Former President of Teachers College at Columbia University, Arthur Levine released his report on Monday depicting that teachers emerging from colleges are unprepared once they are in their profession.
Former President of Teachers College at Columbia University, Arthur Levine released his report on Monday depicting that teachers emerging from colleges are unprepared once they are in their profession. Public schools are under federal orders to have a qualified teacher for every class because teacher quality has a huge influence on whether students pass or fail. The report says that the coursework in teacher education programs is in disarray nationwide.Among this some other problems are: low admissions standards, disengaged college faculty, insufficient classroom practice and poor oversight, according to Levine's study. "Teacher education right now is the Dodge City of education: unruly and chaotic," said Levine, who now heads the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. "There's a chasm between what goes on in the university and what goes on in the classroom." The four-year study is based on surveys of deans, faculty, alumni and school principals, along with 28 case studies of various kinds of education schools. Many teachers who graduated from the programs said they were often unprepared for their jobs.
The Education Schools Project: http://www.edschools.org/index.htm
This article appeared in the September 18, 2006 edition of the Houston Chronicle.
Published Wednesday, Sep. 20, 2006