NCATE's "transformative" vision...not so much

11-17-2010

Blog by Rick Hess/Education Week

NCATE's big report "Transforming Teacher Education Through Clinical Practice" is out today, and is likely to get the predictable hosannas. It's scheduled for a morning event at the National Press Club (I'm doing a bit of discussant duty), where the Blue Ribbon Panel's call for "radically" revising teacher prep to focus on practical training and residencies will be hailed as a transformative moment. SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher, a co-chair, said, "This is a seismic moment for teacher education." I'm not sold. Now, don't get me wrong. I've got enormous respect for NCATE honcho Jim Cibulka and for the co-chairs of the Blue Ribbon Panel--Colorado's all-star state chief Dwight Jones (about to become supe of Clark County, Nevada) and Zimpher. But this panel of twenty-some members, including both NEA chief Dennis van Roekel and AFT chief Randi Weingarten, did about what I would've expected--they embraced the conventional wisdom of the moment and called for stuff that's perfectly nice (and that can be termed "radical") but that won't amount to much at the end of the day. (more…)

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