Rita Kramer’s expose Ed School Follies is now nearly a quarter century old, but America’s education schools have changed very little over those years. Why should they change? So what if the teachers they graduate are of low academic ability and have been indoctrinated with gooey “progressive” educational theories?
Now, an online credential program for aspiring teachers might change things. Emily Feistritzer’s TEACH-NOW program was launched in 2011, has produced 700 graduates, and plans to expand substantially. The program has hired the former dean of Western Governors University’s teacher program, Philip Schmidt, to oversee TEACH-NOW’s growth. In this piece, Schmidt speaks truth to power: “The majority of schools of education are pretty stale and boring and don’t really prepare teachers to work in 21st century schools.”
Will graduates of TEACH-NOW prove to be superior to graduates of traditional ed schools? It’s probably too early to say for sure, but providing competition for those schools can’t be bad — except insofar as it reduces their enrollments.
I asked John Stone, a long-time critic of ed schools for his thoughts about this and he replied,
As long as these new programs don’t simply become a new pathway for propagating the same old ideas, they should be an improvement. If they promote the same teaching processes and practices–just under new management–they will likely create only marginal improvement in outcomes.”