What we know about teacher preparation and
certification
Every child deserves a well prepared, caring teacher.
Teacher quality is vital to student achievement.
Research
shows that ensuring an adequate supply of well-prepared teachers is essential
in closing the achievement gap. Only well-prepared teachers have the skills
to teach every child, from every
background.
We need higher standards, not lower ones.
There is no shortcut to excellence. Teaching is far too complex to be
measured by a single test.
ABCTE
has refused to meet accepted industry standards in developing
its tests. Strong professional teacher education programs equip
new teachers with the
FULL array of skills they need to help students learn.
As professionals, we
know what it takes to make an effective teacher.
Subject knowledge is important but teachers also need training
and supervised teaching experience before entering the classroom.
Teaching
is more than telling—it's understanding how children
learn and finding ways to reach them. ABCTE fails to provide
new teachers with skills
in planning. classroom management, and instruction.
ABCTE's short-cut
approach to teacher licensing short-changes America's
children.
Higher student achievement requires a well-prepared teacher in every
classroom. All too often the least-prepared teachers are placed in schools
where students
face the greatest challenges.
A quality teacher, not just any teacher
- ABCTE's teacher certification is demeaning to the teaching profession. Their reliance on video and audio of classroom scenarios to assess what a candidate knows and can do is an absurd proposition. And their claims that individuals can become "highly qualified" teachers by sitting in front of a computer are insulting to qualified members of the profession.
-
The National Education Association encourages
career-switchers and interested professionals
to become teachers. And we recognize that many of these
individuals bring life and education experiences
that greatly enrich what they can bring
to a classroom. But we cannot make assumptions
about what they know and are able to do.
These skills should not be acquired through a "learn as you go" model, after a teacher has been given charge of a classroom; they should not be developed by trial and error with an occasional visit from a mentor or from an on-line consultation. - Teacher quality is the single most important factor in improving student achievement and delivering on the promise to "leave no child behind." Ensuring the quality of the final product—the teacher—means ensuring a system of quality control in preparing and training future teachers.
