Trivializing Teacher Education: The Accreditation Squeeze

Dale D. Johnson · Bonnie Johnson · Stephen J. Farenga · Daniel Ness

Jul 2005 · Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

About this ebook

Trivializing Teacher Education: The Accreditation Squeeze presents a critical analysis of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). This accreditation organization has been in existence for 50 years and claims to accredit approximately 700 teacher education programs that prepare two-thirds of the nation's teachers. There is no convincing research, however, that NCATE's 'stamp of approval' makes a difference in teacher preparation programs or in beginning teachers' competencies. There is evidence that NCATE is masterful at self-promotion, marketing, and aligning itself with policy-makers and politicians. This book illustrates the questionable NCATE processes and requirements and exposes the exorbitant costs accrued by universities seeking NCATE accreditation. It points out that the NCATE standards do not address the major issues that impact teaching and learning. The book highlights NCATE's support of teacher testing in the face of evidence that such tests lack predictive validity. It shows how NCATE is reaching out to accredit for-profit organizations and how it sends its evaluators to review international programs in the Middle East. The book calls on NCATE to make the professional backgrounds of its examiners, reviewers, board members, and staff transparent. It addresses the attention teacher educators must devote to mindless, trivial NCATE demands that usurp time that should be spent on their students and their research. This book urges teacher educators, college faculties and administrators, state education officials and legislators, parents of school-age children, and concerned citizens to open their eyes to this powerful organization, NCATE, and to examine what it has done to teacher education in the last half century.

About the author

Dale D. Johnson, Ph.D. University of Wisconsin - Madison, is a professor of Literacy Education at Dowling College in Oakdale, Long Island, New York. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin for 20 years, served as the Dean of the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, spent several years as an elementary and middle school teacher, and is a past president of the International Reading Association. Dr. Johnson's research centers on vocabulary and comprehension development and on sociopolitical factors affecting public schooling. He is the author of 14 books, numerous scholarly articles, and instructional materials for children, adolescents, and adults. His most recent books are Vocabulary in the Elementary and Middle School (Allyn and Bacon, 2001) and High Stakes: Children, Testing, and Failure in American Schools (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002). Bonnie Johnson, Ph.D. University of Wisconsin - Madison, is a professor of Human Development and Learning at Dowling College in Oakdale, Long Island, New York. She has taught at all levels from preschool through graduate school. Dr. Johnson has been awarded the Distinguished Teacher of Teachers Award by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has published widely in scholarly journals. Dr. Johnson's research focuses on the unequal funding of public schools and its effect on student test scores. Her most recent books are Wordworks: Exploring Language Play (Fulcrum Publishing, 1999) and High Stakes: Children, Testing, and Failure in American Schools (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002). Stephen J. Farenga, Ed.D. Columbia University, is an associate professor and former chairperson of the Department of Human Development and Learning at Dowling College. His research has appeared in major journals in science education, technology, and education of the gifted. Dr. Farenga has taught science for 15 years at the elementary and secondary levels and has served on the Commissioner's Advisory Council on the Arts in Education in New York State. Dr. Farenga has established an educational research clinic to examine methods of best practice and has served as a consultant for urban and suburban school districts. He is a contributing co-editor of 'After the Bell' in Science Scope and is a general editor of the Encyclopedia on Education and Human Development published by M.E. Sharpe. Daniel Ness, Ph.D. Columbia University, is an assistant professor in the Department of Human Development and Learning at Dowling College where he teaches courses in mathematics curriculum and instruction and cognitive development. He has taught mathematics at all levels, and his 10 years of clinical practice extends from teaching mathematics to conducting clinical interviews and diagnosing mathematical behaviors. Dr. Ness is the author of numerous articles on mathematics cognition and the development of spatial and geometric thinking. He is a contributing co-editor of 'After the Bell' in Science Scope and a general editor of the Encyclopedia on Education and Human Development published by M.E. Sharpe.