Candace is right. Education schools do a poor job of preparing people to teach. An April, 2001 study released by Pacific Research Institute does an excellent job of explaining the nature of the problem, which is an insistence on “constructivist” pedagogy. You can read the study here.

Where school administrators have a choice, they generally prefer to avoid applicants who have been through education schools. Private schools often avoid them in favor of people who have degrees in true academic disciplines.

The Pacific Research paper shows that even public school administrators try to hire non-ed-school teachers when they can.

Ed-school training certainly appears to flunk the test of the market. If it weren’t for the fact that public school officials usually have to hire people with ed school credentials because no one else can become certified, we would know for sure.