Washington State Universities Get Poor Grades for Their Teacher Training Programs

Washington State’s universities and colleges received poor grades in an extensive evaluation of teacher training programs by the National Council on Teacher Quality and U.S. News & World Report. On a scale of four, fourteen of the twenty programs evaluated in the state received a score of 1.5 or less, including two of the University of Washington’s three graduate programs. Only UW’s graduate special education program did better with a 2.5. The highest score was given to Washington State University’s undergraduate secondary program, which received a 3.

The evaluation determined, for example, that “of the evaluated elementary and secondary programs in Washington, 70% fail to ensure a high quality student teaching experience, where candidates are assigned only to highly skilled teachers and receive frequent concrete feedback”

Here’s the press release:

2013 National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) Report:

Teacher Prep Programs Get Failing Grades

The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) and U.S. News & World Report released a review of more than 1,100 colleges and universities that prepare elementary and secondary teachers, finding that the majority of teacher preparation programs in the United States, including those in Washington, are not doing a good job of training our teachers.

Using a four-star rating system, NCTQ found that less than 10% of all the teacher training programs in the US earned three stars, and only four programs earned the highest rating of four stars. About 14% got zero stars.

This report offers an opportunity to look at what the best teacher preparation programs are doing well, and to use that as our vision of what Washingtons teacher training should be, said Parasa Chanramy, Policy Analyst for Stand for Children Washington.

Nine institutions in Washington were reviewed. Only Washington State Universitys undergraduate program earned three stars; none of Washingtons graduate-level teacher training programs even reached the three star mark. Scroll down to see a chart of Washingtons teacher prep ratings.

University of Washington campuses in Tacoma and Bothell both failed to earn any stars in their graduate secondary programs.

About one-third of our teacher training programs require applicants to be in the top half of their class.

Early reading instruction — Just 30% of evaluated elementary programs in Washington are preparing teacher candidates in effective, scientifically based reading instruction.

Elementary math — None of the evaluated elementary programs in Washington provide strong preparation in elementary mathematics, training that mirrors the practices of higher performing nations such as Singapore and South Korea.

Student teaching — Of the evaluated elementary and secondary programs in Washington, 70% fail to ensure a high quality student teaching experience, where candidates are assigned only to highly skilled teachers and receive frequent concrete feedback.

Classroom management Only 35% of the evaluated Washington elementary and secondary programs earned a perfect four stars for providing feedback to teacher candidates on concrete classroom management strategies to improve classroom behavior.

Content preparation 14% of Washington’s elementary programs earn three or four stars for providing teacher candidates with adequate content preparation. At the high school level, 25% of Washington secondary programs earned four stars for content preparation.

Outcome data 60% of Washington’s evaluated programs earned four stars for collecting data on their graduates.

NCTQ concludes that it is far too easy to get into a teacher training program. Compared to higher-performing countries, which elevate the teaching profession by limiting entry to students in at least the top third of their class, only a few programs in the US even require an aspiring teacher to be in the top half of their class.

In order for new teachers to be effective in the classroom, they need more effective preparation and support.

Stronger teacher training adds up to stronger learning for students, said Shannon Campion, Executive Director of Stand for Children Washington. We talk about high expectations for students, lets also foster a culture of high expectations for teachers. Improving teacher preparation and training will have a dramatic effect on our schools.

Full report (.pdf): https://www.nctq.org/dmsView/Teacher_Prep_Review_2013_Report-tsv2013618114158

US News & World Report: https://www.usnews.com/education/nctq