Building Better Teachers

National Review of
Teacher Preparation Programs

 

Communications during previous studies: Texas and Illinois

The federal government now gives education schools roughly $4 billion annually. But the money flows regardless of whether a program does a good job or a terrible one. Government responsibility to students, parents and taxpayers demands that we set clear expectations and goals that define success.
- Charles Barone
Democrats for Education Reform
"Let's reform teaching for students," January 14, 2011

Prior to undertaking the national review , NCTQ produced statewide reviews of teacher preparation programs in both Texas and Illinois. In both states, NCTQ worked diligently to communicate openly—by phone, in person or via email—with the leaders of these states' teacher preparation programs.

NCTQ made extensive efforts to explain the goals and methods of its study of Texas teacher preparation programs to that state's deans, largely to no avail. Of the 67 undergraduate teacher preparation programs included in the review, only four take NCTQ up on its offer to discuss its preliminary findings about its programs.

In Illinois, teacher preparation programs provided NCTQ with over 3,200 documents for the review, and traded some 4,400 e-mails back and forth on the analysis. Half of the leaders of these programs took advantage of one-on-one phone conferences to tie up loose ends at the conclusion of the review.

Based on these exchanges, we made changes to roughly 10 percent of our preliminary ratings when we were provided with additional, pertinent information. This collaboration helped to ensure that the review accurately represented institutions and truly reflected the quality of local programs.

To learn more about our work with institutions during the Texas and Illinois reviews—please visit Our Research page.