A Think Twice Review of:

2018 Teacher Prep Review, National Council on Teacher Quality

Think Twice - Jun 12, 2018

Publisher/Think Tank - National Council on Teacher Quality

Author(s) - Robert Rickenbrode, Graham Drake, Laura Pomerance, and Kate Walsh

The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) released its “2018 Teacher Prep Review,” examining whether U.S. teacher preparation programs are aligned with NCTQ’s standards. This alignment, the report insists, will produce teachers “ready to achieve individual successes, but also [ready] to start a broader movement toward increased student learning and proficiency.”

Reviewer(s) - Marilyn Cochran-Smith of Boston College, Elizabeth Stringer Keefe of Lesley University, Wen-Chia Chang of Boston College, and Molly Cummings Carney of Boston College

The reviewers found the report to have multiple logical, conceptual, and methodological flaws. It ignores accumulating evidence that there is little relationship between the NCTQ’s ratings of a program and its graduates’ later classroom performance. And its methodology, which employs a highly questionable documents-only evaluation system to judge preparation programs, is a maze of inconsistencies, ambiguities, and contradictions. In their conclusion, the authors contend the report: “Ultimately . . . offers little guidance for consumers, policymakers, or practitioners.”