In this week’s Pope Center Clarion Call Sandra Stotsky takes a look at recent changes by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) that are supposed to put ed schools on the path to excellence. She thinks they fall far short of that.
The only real solution to the problem of low-quality teachers, I believe, is to allow the free market to work in this field. That is, allow school administrators the freedom to hire (and fire) teachers according to whatever knowledge and skills they think indicate good teaching prospects. Under current law, they have to choose among people who have completed their ed school requirements. The best and quickest way to improve ed schools would be to take away their captive market and make them compete.
