Teachers are, without a doubt, among the most important contributors to education. A good teacher can make a profound difference in the lives of students. But who teaches the teachers?
An effort is currently underway seeking answers to that very question. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/education/09teachers.html
The standards being used by the National Council on Teacher Quality to examine and grade education schools are given on their website. They include an examination of how much time student teachers spend in the classroom, the quality of the schools in which those student teachers are placed, the student teacher's grasp of the subject(s) being taught, and performance of the school's graduates once they are fully certified and teaching.
The effort is laudable, and certainly long-overdue. Though it raises a very important issue. We do not yet have a firm idea on what, exactly, constitutes a good teacher. Without having a clear answer to that vital question, the effort to rate the quality of education schools seems almost like a waste of effort. Though it will certainly be interesting once the grades come out to find out where MCLA stands.
To end with a question: Can we accurately judge the effectiveness of education schools without having a clear way to identify effective teachers?
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