Colleges of Education - Part of the Problem?

Rhode Island education chief seeks higher standards for prospective teachers

As a resident of Rhode Island, I love the fact that our new Commissioner is taking a stand to improve teacher quality. What is perhaps most unsettling about this article is the position that Rhode Island College takes in response to Commissioner Gist's efforts to raise standards. Let's start with the facts, as unearthed by Commissioner Gist.

"Currently, Rhode Island’s “cut score” ranks among the lowest in the nation, alongside Mississippi and Guam." In response to this fact, Commissioner Gist proposes raising the cut score on the Praxis I, a test of basic skills for aspiring teacher, from 170 to 179 - one point above Virginia, the state with the highest cut scores. The premise is simple - if you want the best teachers then you recruit the top college graduates to be teachers.

Why does Rhode Island have one of the lowest cut scores? I'm not sure. I can't imagine that the Board of Regents or colleges of education actually want Rhode Island's teachers to be less qualified than teachers in other states. Setting low expectations for aspiring teachers is a disservice to the community, to the future employers of students, to our teachers and the teaching profession, and to our students. If you set low expectations, then you get exactly what you ask for - and this goes for teachers as well as for students.

One might expect that Rhode Island's colleges, or perhaps our local school districts, would have demanded that standards be raised. Not only hasn't this happened, but it seems that Rhode Island College has been complacent in keeping standards low.

“It will disenfranchise too many students,” said Roger G. Eldridge Jr., dean of the School of Education at Rhode Island College, who estimates that 85 percent of RIC’s education students would be unable to reach the higher score and would therefore be barred from the program if it were required next year (ProJo, October 11, 2009).

While Dr. Eldridge Jr. speaks in the best interest of RIC's students (and perhaps the college's finances as well), what his statement really means is that RIC considers it to be perfectly fine to admit students - future teachers in Rhode Island - to its teacher training program that would not be admitted to programs in the majority of states and colleges across the nation. It seems counter intuitive, as one would expect a college of education to want to improve the quality of its applicants and would welcome any effort by the state or by districts to improve teacher quality. It is time to raise the status of teachers and the teaching profession so that our best and smartest college students will truly aspire to be public school teachers.

I would encourage RIC and other colleges of education in Rhode Island to give their full support to Commissioner Gist and the state's efforts to raise standards for educators across the continuum of human capital development. In fact, this could be an opportunity for colleges of education to take a proactive role in developing partnerships with local districts, developing urban teacher residencies, and perhaps sponsoring charter schools and providing model sites for teacher development. We can only hope.