Full FullReport Report Ed School Essentials Evaluating the Fundamentals of Teacher Training Programs in TExaS all institutional ratings are available online from www.nctq.org/edschoolreports/texas AUTHORS Julie Greenberg and Kate Walsh OUR THANKS Research Analysts: Alicia Durfee, Kent Harrel, Megan Lebow, Michelle O’Brien, Laura Pomerance and Andy Reynolds Database Design and Technical Support: Jeff Hale Graphic Design: Colleen Hale and Morgan Nomura Consultation: Vicki Snider PRINCIPAL FUNDING Houston Endowment, Inc. NCTQ BOARD OF DIRECTORS Stacey Boyd, Chester E. Finn, Ira Fishman, Marti Watson Garlett, Henry L. Johnson, Jason Kamras, Donald N. Langenberg, Clara M. Lovett, Barbara O’Brien, Carol G. Peck, Danielle Wilcox, John Winn, Kate Walsh, President NCTQ ADVISORY BOARD Steven J. Adamowski, Michael Barber, Roy E. Barnes, Lawrence S. Braden, Cynthia G. Brown, Andrew Chen, Jo Lynne DeMary, Paula S. Dominguez, Cheryl Ellis, Michael Feinberg, Eleanor Gaines, Michael Goldstein, Eric A. Hanushek, Joseph Hawkins, Frederick M. Hess, Paul T. Hill, E.D. Hirsch, Michael Johnston, Frank Keating, Martin J. Koldyke, Wendy Kopp, Amy Jo Leonard, Deborah McGriff, Ellen Moir, Robert H. Pasternak, Michael Podgursky, Michelle Rhee, Stefanie Sanford, Daniel Willingham Table of Contents Introduction 3 Methodology: Data Collection, Analysis and Production of Ratings Overall Education School Standards: admission Standards Standard 1: Admits teacher candidates with strong academic records 15 Elementary Teacher Program Standards Standard 2a: Prepares teacher candidates to teach reading 19 Standard 2b: Adherence to science of reading throughout coursework 19 Standard 3: Prepares teacher candidates to teach mathematics 26 Standard 4: Educates teacher candidates in the broad content areas relevant to elementary teaching 31 Standard 5: Requires an area of concentration so that elementary teacher candidates develop 35 expertise and have second career options Standard 6: Offers all required courses at least once a year 41 Standard 7: Prepares teacher candidates for the profession 43 Standard 8: Student teaching effectively prepares teacher candidates for the challenges of the classrooms 50 Secondary Teacher Program Standards Standard 9: Prepares high school teacher candidates to teach their subject area(s) 52 Standard 10: Prepares middle school teacher candidates to teach their subject area(s) 52 Standard 11: Offers all required courses (high school certification) at least once a year 62 Standard 12: Prepares high school teacher candidates for the profession 64 Standard 13: Student teaching effectively prepares high school teacher candidates 67 for the challenges of the classrooms a Note on Special Education Teacher Program Standards Standard 14: Prepares teacher candidates to teach early reading 68 Standard 15: Prepares teacher candidates to teach elementary mathematics 71 Standard 16: Offers all required courses at least once a year 73 Overall Education School Standards: Outcomes Standards Standard 17: Systematically seeks and uses feedback from school districts 75 Standard 18: Utilizes available data systems to monitor performance of graduates 75 www.nctq.org/edschoolreports/texas 1 2010 NCTQ Ed School Essentials Overall Education School Standards: Institutional Features Standards Standard 19: Assigns faculty to teach in their area of expertise 78 Standard 20: Offers grade-span specific coursework as appropriate 80 Standard 21: Ensures that teacher candidates are prepared to teach in a global society 82 Elementary, Secondary and Special Education Program Standards Standards 22-25: Exit standards 84 Other Data Reported 89 Recommendations for Reform 90 appendices Appendix A: Findings from NCTQ’s State Teacher Policy Yearbook 2009 95 Appendix B: Study chronology and communications 97 Appendix C: NCTQ’S response to comments from the deans of Texas education schools 110 Appendix D: Evaluating overall design for special rating designations 113 Appendix E: Glossary of terms used to describe teacher preparation coursework and programs 116 Appendix F: Evaluation of elementary content coursework 117 Appendix G: Ratings for required reading textbooks and information on reading textbook reviewers 121 Appendix H: Ratings for required mathematics textbooks and information on mathematics textbook reviewers 132 Appendix I: Texas A&M University – Commerce: Elementary teacher candidate professional 136 preparation coursework Appendix J: Evaluation of professional preparation coursework 138 Appendix K: Sam Houston State University: Elementary teacher candidate professional 143 preparation coursework 2 www.nctq.org/edschoolreports/texas Ed School Essentials Evaluating the Fundamentals of Teacher Training Programs in Texas Introduction In Texas, undergraduate teacher preparation programs graduate 9,300 new elementary, secondary and special education teachers, nearly half (43 percent) of the total number produced each year in the state.1 This report examines 67 of those programs on a range of standards.2 The standards bear directly on their programs’ capacity to attract the most talented individuals into the teaching profession and then prepare them to teach effectively. Over the last five years, NCTQ has been studying education schools across the country, primarily to look at the quality of the elementary reading and mathematics preparation that they provide.3 The study in Texas is just one of a number of studies undertaken by NCTQ in preparation for a 2011 national evaluation of all education schools in the country.4 The work in Texas, funded by Houston Endowment, is by far our largest study to date. Where NCTQ Stands on Formal Teacher Preparation Teacher preparation programs, or “education schools” as they are more commonly known, do not now, nor have they ever, enjoyed a particularly positive reputation, in Texas or elsewhere. Their reputation has not been improved by research findings showing little measurable value from pre-service teacher preparation, though very little of this research has drilled down to the level of individual programs to discern if some programs, even if they are only a small minority, are adding value. Considered in the aggregate, which is what most of the research has only been able to do, the research is fairly conclusive that a teacher with very little training is apt to be effective as a teacher with a lot of preparation. 1 These undergraduate preparation programs produce 53 percent of the elementary teachers produced each year, 22 percent of the middle school teachers and 27 percent of the high school teachers. 2 Two additional programs were not included in this study: Rice University and Trinity University. 3 NCTQ has issued two national reports on the reading and mathematics preparation of elementary teachers in representative samples of undergraduate education schools. The first,What Education Schools Aren’t Teaching about Reading and What Elementary Teachers Aren’t Learning, was released in May 2006. The second, No Common Denominator: The Preparation of Elementary Teachers in Mathematics by America’s Education Schools, followed just over two years later. We have also issued reports that focused on reading and mathematics preparation of undergraduate elementary teacher candidates in five states. In addition to these studies of education schools, each year NCTQ conducts an analysis of state teacher polices, including the obligations that states have to their approved programs. The most recent edition of the State Teacher Policy Yearbook 2009 for Texas can be found at www.nctq.org/stpy. 4 There will be two additional studies released in advance of the national study: a full pilot study in Illinois and a national study of approximately 130 education schools and the quality of their student teaching programs. www.nctq.org/edschoolreports/texas 3 2010 NCTQ Ed School Essentials The popularity and clout of the successful Teach For America (TFA) program — a program for elite college graduates with no undergraduate education coursework who are placed in classrooms after a five-week summer training session — reinforce the view that pre-service preparation coursework does not make much difference. As much as we believe that Teach For America has brought tremendous benefits to public education, we respectfully disagree with the particular conclusion drawn from its example that preservice preparation makes no difference. Other than at the high school level, there is not much evidence that Teach For America teachers significantly outperform their peers when it comes to raising student achievement.5 Yes, talent matters a lot, but talent alone is not sufficient when it comes to improving student outcomes. Because NCTQ believes that high-quality formal teacher preparation is well capable of improving student outcomes (particularly reducing the deleterious impact that most first year teachers have on student achievement), our approach is perhaps unique in the current climate of “anti-ed school” sentiment. We are neither willing to work around education schools by relying only on alternative means of preparation nor willing to accept the status quo, that is, tolerate what appears to be a high number of under-performing schools of education operating at considerable taxpayer expense. As a basic theory of change, it is simply not a realistic strategy to fuel a profession with three million members nationally by only attracting more elite students. Nor do we see proliferating “alternative certification” — much of it either not much different from traditional