To Yves Smith (education version)

Teachers and teacher ed programs are habitually blamed for the terribleness of our schooling system. With good reason, in some respects. But this kind of thinking results more from collusion and mania than examined sociology or in-depth investigation into life in schools (Of course those that do spend that level of commitment in schools in order to communicate about schools, point out the systemic chaos that prevents orderly resolutions). Now that Arne Duncan has turned the heat up, anew again, reasoned approaches to understanding the complexity of schooling and making concrete our ideal abstractions for it get washed out by more mania and collusion.

Case in point: NCATE. A new president joins their team, just in time to reorganize the organization's accreditation process. And amazingly, the new process looks to shadow exactly the changes that Duncan proposes. For a professional organization made of up scholars and teachers involved in teacher ed, reflexivity would seem to be least likely response. Sadly, no.

NCATE Blue Ribbon Panel Initiates a Mainstream Move to More Clinically

Based Preparation of Teachers

January 5, 2010

Contact: Marsha Levine, Jane Leibbrand (202) 466-7496

Washington, D.C. - The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher

Education (NCATE) today announced the formation of an expert panel on

clinical preparation and partnerships, signaling the beginning of a sea

change in the preparation of the nation's teachers. The work of the Panel,

called the NCATE Blue Ribbon Panel on Clinical Preparation, Partnerships

and Improved Student

Learning<http://www.ncate.org/public/010410_BRP1.asp>, will culminate in

recommendations for restructuring the preparation of teachers to reflect

teaching as a practice-based profession akin to medicine, nursing, or

clinical psychology. Practice-based professions require not only a solid

academic base, but strong clinical components, a supported induction

experience, and ongoing opportunities for learning. This redesign is

intended to bring educator preparation into better alignment with the

urgent needs of P-12 schools. Such changes in the way teachers and other

P-12 educators are prepared potentially have far-ranging effects on the

structure of schools of education.

Me here. Instead of creating a panel to investigate if the sea really has changed, NCATE accepts the change a priori. It pegs itself to whatever the administration has already decided. The independence of the organization ceases to exist, at least in terms of professors and educators of practice coming to their own conclusions about the state of schooling. Granted, a size-able organization (over 650 members!) needs an articulated management system. However, managing need not be iron-on application of central office. I am, it seems, so naive.

Dr Nancy Zimpher, Chancellor, State University of New York System, and Dr.

Dwight Jones, Commissioner of Education, Colorado, will co-chair the

panel. Other panel members include experts in education research, policy,

teaching and learning and leaders in higher education and P-12 schools at

the state and local level. The panel will establish a set of guiding

principles for the clinical preparation of teachers so that preparation

focuses more on building the expertise necessary for effective practice as

professionals. This includes the development of candidates' ability to

understand and relate to their students and their needs, development of

practical and evidence-based pedagogical skills, and the use of research

evidence and judgment in practice.

Me here. The outcomes are standard fare, but notice the implication. Teachers today do not understand their what their students need, nor can they relate to these kids. They do not teach according to any standards of evidence (they wing it, I suppose) or pedagogical thinking. And they lack judgment; well, good judgment, a skill based on theory and exemplars. Right. Now, some - many - might fit this portrait. Lord knows who they'll let into the profession. This, of course, from an organization made from schools who have been spending the previous four decades educating teachers to be exactly who they are. If these schools have done such a terrible job, should their membership of accreditation to NCATE be revoked? Would it not make better sense to assume that member schools in NCATE have previously been educating teachers exactly the way they here describe teachers to be educated? If so, then there is no sea change, since all these member programs have already instituted just these practices. Who then are the guilty programs? Cynical me: the administration as ventriloquist.

Teaching has become a vastly different job requiring a different set of

skills than it did 50 years ago. Greater diversity among students and the

tailored instruction that many of them need, make the clinical aspects of

teacher preparation ever more important. Minority students are now the

majority in some states. Students with special needs are mainstreamed as a

result of disabilities law. English language learners from various

countries are studying in classrooms across the nation, as well as

students with individual learning plans (IEPs) who need individual help.

In addition, some students are highly motivated while others dislike

school, are disengaged, and are at risk of failure. Teachers are faced

with more challenges than ever before in the history of the United States,

and they are now being held accountable in ways that their predecessors

were not.

Maybe. But is this evidence for changing practices, or evidence gathered because they have decided to change practice? These factors are descriptions, honest and profound that they are. Descriptions are not in themselves meaningful. The dispositive statement "Teachers are faced with more challenges than ever before in the history of the United States,and they are now being held accountable in ways that their predecessorswere not." is a political judgment, not fact. If anything in this press release reveals some underlying motivation, look at this here statement. It is the political process that has decided to take the shallow route in school critique: the teachers are the loci of needed reform. Politicians do not have time to develop sophisticated programs for urban renewal, tackling the economic, social/cultural and normative processes upon which a functioning polity operates. Instead, cite blame, and develop expedient reforms from there. Does NCATE really believe all this? And by NCATE, I mean the faculty and staff at all those member schools (over 650!).

Significantly enhanced clinical preparation may mean, for example, more

extensive use of simulations, case studies, analyses of teaching and other

approximations of teaching, as well as sustained, intense, mentored

school-embedded experiences. Enhanced clinical preparation should give

aspiring teachers the opportunity to integrate theory with practice;

develop and test classroom management and pedagogical skills; hone their

use of evidence in making professional decisions about practice; and

understand and integrate the standards of their professional community.

These clinical settings also provide the opportunity for evaluating not

only what candidates know, but importantly, what they are able to do.

Finally, the professional preparation of teachers cannot be achieved by

preparation programs acting alone. Intensive clinical preparation,

especially when it is school-embedded, requires the collaboration of all

the stakeholders represented on the Blue Ribbon Panel. The group will

issue a report of its findings and recommendations when its work is

completed, most likely near the end of 2010.

Some schools of education have already developed rich partnerships with

districts aimed at boosting P-12 achievement, especially in low-performing

schools. NCATE featured a few examples of these schools of education at a

June press briefing announcing a redesign of accreditation to help schools

of education<http://www.ncate.org/public/062309_TeacherEdRequirements.asp>

move to a target level of excellence on accreditation standards, and to

encourage institutions to create Transformation Initiatives which focus on

P-12 learning needs and improve the evidentiary base of the profession.

The Panel will examine characteristics and elements of clinical

preparation in exemplary programs, will review the research, and will make

recommendations as to how those characteristics and elements can be

supported in policy and through funding formulas at every level -- school,

district, state and federal. The aim is to move from islands of innovation

which are driving student achievement in certain schools or districts to a

culture in which excellence is the norm.

Me again. To translate: as bad as things are, we will find those programs that have figured out success, copy it, disseminate it and hold all you accountable to follow it. Because, well, who does not want to be excellent? Amazingly, we will find many of the programs in our organization the very programs that have figured out how to succeed. And by complete chance, the panel is made up of faculty from these very programs.

OK; that last point was unfair. What if the panel was empowered to review the field and decide for itself whether the problem really is teacher education? Granted, such findings would be dismissed as a confirmation bias. Where, then, will the commission find out what works? And, using the standards of quality in research, how will they determine that what works (in the place they find it) does work (in places with diverse conditions)? Is this something of a show?

In a follow-up phase, the Blue Ribbon Panel will form a working group to

guide changes in NCATE standards and accreditation processes to support

more clinically-based educator preparation and working partnerships

between preparation programs and P-12 schools. NCATE will pilot proposed

changes at sites currently supported by teacher quality grants located in

Race to the Top states. A second phase of the work will be guiding the

process through NCATE policy boards to implement changes in NCATE

accreditation standards to help support the Panel's recommendations and

vision.

Me here. Sad; NCATE admits collusion. What is to be is what is. At least now the politics can be seen in clear light.

Dr. James Cibulka, president of NCATE, said, "The Panel is jointly chaired

by leaders from higher education and the states. States, districts, and

colleges and universities must work in close collaboration and in new ways

to meet urgent P-12 learning needs."

Me here. To translate: whatever the Dept. of Ed says, we can say it louder, just as long as they say it first.

Cibulka commented on the Panel's

influence on accreditation: "The Panel's work will inform future changes

to the NCATE standards and process to support a focus on P-12 student

learning to maximum advantage, and to ensure the standards and process

truly measure quality in appropriate ways. Revised accreditation standards

will help establish new norms in educator preparation," Cibulka continued.

Dr. Nancy Zimpher, Chancellor of the State University of New York System

and co-chair of the panel, said, "I am confident that this panel will help

create new synergies at the local level, through collaborative

partnerships between school districts, states, and higher education

working to assess local needs. The operative phrase is 'joint work,' which

will entail new expectations and roles for all stakeholders."

Dr. Dwight Jones, Commissioner of Education, Colorado, and panel co-chair,

said, "NCATE has taken a bold step in creating this Panel, representative

of all stakeholders, to help move forward changes in educator preparation

which will better meet P-12 urgent needs. Raising P-12 student achievement

in America is an imperative; using our combined resources in new ways to

focus on urgent P-12 needs will help reach that goal. I see this Panel as

a major step forward in restructuring educator preparation throughout the

nation."

Me here. I guess quotes add a bit of humanity. The boundary between corporate speak and educational dialogue crests caverns. In comparison terms, will NCATE become the teachers' AMA? For homework, go interview your family doctor. Ask her how she feels about the government dictating her practices in just the way that Duncan seems to be dictating to NCATE.

To sum, I agree with all the language used here to describe quality teacher education programs. In fact, I would like to see all teachers be required to undergo a med-school approach to pre-service teaching: multiple years in graduate schooling; several years apprenticing to different practitioners in schools, like rotations; slow entry into the profession at first, with heavy mentoring and collaboration from experienced teachers; different lengths of internships, depending on the area of teaching, the age level and the community. I just do not see that NCATE, via the Duncan-Obama plan, envisions such a model. Rather, it will help establish hegemonic policies that punish, retard innovation, sap motivation and hand the task of teaching more progressively into the hands of technocratic script readers.