Today Fordham released results from a national survey of education school professors in the US. Cracks in the Ivory Tower finds that more than eighty percent of the nation’s ed professors think it’s “absolutely essential” that teachers be lifelong learners, and are more likely to view the role of an educator as “facilitator of learning” (84 percent) rather than “conveyor of knowledge” (11 percent). While not entirely surprising that most education professors espouse these philosophies, it stands in stark (and somewhat worrisome) contrast with their views on other education concepts. For example, only 24 percent say it’s “absolutely essential” that teachers understand how to work with state standards, tests, and accountability systems. In terms of hot-button issues, some results are encouraging: 83 percent of professors of education show support for financial incentives for teachers working in challenging schools, 66 percent think that current teacher prep programs “need many changes” and 63 percent think programs like Teach For America are overall a good idea. Read more of the findings here.
