edTPA: The New Standard for Teacher Certification?

There have been rumblings for the last couple of years about a new “bar-exam” for teachers entering the teaching profession, which this blog has discussed here and here and here. The organization that is spearheading one of the chief candidates to fill the void of more rigorous teacher licensing tests is the edTPA. The edTPA Read more about edTPA: The New Standard for Teacher Certification?[…]

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Seven States will Pilot Teacher Preparation Changes

Seven states announced ambitious efforts to make it tougher to get into teacher training programs – and tougher to get a license after graduating. Under a two-year pilot program created by the Council of Chief State School Officers, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, and Washington will pilot the teacher preparation changes. Among the steps Read more about Seven States will Pilot Teacher Preparation Changes[…]

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Why the New Teacher Ed. Standards Matter

The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), one of the leading organizations providing accreditation for teacher education programs across the country, recently released a new set of standards that its leaders hope will “elevate the teaching profession and improve outcomes for students.”  Mary Brabeck, dean of the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Read more about Why the New Teacher Ed. Standards Matter[…]

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Alliance for Excellent Education Webinar: New Teacher Accreditation

Recently, the Alliance for Excellent Education hosted a webinar, which is now available online on demand, entitled, “Next-Generation Standards and Accreditation Policies for Teacher Preparation and Development. The Alliance, the Council of Chief State School Officers, and the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) held a webinar on the InTASC (Interstate Teacher Assessment Read more about Alliance for Excellent Education Webinar: New Teacher Accreditation[…]

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New York City Issuing Scorecards on Teacher Colleges

New York City, especially under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has often tried to be a model of a progressive city, willing to take on business lobbies or entrenched bureaucracies in an effort to improve. For example, recently, New York started using data to  rate restaurants, track the repair of potholes and close lackluster schools in New Read more about New York City Issuing Scorecards on Teacher Colleges[…]

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The Way We Talk: Professionalism

Conor Williams of the Education Policy Program at the New America Foundation takes on those in the “teacher professionalism” camp of education reform.  In an article sparked by Harvard Education Professor Jal Mehta’s new book and article, “Why American Education Fails: And How Lessons From Abroad Could Improve It”, Williams speculates that the concept of Read more about The Way We Talk: Professionalism[…]

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Who Is In Charge of Teacher Preparation?

Jenny DeMonte of the Center for American Progress has penned a new report that calls for teacher-training programs to be more closely aligned with those organizations that actually hire and professionally develop the teachers that make such a crucial difference in the academics and lives of students. Everyone agrees that teacher quality is important and Read more about Who Is In Charge of Teacher Preparation?[…]

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NCTQ report on teacher training programs spurs controversy

The National Council on Teacher Quality, a Washington-based education think-tank, recently published its long awaited Teacher Prep Review.  The report, based on a four star system, judged only four programs at four stars. On the other hand, NCTQ judged 160 programs as so poor that they put them on a special consumer watch list. NCTQ Read more about NCTQ report on teacher training programs spurs controversy[…]

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Getting the Best Teachers into the Toughest Jobs

Even though it has been known for some time that teachers and principals play the largest role in student success, it is only recently that districts and schools have started making requisite changes to their strategic management of talent. This is the central contention of Allan Odden’s new report, Getting the Best People into the Read more about Getting the Best Teachers into the Toughest Jobs[…]

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TNTP says Teachers’ First Year is Crucial

TNTP, a national nonprofit committed to ending the injustice of educational inequality, has released a new report that seeks to help first year teachers become better teachers. TNTP was created by teachers in 1997, so the TNTP team has a vested interested in creating cohorts of new teachers who have the critical dispositions that they Read more about TNTP says Teachers’ First Year is Crucial[…]

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CAEP “Raising the Bar” for Teacher Education Accreditation Programs

The Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) and the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) are merging into the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). CAEP will become the sole body responsible for the accreditation of teacher education programs and will serve the more than 900 educator preparation providers currently accredited Read more about CAEP “Raising the Bar” for Teacher Education Accreditation Programs[…]

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AFT Moves Forward with Bar Exam for Teacher Candidates

AFT President Randi Weingarten recently reaffirmed the AFT’s commitment to increasing the standards for teacher certification. In a follow up to our previous post, American Federation of Teachers calling for an adoption of a bar exam for aspiring teachers, following are Randi Weingarten’s recent comments on the AFT executive council’s adoption of the report on Read more about AFT Moves Forward with Bar Exam for Teacher Candidates[…]

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AFT calls for Bar Exam for Teacher Candidates

The American Federation of Teachers, led by President Randi Weingarten, has recently published a report entitled “Raising the Bar: Aligning and Elevating Teacher Preparation and the Teaching Profession.” This report calls for a more rigorous process by which teacher candidates would be certified. The process would consist of the following steps: Teachers demonstrating subject area Read more about AFT calls for Bar Exam for Teacher Candidates[…]

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Beginning K–12 Teacher Characteristics and Preparation

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) demands that “all students have access to qualified teachers, particularly in core academic subjects” and requires that “state and local policies have introduced incentives to attract well-qualified teachers to low-performing and urban schools.” The Institute of Education Sciences/National Center for Education Statistics have recently released comprehensive statistics detailing exactly who Read more about Beginning K–12 Teacher Characteristics and Preparation[…]

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Department of Education Releases Report on Teacher Prep and Credentialing

Earlier this month, the US Department of Education released its most recent report on teacher preparation programs and initial credentialing of new teachers across the country.  The report compiles data collected from states from 2008-10, and seeks to map out things like the number of students enrolled in teacher prep programs and their demographics, successful Read more about Department of Education Releases Report on Teacher Prep and Credentialing[…]

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The National Association for Alternative Certification Wants YOU!

The National Association for Alternative Certification (NAAC) has issued two calls:  one for pilot sites, and one for reviewers.  The NAAC is looking to test a new set of standards, called “Quality Indicators,” or QI, developed by NAAC, Project KNOTtT, and The Ohio State University.  The QIs are designed to be tools for program assessment Read more about The National Association for Alternative Certification Wants YOU![…]

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