New to the "Teacher Prep Review" in 2021 is a standard measuring the contributions teacher preparation programs make to the diversity of their state's and local community's teacher workforce. Formerly titled Selection Criteria, the Admissions standard has been a part of the "Teacher Prep Review" since its inception in 2013.…

Building a strong, diverse teacher workforce in sufficient numbers requires understanding of the points along the pathway into the teaching profession where aspiring teachers are most likely lost. Currently, policymakers, state education agencies, and teacher prep programs have limited insight into the obstacles along this pathway, largely due to…

Each year a significant number of aspiring elementary teachers, having successfully completed their formal preparation, are still unable to become licensed professionals. That's because an alarming number of candidates fail their licensing tests, far surpassing the failure rate for other professions' entry tests, bar exams, and boards. The fact…

The "NCTQ Teacher Prep Review" evaluates the quality of programs that provide preservice preparation of public school teachers. As part of the "Review," this appendix reports on a pilot study of new standards for assessing the quality of alternative certification programs. Background and methodology for alternative…

The "2018 Teacher Prep Review" examines the results of rating 567 traditional graduate programs, 129 alternative route programs, and 18 residencies preparing both elementary and secondary teachers. The Review includes recommendations for programs to make changes to improve the quality of teachers entering the profession and highlights…

Ever so slowly, the United States is taking a harder look at how its teacher preparation schools are improving the quality of the teachers they produce. The signs are everywhere--from proposed federal action to state legislatures and school boards passing new oversight laws and regulations, to a newly marshaled push for stronger accreditation by…

"Teacher Prep Review 2014" is the second edition of the National Council on Teacher Quality's (NCTQ's) annual assessment of the nation's 2,400 teacher prep programs. The "Review" uncovers early evidence that teacher prep programs are beginning to make changes. It arrives at a time of heightened, unprecedented…

The U.S. Department of Education recently published a notice of draft priorities and requirements for applying for "Race to the Top" (RTT) funding--$4.35 billion in competitive federal grants. Even though it constitutes the smallest piece of education stimulus funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, "Race to the…

While nearly all states now have something on their books labeled "alternate route to certification," these programs defy standard definition due to their enormous variability. States differ in the types of candidates allowed to apply (e.g., career changers or recent college graduates) and in the academic backgrounds these individuals must…

In recent years, the debate over teacher quality and preparation has gained new urgency. Competing groups of partisans have dominated this debate: one seemingly eager to assail the nation's education schools and to suggest that there is an insufficiently defined body of professional teaching knowledge, the other committed to advancing…