachers; and
o Other program characteristics, including assurances that the program has specialized accreditation or graduates candidates with content and pedagogical knowledge, and quality clinical preparation, who have met rigorous exit requirements.
There are three levels of performance outlined in the rules: effective, at risk or low performing. Low-performing programs will lose access to federal TEACH grants that help students pay for teacher training.
The final regulations released incorporate extensive stakeholder and public feedback obtained throughout four years of negotiated rulemaking, public hearings, and public comment processes. The Department received nearly 5,000 comments on the draft rules proposed in 2014.
The Obama administration touted that it gave states greater flexibility in creating the accountability system than was part of its original proposal. But just how states will go about drafting systems for judging teacher preparation programs remains an open question.
One issue that’s proven particularly contentious is how much the new requirements will cost states. The Obama administration initially estimated the rules would cost states collectively an average of $40 million each year over the next 10 years. The administration downgraded its estimate for the final rules to $27 million per year over the next decade, citing the flexibility it added for the discrepancy. But critics of the rule have noted that officials in California have said the rules will cost nearly $485 million in just one year. The department says that state estimate includes potential changes that aren’t directly required by the rules.
For more, see http://www2.ed.gov/documents/teaching/teacher-prep-final-regs.pdf
and https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/10/13/obama-administration-releases-final-rules-teacher-preparation-programs
