Oct292009
U.S. Secretary of Education names SOE’s teacher education a “first-rate teacher preparation program”
Bob Brustman @ 8:50 pm
On October 22, 2009, at Columbia Teachers College, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan identified SOE’s teacher education program as a “first-rate teacher preparation program” in a speech in which he discussed the necessity for deep and meaningful reform of preparation programs for aspiring teachers–he called for “a sea-change in our schools of education.” He identified three educational challenges facing our country: 1) the education that Americans received in the past is inadequate for today’s information and knowledge-based society; 2) educational disparities betray our ideal of education as the great equalizer; and 3) we are at the beginning of a massive exodus of Baby Boomers from the teaching force.
To keep America competitive, and to make the American dream of equal educational opportunity a reality, we need to recruit, reward, train, learn from, and honor a new generation of talented teachers. But the bar must be raised for successful teacher preparation programs because we ask much more of teachers today than even a decade ago. Today teachers are asked to achieve significant academic growth for all students at the same time that they instruct students with ever-more diverse needs. Teaching has never been more difficult, it has never been more important, and the desperate need for more student success has never been so urgent. Are we adequately preparing future teachers to win this critical battle?
I am urging every teacher education program today to make better outcomes for students the overarching mission that propels all their efforts. America’s great educational challenges require that this new generation of well-prepared teachers significantly boost student learning and increase college-readiness. President Obama has set an ambitious goal of having America regain its position as the nation with the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. But to reach that goal, both our K-12 system and our teacher preparation programs have to get dramatically better. The stakes are huge—and the time to cling to the status quo has passed.
SOE’s Teacher Education Initiative encompasses many of our innovative efforts to reassess and teach the necessary and complex combination of skills and knowledge that produce high quality teachers.
