By an overwhelming margin, the U.S. House of Representatives has raised the stakes on teacher preparation. The Ready to Teach Act, passed last week by a 404-17 vote, would make the passage rate of graduates of teacher training colleges a factor in awarding federal dollars to those institutions. More importantly, it would allow the achievement gains of a teacher's students to be one way of determining whether that teacher is "highly qualified." The bill would also encourage alternative certification, the easing of barriers to removing ineffective teachers, and merit pay systems based on student achievement gains. There's much to love about this bill, though Gadfly wishes it would go further and require teacher preparation programs to report on whether their graduates are increasing student achievement. After all, what's important is not whether teachers pass tests, but whether their pupils do. To sweeten the deal, a companion bill, the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Act, more than triples the current education loan forgiveness for math, science, and special ed teachers in Title I schools, from $5,000 to $17,500. The National Education Association and the American Council on Education both say they're in favor - while calling for excision of the offending section on test passage, merit pay, etc. ACE president David Ward worried somewhat vaguely that the bill "will create a misleading perception of the quality of teacher education programs." (He might better worry that it will create an accurate perception of the quality of teacher education programs.) But the NEA flatly urged the House committee to "strike provisions & referring to merit pay, teacher advancement, and teacher removal; ... to address the incongruities associated with the current law's references to highly qualified teachers; and to reduce cumbersome reporting requirements" - essentially, to gut the bill of anything but federal handouts. Look for this issue to heat up in the Senate this fall.
"Teacher-college standards passed," by George Archibald, Washington Times, July 10, 2003
Letter from NEA government relations director Diane Shust to U.S. Congressmen, June 8, 2003
"Letter to the House Regarding the Ready to Teach Act and the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Act," by David Ward, July 9, 2003
H.R. 2211, The Ready to Teach Act
H.R. 438, The Teacher Recruitment and Retention Act