California Struggles To Improve, Assess Teacher Training Programs

Citing research indicating the importance of high-quality teachers for struggling students, the Hechinger Report (5/17, Mader) reports that “there’s an emerging consensus that how teacher candidates are chosen and trained can make all the difference.” Nevertheless, the article reports, teacher training institutions “often have no way of ascertaining if their programs produced strong teachers.” The piece describes legislation passed in California in 1998 “meant to strengthen teacher preparation programs,” but notes that this led to only marginal gains in student performance. The article continues to explore the issues of improving teacher preparation programs, and how those programs are best assessed.