Reviewing (Trashing?) Student Teaching
A sure-to-be-controversial new study from the National Council on Teacher Quality – the same group that developed the heavily criticized methodology U.S. News & World Report will use for its new teacher education program rankings -- determined that fully three-fourths of student teaching programs, including ones at top education programs like Vanderbilt and New York Universities, are inadequate.
The ratings depend to a great degree on the role the program plays in selecting the cooperating teacher, something many programs prefer to do in partnership with the school rather than for it -- but the NCTQ believes colleges must manage directly for every teacher. Four of the five “critical” standards relate directly either to the qualities of the cooperating teacher or to the role the college plays in selecting him or her, and while all 134