Studer Community Institute

UWF teacher training program ready for new regulations

December 1, 2014
/ Reggie Dogan
/ training-development

New rules proposed by the federal government that could make it harder to become a teacher across the U.S. shouldn’t adversely affect teacher education programs in Florida. The U.S. Department of Education last week unveiled a proposal to regulate how the country prepares teachers, saying that too many new K-12 educators are not ready for the classroom and that training programs must improve. Teacher education programs statewide, including those at the University of West Florida, already are using many of the measurements that the U.S. Department of Education are proposing, said Jerry Johnson, UWF professor and chairman of teacher education and educational leadership. “It won’t have a huge effect because Florida is ahead of the curve,” Johnson said. “The new requirements are already being done statewide.” The proposals will require states to create rating systems for teacher preparation programs that would track criteria, including the job placement and retention rates of graduates and the academic achievement of their students based on test scores. Teacher unions decry the use of test scores as an inappropriate measure of teacher preparation. Johnson believes the standardized test scores could be a plus if teachers in low-performing schools are measured by AYP, or adequate yearly progress. Johnson, however, is concerned about the measure that penalizes programs when teachers can’t find jobs. “Teachers getting jobs can be affected by the labor market,” he said. “Some places it is more difficult to find jobs.” The education department also will mean programs will have to provide proof of their graduates’ classroom skills in helping advance student learning and consider survey of graduates and school districts that hired them. The good news for programs in Florida is that statewide standards virtually mirrored the new federal requirements. Florida, along with North Carolina, Tennessee and Louisiana are among the first states that already collect information about teacher preparation programs and their graduates and provide it to the public, according to the education department. But, as Johnson said, the “devil is in the details” of how the program will be implemented. “No one should think this is a bad policy, but how it’s implemented is a concern,” Johnson said. The education department decided to roll out the plan after a Washington think tank report last month found that education majors tend to get more A’s than other majors, which reinforced the public perception that all too often an education degree is among the easier college career paths. The proposed regulations aim to change that rising concern. Consequences for programs that don’t meet the requirements would include being preventing them from offering financial aid to potential teachers who seek federal Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education, or TEACH grants. Research consistently has shown that teachers are the most important school-based factor in determining student achievement. Johnson said as expectations and requirements were raised for principals and teachers, it makes sense to do the same for teacher programs. “I feel good about the work we do, and holding us accountable is not something we should shy away from,” Johnson said. Read more about the report here.

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UWF teacher training program ready for new regulations

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