Learning: FYI
Teacher Preparation: Accredit to the Profession

Fewer than half of the nation's teacher ed programs have received a critical seal of approval. An NEA-backed campaign is working to change all that.

Far too many U.S. classrooms lack a fully qualified, fully licensed teacher--this at a time when studies show the single most important contributor to higher student achievement is the presence of a qualified teacher.

Frustrating? You bet. But a group called NCATE is working to improve how America prepares its teachers.

How is NCATE improving teacher preparation?
NCATE--the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education--has developed standards for quality teacher preparation, and it accredits colleges and universities that meet these standards.

NCATE consists of 33 national education organizations including NEA, which helped launch it in 1954.

Do accredited schools graduate better teacher candidates?
ETS, the nation's biggest testing company, last spring released the largest study ever conducted to answer just this question.

The conclusion: College students "who enter institutions with NCATE-accredited programs have a higher likelihood of meeting licensing requirements than do students with similar college admissions scores from non-accredited institutions."

ETS reviewed records of 270,000 teacher candidates who had taken national teacher exams between 1995 and 1997.

Earlier studies found similar results. In the 1980s, Arkansas, North Carolina, and West Virginia required NCATE accreditation for all their schools of education. All three states saw above-average jumps in student achievement in the '90s, according to National Assessment of Educational Progress test scores.

NCATE-accredited institutions, the data clearly show, do produce stronger teacher candidates.

Unfortunately, only a little over 500 of the 1,300 schools, colleges, and departments of education that prepare teachers are NCATE-accredited.

Why aren't more teacher prep institutions NCATE-accredited?
Too many politicians still believe that "anybody can teach" and don't see a particular need for rigorous teacher training. So they don't take steps that would encourage schools of ed in their states to become nationally accredited.

On many college campuses, there's a different dynamic at work. Quality teacher preparation is expensive, and some universities simply don't want to pay the freight.

"By keeping the cost of teacher education low," explains NCATE President Art Wise, "universities generate profits that they use to support many other programs at the institution, including business, law, and medical schools."

How hard is it to get accredited?
To gain NCATE accreditation, an institution needs to meet standards that are set by teachers and other educators through a process that involves all education stakeholders.

Professionally trained volunteers--teachers, teacher educators, state and local policy-makers, public representatives--then visit campuses and examine how well the standards are met.

Are the standards up to date?
The NCATE standards are revised every five years. The next revision--NCATE 2000--will see a major shift from curriculum-oriented standards to performance-based standards that focus on what teacher candidates know and are able to do.

That is, NCATE 2000 will require schools of education to provide performance evidence of candidate competence.

"State licensing examination results will be made available to NCATE," points out NCATE President Wise. "These scores have not been available in the past."

The new standards will be approved this year and go into effect in 2001.

What's on the horizon?
A fairly bruising battle. A group of college presidents has formed a less-demanding accrediting alternative to NCATE called the Teacher Education Accreditation Council, or TEAC.

"These college officials are now lobbying state legislatures to win official recognition as the national accrediting agency for teacher preparation programs," notes Mary Elizabeth Teasley, the NEA government relations director.

That would be disastrous.

"TEAC hasn't adopted any standards. Institutions are measured against their own goals, much like an audit," points out Lynn Coffin, NEA's Teaching and Learning director.

"With no standards to measure quality," Coffin notes, "TEAC simply doesn't qualify as a national accrediting entity."

What's NEA doing?
Everything possible to strengthen NCATE.

NEA President Bob Chase is chair of NCATE's Executive Board for 1999-2000, and 130 NEA members--educators like New Mexico high school English teacher Eloy Gonzales--serve on NCATE boards and committees.

All NEA members can help by encouraging students who are thinking about becoming teachers to attend NCATE-accredited institutions.

"NCATE accreditation provides the foundation for a meaningful system of quality assurance for the teaching profession," says NEA President Chase. "All schools of education should bear this professional seal of approval."

For more information, visit the NCATE Web site, which features a full list of NCATE-accredited institutions.

That same list appears in a detailed new book, A Guide to College Programs in Teacher Preparation ($24.95 plus $5.50 s&h, published by NCATE and Jossey Bass, 415/433-1740).