It is time for George F. Will to get outside the Beltway and visit the real world, including today’s universities that prepare teachers. There he would find teacher candidates first and foremost majoring in the disciplines they are preparing to teach. They take the same courses and same exams as other students. This is not only the prevailing practice, it is the law in most states. Only as they master the disciplines do teacher candidates begin to take the courses and have the practical experiences that will teach them how to make what they know accessible to the great variety of students they will encounter. Teacher preparation is an all-university responsibility, with 70 to 80 percent of the preparation taking place outside the education school. The first accreditation requirement for an education school is to present proof that its teacher candidates have knowledge of the subject that they plan to teach. Schools must provide at least two kinds of evidence that their candidates have this knowledge. First, their candidates must pass state licensing tests of that knowledge. Second, schools must provide additional information based on the university’s own assessment of its candidates’ knowledge. Having —met this requirement, the school must then provide additional data demonstrating that candidates know the research on teaching and learning, can employ effective teaching strategies and can, in fact, teach so that students learn. Accreditation requirements do expect that candidates exhibit two professional dispositions: fairness and the belief that all students can learn. As an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan accreditation agency, recognized by the federal government and nearly every state, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education does not itself espouse nor expect or require its institutions to espouse any particular political or social ideologies. Accreditation of education schools is voluntary in most states, unlike other professional schools where it is mandatory. Currently 657 of the nation’s 1,200 education schools have met NCATE’s requirements.
Arthur E. Wise, PresidentNational Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education
Washington, D.C.

Click here for other letters and scroll down to the "The Truth About Teaching" section, January 30 Newsweek Letters.