Group gives bad grade to teacher education

David Chard, dean of ΊωΒ«ΝήΚΣΖ΅'s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development, talks about a report by The National Council on Teacher Quality that is critical of teacher education in Texas.

By ERICKA MELLONΜύ
The Houston Chronicle

Texas' schools of education generally are doing a poor job of training prospective teachers, according to a preliminary study already drawing scorn from many college deans.

The National Council on Teacher Quality, a nonprofit research and advocacy group in Washington, D.C., has graded each of the 67 college-based teacher training programs in Texas. The council is awaiting responses from more deans β€” most of whom have ignored its request β€” before publishing the report. . .

But at least one dean has shied away from criticizing the council, which issued a draft of its findings to the colleges last month.

β€œWe've taken the opportunity to try to help them make their review more accurate and more valid,” said David Chard, dean of ΊωΒ«ΝήΚΣΖ΅ Methodist University's School of Education and Human Development. β€œBut we've also realized they could be helpful to us by helping us identify areas of weakness.”ΜύΜύ

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