Shaky Methods, Shaky Motives: A Recap of My Critique of the NCTQ’s Review of Teacher Preparation Programs

The reblogged post below discusses the shoddy methods and questionable conclusions in teacher preparation reports by the National Center for Teaching Quality. The blog post’s author is Dr. Ed Fuller, who “currently serves as an education consultant to a number of research organizations in Texas and across the nation. He is also employed as an Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy Analysis in the Education Policy Studies department in the College of Education of Penn State University and as Associate Director for Policy for the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA). The views communicated on this blog do not necessarily represent the views of the department, college, Penn State University, or UCEA.” [Bio quoted from Dr. Fuller’s blog].

A "Fuller" Look at Education Issues

Preface

The following is based on my complete study published in the Journal of Teacher Education. This version leaves out some examples, technical points, and suggestions for an approach to evaluating preparation programs. Sage Journals has been kind enough to make the complete study available for free to the public for a one month period. The study can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/mhqjyn6

Introduction

After last year’s release of the NCTQ’s ratings of teacher preparation programs, headlines and leading remarks about US teacher preparation programs proclaimed: “Teacher prep programs get failing marks” (Sanchez, 2013); “University programs that train U.S. teachers get mediocre marks in first-ever ratings” (Layton, 2013); and, “The nation’s teacher-training programs do not adequately prepare would-be educators for the classroom, even as they produce almost triple the number of graduates needed” (Elliot, 2013).

Critics of traditional teacher preparation have used the report as evidence that US teacher preparation is…

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