21st Century Teachers are Those that Pass Tests? 

Monday, November 9, 2009 at 10:04AM
Justin Bathon in 21st century teachers, Policy-NCLB, Technology & Internet, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, education report card, educational effectiveness, teacher testing

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ... yes. 

In their latest education report card, what they deem a report card on educational effectiveness, they have 9 different subjects on which they are reporting. One of those subjects that the states are graded on is "21st Century Teaching Force." I figured that would be a bit difficult to measure, so I checked out their methodology in determining whether a state is preparing 21st Century Teachers. 

It turns out, they have 4 factors. If you have all 4, you get an A, 3 a B, and so on. And what are these outstanding factors that determine whether a state is creating a 21st century teaching force ... testing and alternative certification. Here they are: 

 

1. Teachers must pass basic skills test. 
2. Teachers must pass subject knowledge test. 
3. State has alternative cert. program. 
4. State tests alternative cert. teachers. 

 

Maybe I am missing something, but what in the heck does that have to do with preparing 21st Century Teachers? Seriously. If someone knows, please tell me. 

Tell you what, though, they have a really fancy chart. It's cool even. The take-away here is not that the U.S. Chamber is doing great research ... they are not. Mostly, they seem to be borrowing off other people's research even. The point is that they know how to present research. And, if it looks cool people tend not to play with the details. 

Article originally appeared on The Edjurist - Information on School and Educational Law (http://edjurist.com/).