Are we really at a ‘new low in the teacher wars’?
Robert Pianta, dean of the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, recently wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post blasting critics of a multimillion-dollar initiative by the Obama administration to rate colleges of education. Serving as a cheerleader for the Education Department’s effort, he accuses colleges of education of seeking to escape evaluation of their programs, and he questions whether critics have read the proposed standards. He wrote in part:
As a scholar who works in areas related to the assessment and improvement of teaching, as an educator and as a dean of a school of education with a teacher preparation program, I worry that, rather than recognizing an opportunity for real leadership, my profession has reached a new low in the teacher wars.
A new low in the teacher wars? Really?
The administration’s plans have indeed generated a great deal of concern among many educators and researchers — and not only at education colleges — for a number of sensible reasons. One reason is the possibility that one of the “outcome” metrics in the ratings system will be how much graduates earn when they hit the work world, which would give an advantage to schools that graduate a lot of investment bankers and successful entrepreneurs. Another concern is the department’s plan to use as a rating metric the standardized test scores of students of education school graduates, and then possibly to link those scores to federal funding to the colleges of education.
Many in the world of education have written thoughtful comments to the Education Department (which you can see here) about problems they see with the proposals, including this one from 50 college presidents in Virginia — including the leaders of the University of Virginia, College of William & Mary and George Mason University — and this one from education researchers which says in part, “The proposed regulations do not reflect current research or up-to-date knowledge of teacher preparation, teacher and student assessment, or the purposes of education.”
Here is a post taking direct issue with Pianta’s op-ed. It was written by Michael Feuer, dean of the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at George Washington University in Washington D.C. I am publishing this post, which appeared on Feuer’s blog, with permission. You can read Pianta’s piece here.
By Michael Feuer
The dean of the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia recently wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post that was well meaning but misleading. It was surprising and disappointing to see a distinguished educator miss an opportunity to dispel conventional myths and clarify for the general public what is really going on in the world of teacher preparation and its evaluation.
For those who may have missed Robert Pianta’s short article, here is a summary and rebuttal.
With reference to reactions that have been voiced to proposed new federalAre we really at a ‘new low in the teacher wars’? - The Washington Post:
