State BOEs Call For More Classroom Time During Teacher Training

Education Week (10/20, Cavanagh) reports that in a report released this week by the National Association of State Boards of Education, the body argues that "teacher colleges need to give aspiring educators much more thorough, intense exposure to K-12 classrooms during their training-and set higher standards for admission." The group "says that experience in actual classroom settings, as well as continued mentoring once teachers are on the job, are critical to keeping top-notch educators in the job. But the report also says that the admissions standards for many teachers' colleges are unacceptably low-they may not, for instance, require minimum test scores or grade-point averages-and many of them draw candidates from the bottom two-thirds of their college classes." The piece notes parenthetically that the group echoes concerns voiced by Education Secretary Arne Duncan and others.