Are colleges adequately preparing teachers?
Not nearly enough, according to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
Duncan, in a speech last month at Columbia University in New York City, said that most of the nation's colleges and state departments of education are "doing a mediocre job of preparing teachers for the realities of the 21st century classroom."
"Teachers are asked to achieve significant academic growth for all students at the same time that they instruct students with ever-more diverse needs," Duncan explained.
"Teaching has never been more difficult; it has never been more important."
Jane Bray respectfully disagrees.
"I don't think any of us refute that there is some mediocrity," the dean of the School of Education at Millersville University said. "But ours is a good example of a high-quality program.
"We follow up and can prove that (prospective teachers have) had the experience they will need for their work in the classroom," she said.
Among other factors propelling the need for more and better teachers, Duncan said, are that:
• The education that millions of Americans got in the past will not do. (Even workers with high school diplomas will have limited opportunities if they lack college degrees.)
• The exodus of baby boomers from the teaching force will create shortages. (The U.S. Department of Education projects that by 2014 up to 1 million teaching positions will be filled by new teachers.)
MU produces more than 500 new teachers every academic year in all areas of education, Bray said.
"We have to go through rigorous scrutiny by professionals in the field who examine the curricula, the training sites, materials and faculty," she said.
Marching to the tune of national standards is critical to Millersville's program, Bray said, and their School of Education needs to provide solid evidence as to how they meet those standards.
According to the Duncan, few states and districts keep track of which colleges do the best job preparing teachers.
He said some local mentoring programs are poorly funded and poorly organized at the district level.
In June, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education announced the first major revision of teacher education requirements, which will require institutions to strengthen the focus and foster increases in student learning.
"There are some exemplary programs," Bray said. "Let's take a positive view at what they are doing in preparing our teachers and model those great programs."