All Talk AND No Action

 

Yesterday, reading through the various press releases I browse, I came across this mention of an article in The Washington Post about a coalition of Teacher Education groups and others releasing a nine-point plan to help improve teacher quality.  Having been involved as I have been in teacher education stateside, so to speak, I have sat in on conference presentations and workshops where such change has been talked about for the past ten years or so.  I have written before about the fact that talk is all very good but why can't the American people agree on how to go about accomplishing this very badly needed change?  Nothing is going to happen until all new teachers have to be certified by a properly accredited body, regardless of the state they find themselves in.  The American people do not want to cede any power from the states to their federal government and so someone can go to almost any place where standards are not what they should be and then they have their certification.  In the same week that this plan was released, the State of Mississippi denied an increase in funding for education.  The people have decided that change can be put on the back burner there.  Arne Duncan, the Secretary of Education, is resigning and while the president is looking for his replacement, well regarded Republicans are arguing for a decentralization of power from the federal government in educational matters. It seems to me that you cannot have one without the other. The only reason why Ontario can now gloat about its rising teacher credentialing is because two decades ago, the provincial government invested the College of Teachers in Ontario with the power to make change and to force such changes and regulations on the teaching profession, all stakeholders.  So, if the American people want to see teaching credentials rise, they have to invest some organization or regulatory body with the power to enforce and make it impossible to earn a degree or a certificate to teach without reaching to a specific and high standard, all across the country, regardless of state. There is no other way to accomplish that in anything like the short order necessary for the U. S. to keep up globally with the rest of the world. There are many fine, fine teachers in the U. S. but there are still huge pockets where such excellence is no where to be found.