‘Bogus’ teacher prep ratings and Zagats

Free tip for Zagat’s restaurant rating service from the National Council on Teacher Quality: You don’t need to actually eat at a restaurant to rate it. Just read the menu. If the menu is unavailable, just rate it anyway. As illogical as this might sound, this is exactly what NCTQ is doing with its release of ratings of teacher preparation programs.

In partnership with U.S. News & World Report, NCTQ released ratings on teacher preparation programs from across the U.S. Claiming to be the education version of Abraham Flexnor, who in 1910 visited, studied, and reported on each U.S. medical school in an attempt to improve them, NCTQ seems to be missing the point about visiting and studying. However, according to the “NCTQ as Abraham Flexnor” promotional video, U.S. teachers “should be the best trained teachers in the world.” This from the group who spawned the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence, an alternative route into teaching that touts on its web site that someone can become a teacher for $1995 with infomercial flair. For more on the beginnings of NCTQ, see Diane Ravitch’s illuminating piece.

Just as we don’t judge a restaurant’s quality by its menu, let’s not judge the quality of a teacher education program by its syllabi. Evaluate the work that its graduates do with students in their classrooms.