Best Practices for Evaluating Teacher Preparation Programs: Centering Equity

• In Event: Teacher Preparation Evaluation Systems: What Would It Take to Put Equity at the Center?

Abstract

More than a decade ago and reflecting the unprecedented attention to teacher quality that emerged internationally in response to the perceived demands of the global knowledge economy, the National Research Council (2010) published the congressionally-mandated study, Preparing Teachers: Building Evidence for Sound Policy. The report concluded that the United States needed a comprehensive data collection system to support teacher preparation quality control and accountability. Since the publication of the NRC report, there have been dozens of reports and presentations by professional organizations, philanthropies, consultants, advocacy organizations, and academic groups specifying how teacher preparation evaluation should be done and how accountability systems should operate (e.g., Coggshall, et al., 2012; Council of Chief State School Officers, 2012; Education Deans for Justice and Equity, 2019; Feuer, et al., 2013; Worrell, et al, 2014). This paper analyzes and problematizes the “best practices” recommended in 19 reports issued between 2010 and 2020 wherein the explicit topic was the nature, characteristics, and/or strengths and limitations of teacher education evaluation/ assessment/accountability systems, tools, or initiatives.

Authors

• Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Boston College

• Emilie Mitescu Reagan, Claremont Graduate University