The Obama administration was still in its first term when it started talking about the need for America’s teacher prep programs to step up their game and begin to produce more effective teachers.
Now—with about just three months left in its second term—the administration turned that talk into a tangible reality Wednesday in the form of new federal regulations. The regulations seek to rate teacher prep programs according to how many of their graduates go on to get jobs, how long they stay in those jobs, and how well they do those jobs as measured by student academic performance.
The regulations allow for latitude in how the new rating systems will be implemented at the state level as long as those systems rate teacher prep programs as “effective,” “at-risk,” or “low-performing.”
In order to continue to receive federal TEACH grants, which are grants of up to $4,000 a year for prospective teachers who agree to teach at least four years in a high-need field in a low-income school or district, programs must be rated as “effective” for two of the previous three years.
Of course, whether the regulations survive or remain an enforcement priority in the next administration remains to be seen.
But for now, Obama administration officials are optimistic that the new teacher prep regs will make a difference in the quality and diversity of its teacher workforce—in part by giving prospective teachers a way to gauge the quality of teacher prep programs they may enter.
“These regulations will help strengthen teacher preparation so that prospective teachers get off to the best start they can, and preparation programs can meet the needs of students and schools for great educators,” said U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr.
