Rules on top of rules for teachers who teach teachers

A government proposal to further regulate teacher training has drawn accusations of federal overreach, unfairness, and careless spending from conservative groups.

“New teachers want to do a great job for their kids, but often, they struggle at the beginning of their careers and have to figure out too much for themselves,” U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a November statement. States already must report the effectiveness of their teacher training programs and identify which are “low-performing” or “at-risk.” But it is up to the states to decide what constitutes a low-performing program. According to the proposed rule, states only labeled 38 teacher-prep programs as low-performing or at-risk in 2011. “Over the last dozen years, 34 states have never identified a single low-performing or at-risk program at a single [institution of higher education],” the rule stated. The public comment period for the rule ended last week.

The proposal seeks to outline the indicators of quality states will use when determining the effectiveness of their teacher preparation programs. It puts heavier emphasis on outcomes, and limits TEACH Grants—federal money for undergraduate and graduate students going into high-need teaching fields—to only those students enrolled in effective programs.

Though the proposed regulations have no direct affect on homeschoolers, the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Education opposing the proposal.

“The reason why we’re getting involved in this is we are seeing a dangerous trend in the federal government taking over more and more education decisions,” William Estrada, director of federal relations for HSLDA, told me.

Organizations are also concerned about limiting the schools that can receive TEACH Grants. “It’s a precedent that additional federal approval of programs is now required for federal funding,” said Shapri LoMaglio, vice president for government relations with the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU).

Under the proposed plan, teacher training programs would be judged in part on how well a graduate’s own students are doing in the classroom. CCCU said that aspect of the plan caused particular concern to the faith-based institutions it represents.

“Students on our campuses are mission-focused and service-oriented, therefore, they are more likely to teach in the types of schools where students’ scores on their academic assessments are far more likely to reflect poorly on the teacher preparation program,” wrote Shirley Hoogstra, president of the CCCU, in a Feb. 2 letter to the Department of Education.

The letter further explained how assessments designed to measure students’ learning are not meant to assess the schools where teachers were educated.

The proposal also would require states to evaluate programs based on employment outcomes, new teacher and employer feedback, and assurance of specialized accreditation,” in addition to student learning outcomes.

Such data collection raises unrest about the privacy of both teachers and students. But the cost of collecting the data is also a concern.

The proposal estimates a total cost of $42 million annualized over 10 years, but some say this number is unrealistic. “The price tag for states to implement these regulations would be steep —higher, we believe, than the fiscal estimates provided in the proposed rules,” wrote Sharon Robinson, president of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, in an opinion article for The Hechinger Report. “Most states would need to develop new or change existing data collection and reporting systems to comply with the required metrics.”

Some organizations, such as Teach For America and the National Council on Teacher Quality, praised the push toward using “multiple measures” to rate teacher training. Others, though, hope the Department of Education will reconsider before releasing the final rule.

“There’s some pretty strong language in the Higher Education Act that prohibits what they’re trying to do,” said Estrada. “So I’m hopeful that they will realize that they’re outside of their jurisdiction.”