Teacher Training Failing Says New Study

Edison State College On "Consumer Alert" List For Poor Performance

LABELLE, FL. -- The National Council On Teacher Quality released it's 2013 report Monday examining teacher training programs at over 1,100 universities and colleges in the U.S. Among the findings are that one in seven schools are so-called "low performing schools" in turning out quality teachers prepared for their first years of teaching.

Only one school in Florida rated highly, the University of Central Florida with 3 stars for it's secondary education program and special ed program.

Edison State College in Southwest Florida rated only 2 stars for it's secondary education program but received a "warning" symbol and "consumer alert" for getting no stars in it's elementary education program and was listed as having one of the lowest performing programs to prepare teachers.

Ohio State University was the only school in the nation rated with 3 or more stars for both elementary and secondary school teacher training.

The report highlights the preparation of teachers for elementary and secondary schools at the nation's universities and colleges saying the council "finds they have become an industry of mediocrity, churning out first-year teachers with classroom management skills and content knowledge inadequate to thrive in classrooms with ever-increasing ethnic and socioeconomic student diversity."

Altogether, the Review provides data on the 1,130 institutions that prepare 99 percent of the nation’s traditionally trained new teachers.

The report continues "Once the world leader in educational attainment, the United States has slipped well into the middle of the pack. Countries that were considered little more than educational backwaters just a few years ago have lept to the forefront of student achievement."

Summarizing it's findings on a rating system of four starts being the best, "Less than 10 percent of rated programs earn three stars or more. Only four programs, all secondary, earn four stars: Lipscomb and Vanderbilt, both in Tennessee; Ohio State University; and Furman University in South Carolina. Only one institution, Ohio State, earns more than three stars for both an elementary (3½ stars) and a secondary (4 stars) program."

Read the full report and each school's rating on Teacher Training At America's Universities

Editor's note: The editor is a graduate of the Ohio State University School of Education.