Texas is one of the first states to toughen its standards for colleges of education and other teacher-training programs amid criticism that too many are “cash cows” that produce weak instructors. The State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) gave initial approval to the rules last October and is expected to finalize them in February.
Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, authored the bill requiring the more rigorous accreditation system. Under a proposed new rating system, teacher training programs would be accountable for their graduates’ effectiveness on the job. Programs that repeatedly fall short of the standards could lose their state accreditation.
The biggest change to the accrediting rules and potentially the most controversial involves linking a teacher’s ability to improve student test scores to the entity that prepared him or her. “The idea that we ought to be preparing teachers that help students learn is a reasonable notion,” said Doug Palmer, dean of the College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M University. “But the challenge is to do it in a thoughtful manner, and I think it’s going to be incredibly challenging.” For the past few years, Houston ISD has used student test scores to determine which teachers deserve bonuses, but it has yet to tie that data to the teachers’ training.
The changes to Texas’ accrediting system come as U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan reiterated his long-standing criticisms of teacher training. Duncan has said universities have been using schools of education to generate profits to fund other departments and that “many if not most” of the nation’s education schools are doing a “mediocre job.”
Texas has 177 educator-preparation programs run by a variety of providers—universities, community colleges, school districts, for-profit companies—and their standards vary. The Texas Education Agency reports that more than half (52 percent) of the new teacher certifications earned are for candidates prepared by alternative certification programs. In the 12-month period that ended in August, a total of 12,902 alternative certificates were issued, compared with 9,961 certificates through undergraduate degree programs. Another 1,870 teachers were certified through university post-baccalaureate programs.
Karen Loonam, deputy associate commissioner, educator certification and standards at SBEC, said she does not recall the state revoking the accreditation of any teacher-training program in the last 15 years, though it has provided assistance to some. Until now, the state has based accreditation on just one factor: the performance of teachers-to-be on the state’s written certification exam. Shapiro, a former teacher, says that system is too narrow.
In the new rating system, the percentage of teacher-candidates who must pass the certification exam will grow gradually from 70 to 80 percent in 2011–12. The programs will continue to be judged on the passing rates of all students plus the rates broken down by gender and ethnicity.
They will also get graded on how often and how well they follow up with teachers during their first year on the job. In addition, school principals will get to weigh in on the programs through evaluations of the new teachers they hire.
Ed Fuller, a University of Texas researcher who has studied teacher-preparation programs, said the best ones send participants into schools to observe and practice their skills as much as possible. “I’ve heard teachers say, I chose this program because it was the cheapest and fastest way to get into teaching,” Fuller said. “We’ve got lots of research that says the more preparation you have, the more effective teacher you’re going to be assuming it’s good preparation.”
—“Texas Moves to Tighten Education School Standards,” by The Associated Press, Education Week, Nov. 11, 2009.
