Building Better Teachers

National Review of
Teacher Preparation Programs

 

Our Approach

In all but a few states, education schools act as the Bermuda Triangle of higher education—students sail in but no one knows what happens to them after they come out.
- U.S. Secretary of Education
Arne Duncan
Speech at University of Virginia,
October 9, 2009

NCTQ's review of the nation's teacher preparation programs is groundbreaking. No organization has ever attempted an in-depth examination of schools of education at this scale before. NCTQ's approach to the review has been rigorously vetted by experts and field-tested. With ten pilot studies under our belt, a technical panel composed of renowned education experts, including teacher educators, and the endorsement of multiple state school chiefs and superintendents in the field, NCTQ's review of teacher prep will be fair, comprehensive and credible.

We are looking for evidence of what teacher prep programs expect teachers to be able to know and do to be successful in the classroom. We examine the fundamental elements of teacher prep design—admissions standards, syllabi, course descriptions, textbooks, student teaching manuals, graduate surveys and so forth—as blueprints for building teachers. Good blueprints have clearly marked guidance for the materials to be used, how components should be crafted and assembled, and what the final product should look like.

It's just these sorts of characteristics we will be looking for in the teacher prep program's own blueprints for building better teachers for public schools. Teacher prep programs with the best blueprints will be celebrated and emulated, while those with weak blueprints should go back to the drawing board.

NCTQ's standards and indicators will identify the programs that are most likely to get the strongest outcomes for their students. By participating in this review, teacher prep programs will make a difference not just to tomorrow's teachers, but to tomorrow's students as well.

NCTQ will publish annual reviews of teacher prep to provide its main customers—aspiring teachers and school districts—with up-to-date information on where the best programs are.

To learn more about NCTQ's approach, please view our webinars.