New WHYY Post: Do Private/Parochial School Students Get Full Access to Special Education Services?
January 30, 2013NJSBA’s Take on New U.S. DOE Guidelines re: Athletes with Disabilities
January 30, 2013Grading NJ’s Teacher Preparation Programs
The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has released its State Teacher Policy Yearbook, which rates individual states on teaching preparation programs; elementary, middle, and high school teaching requirements; special ed teaching preparation; student teaching; and accountability.
New Jersey did okay: a bump up from last year’s D+ to a C-, which puts us 18th among all states in the country. According to NCTQ, these should be our top priorities:
Admission into Preparation Programs: require that preparation programs screen candidates prior to admission by using a common test normed to the general college-bound population and limit acceptance to those candidates demonstrating academic ability in the top 50th percentile.
Elementary Teacher Preparation: Ensure new content test sufficiently measures knowledge of all subjects. Require a rigorous assessment in the science of reading instruction. Require preparation programs to provide mathematics content specifically geared to the needs of elementary teachers. Require a content specialization in an academic subject area.
Student Teaching: Ensure that cooperating teachers have demonstrated evidence of effectiveness as measured by student learning.
Teacher Preparation Program Accountability: Collect performance data to monitor programs. Set minimum standards for program performance with consequences for failure to meet those standards. Publicly report performance data.