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Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Report: States improve teacher policies

NCTQ’s annual report finds state policies to support teacher effectiveness are no longer the exception in the U.S.

teacher-policyTeacher policies across the U.S. averaged a C- grade, according to the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), which on Dec. 8 released its ninth annual State Teacher Policy Yearbook.

The annual policy yearbook analyzes every state law, rule and regulation that shapes the teaching profession, from teacher preparation, licensing and evaluation to compensation, professional development and dismissal policy.

Across the 50 states and the District of Columbia, states average a C- for their teacher policies in 2015, up from an overall grade of D in 2009. The average state grade has held steady since NCTQ’s last comprehensive report card in 2013, despite the bar being raised on several key topics, including aligning teacher licensing policies with the expectations of college- and career-readiness standards adopted by many states.…Read More

The best and worst states for teacher policy

Teacher policy report discusses what makes for good teacher policy and which states still have work to do

teacher-policy-NCTQTeacher quality has been a hot, if polarizing, topic in education recently, with many states making what some perceive to be progressive steps in teacher policy. One new report gives grades to states in how well they’re implementing these teacher policies, from teacher preparation to dismissal.

The report, “State Teacher Policy Yearbook,” by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) provides an analysis of every state law, rule and regulation that “shapes the effectiveness of the teaching profession,” it says, from teacher preparation and evaluation, to compensation, professional development (PD) and dismissal policy.

According to the report, states in the U.S., including the District of Columbia, averaged an “improved” C- for their teacher policies in 2013, up from a grade of D+ in 2011 and D in 2009.…Read More

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Teacher recruitment tool will factor in controversial ratings

In an incendiary move guaranteed to divide the education community, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has partnered with a web-based teacher hiring system that will factor in the Council’s recently released teacher preparation program ratings.

NCTQ’s annual study rated the quality of teacher prep programs, stirring the education reform pot, with many institutions praising the report, while others say NCTQ doesn’t have the experience to rate teacher preparation programs. (Read “Report: Teacher preparation programs an ‘industry of mediocrity.’”)

(Next page: The new teacher recruitment tool)…Read More

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Report: Teacher preparation programs an ‘industry of mediocrity’

A new report–already proving divisive hours within of its release–claims that, based on eight years of research, U.S. teacher preparation programs in colleges and universities are broken, directly affecting “America’s educational decline.”

The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) says it went through 10 pilot studies to develop the standards used to rank the 1,130 teacher preparation institutions that prepare 99 percent of the nation’s traditionally-trained new teachers (approximately 170,000 novice teachers annually).

NCTQ officials said the effort was inspired by a study conducted more than a century ago, the Flexner Report of 1910, which evaluated the nation’s medical schools and led to consolidations and upgrades that “transformed the system of training doctors into the world’s best,” states the report.…Read More

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