La. education official denies report on instructor training

A top higher education official Friday disputed criticism in a report earlier this week that faulted how Louisiana prepares teachers for the classroom.

Nearly half of the suggestions in the National Council on Teacher Quality review are already in place, according to a 10-page document prepared by Jeanne Burns, who is associate commissioner for teacher and leader initiatives for the state Board of Regents.

Burns played a key role in the state’s overhaul of college education programs to link student achievement with teacher training.

The changes were among the first in the nation.

On Wednesday the National Council on Teacher Quality, or NCTQ, which calls itself a nonpartisan research group in Washington, D. C., said the state deserved a “C” letter grade for how it prepares teachers.

The study said the state has lax admission rules to enter teacher-training programs, inadequate preparation to give instructions in more rigorous classes that start next year and that student teaching programs fall short.

But Burns’ report said universities already provide math, reading, science and social studies content geared to the needs of elementary school teachers, one of the issues cited in the report.

That training is also being aligned with the tougher curriculum — it is called common core — that will start being taught in Louisiana and most other states in the 2014-15 school year, according to Burns’ response to the study.

The NCTQ said the state requires prospective teachers to spend at least 270 hours in student teaching, including 180 hours of actual teaching.

The report said officials should require at least 10 weeks of student teaching.

Burns said prospective teachers are already in schools for more 10 or more weeks.

She said 10 of 19 universities reported that they require from 450 to 600 hours of student teaching.

“The report makes it sound like our campuses are not having students get a good student teaching experience,” Burns said in an interview.

Most of the other changes in the report, including tougher rules for teachers who use alternative certification to enter the classroom, would have to be addressed by the state Department of Education and the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, Burns said.

Kate Walsh, president of the NCTQ, said officials in Louisiana and elsewhere are allowed to file detailed responses to the group’s findings.

“I absolutely appreciate the frustration of public servants being graded all the time,” Walsh said.

The national average for states reviewed was “D plus.”

Comments

1) Comment by teacherguy - 26/01/2013

Um...pretty soon...it won't matter....one of the main reasons teacher certification, experience, etc.. have been attacked so vigorously is because the lowest school systems in the state have been hard pressed to put warm bodies, as teachers, in those schools. The hope was a 5 week program placing college grads would be better than a warm body...the problem with that logic is...even for those looking to make teaching a career, the attrition rate has been above 50%....those looking to "give teaching a try" will create an even higher attrition rate where experience (in it for the long haul) trumps those that put in a couple of years and moves on to better things. This is what is happening in the trenches today...experienced teachers are biding their time until they can exit the teaching profession, those coming in have little clue how to manage student mis- behaviors which is the FIRST great challenge to teaching them ANYthing, and colleges are reporting fewer students enrolling into education. My representative asked me when I met with him about the last legislative session, " I mean, something has to change. Could public ed in LA be any worse? " My answer to that question was, and is...YES. There may be a little improvement for a couple of years, and the LDOE may be able to provide smoke and mirrors to hide the destruction that is taking place...but the TRUTH to what has happened to LA's public ed system will resemble that "sinkhole" that has terrorized a portion of our state. ONe of the reasons that top half of LA's districts rank there has been due to teacher quality the lower half of districts can't recruit....and now the top half of districts will see a reduction of well trained teachers, too....

2) Comment by swinham - 26/01/2013

I would respectfully suggest the ADVOCATE cease publishing these "studies". They are confusing at best, obsolete by the time they reach publication, and dishonestly biased at worst. Also, can you imagine how long it must have taken Ms. Burns to prepare her rebuttal - a document most people would find bereft of intrinsic value. Could her time have not been better spent?

3) Comment by spqr - 26/01/2013

Who cares what these overpaid NON-teaching blowhards think. Pastorek was paid nearly a half-million dollars to run this state's public educational system. His hiring was a courtesy to a powerful individual affiliated with the Piyush Jindal administration. He is ARROGANT and lost on school issues.

4) Comment by Iamhopeful2 - 26/01/2013

Not a surprise from NCTQ with a Board of Directors that includes former reform superintendent Paul Pastorek who followed the reform initiative to deprofessionalize teaching so as to replace certified qualified teachers with temporary alternative certification instructors like Teach For America - our legislature paid homage to that with law that allows charters to hire 100% non-certified teachers. Also on the board, Chester Finn of the Fordham Foundation - pro-privatization AstroTurf think tank bent on turning a system of public education that is required to serve ALL children into a selective enrollment system publicly funded charters that sends low performers and special needs children to "accelerated schools" that we once used to characterize as institutions. I was never more disappointed in Dr. Burns however at the realization that she had been sucked into the scheme with participation in support of the bogus value added teacher evaluation system now adopted and designed with unproven and flawed research by Dr. George Noell. I hope, Dr. burns that you can redeem yourself now and your good work as an education professor by speaking out about the misuse of value added and high stakes standardized test. Evidently the work of "reform" has not yet finished list libelous work of painting Louisiana children teachers and schools as abject failures. This report is part and parcel to changing