They Passed the Test, But Can They Teach?

January 2003

By Gene R. Carter, Executive Director, ASCD

"Programs that inadequately prepare new teachers are a disservice
to both the teachers and students they profess to help."

Beginning spring 2003, teacher certification will be available to aspiring teachers who have never set foot in a classroom, spent time with students, or taken an education course. Through Passport Certification, the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence (ABCTE) will certify that candidates with a bachelor's degree or higher who have passed a background check and computer-based examinations are highly qualified teachers, whether or not they have any teaching experience.

In 2001 the National Council on Teacher Quality and the Education Leaders Council formed ABCTE through a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Passport Certification is consistent with the Department of Education's desire to create streamlined teacher-training programs that focus on prospective teachers' content knowledge, while devaluing professional knowledge.

ABCTE Codirector Michael Poliakoff echoed these beliefs at a White House presentation in 2002: "We resist the presumption that completing a particular set of education courses or being familiar with a particular set of education theories is the key to classroom success. We will test for basic competence in handling classroom dynamics and knowledge of school procedures and then allow new teachers to get the training that professionals agree matters most—on-the-job training."

We agree that on-the-job training is important, but we are concerned that rushing teachers into the classroom who have little or no experience is harmful to the students they teach. As researchers David C. Berliner and Ildiko Laczko-Kerr note in a recent study, virtually all university teacher certification programs include both early field experiences and student teaching. Although teachers certified by ABCTE will not have the opportunity to gain this experience, they will be responsible for their students' learning from the first day they enter the classroom.

Although there is no evidence yet of Passport Certification's effectiveness, the study by Berliner and Laczko-Kerr focused on a group that ABCTE has compared to its target group of recent college graduates—Teach for America (TFA)—and found that students of TFA teachers grow academically about 20 percent less per year than do students of teachers with regular certification. This disparity in student achievement is unacceptable to those of us who strive to ensure all students have access to quality teachers.

Berliner and Laczko-Kerr also highlight studies that show teachers prepared through alternative certification programs are less likely to stay in teaching and report many more problems with their training programs than those prepared in more intensive teacher education programs. If teachers are not adequately prepared, they experience less success in teaching, lower self-confidence, and greater dissatisfaction than their peers. Of even greater concern, they are ill equipped to understand the civic mission of education; that education is a public good that serves to forge unity from diversity around shared civic principles. Programs that inadequately prepare new teachers are a disservice to both the teachers and students they profess to help.

In December 2002, Pennsylvania became the first state to announce that it will recognize the ABCTE certification process as a viable pathway for meeting the federal mandate to place a highly qualified teacher in every classroom by 2005-06. Although we applaud the focus on providing high-quality teaching for all students, programs such as ABCTE are not sufficient to reach this aim.

Having a highly qualified teacher in every classroom is a significant undertaking that defies quick and easy solutions. To ensure every child is taught by quality, fully licensed and certified teachers, we must invest the time and resources necessary to adequately prepare all teachers in both content and professional knowledge and certify that they are ready to succeed from the first day they enter the classroom.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael Poliakoff's presentation to the White House Conference on Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers is available at http://www.nctq.org/press/2002-3-5.html.

The study by Ildiko Laczko-Kerr and David C. Berliner is available in the Educational Policy Analysis Archives at http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v10n37.