NCATE: Knowing How to Teach is Critical to Learning















As a program accredited by NCATE, the IU School of Education is required to offer proof that teacher education graduates have acquired in-depth knowledge of subject matter and can explain important principles and concepts in the classroom.

Archived July, 2001

The following originally appeared as a letter in The Indianapolis Star, February, 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Knowing How to Teach Is Critical to Learning

BY DR GERARDO GONZALEZ,
Dean of the Indiana University School of Education in Bloomington, IN

In a February 1 (2001) column, George Will blamed poor teacher training for the plight of education in out nation’s schools. What is the point of putting more teachers in the classrooms, he asks, if students will merely be taught by inadequately trained teachers? A good teacher, he asserts, needs training only in his or her subject matter, and a degree in education is needless and possibly even detrimental.

At Indiana University, we take the education of teachers very seriously. Teachers must be skilled at teaching. They must be able to motivate their students to learn, to plan challenging and engaging lessons and to organize their curricula to ensure that students learn what they really need to know. Education students learn how to do this in their methods courses, through the use of instructional technology, in internships at schools, and through field-based courses in schools and community organizations.

Students learn about the history and philosophy of education, and even Socrates and his teaching method, the Socratic dialogue, are taught and debated. Students learn about America’s constant concern for education reform, from Thomas Jefferson’s proposals for the education of the citizens of a new republic to more recent debates on standardized testing and accountability. Students learn to see education in a much richer perspective informed by politics, philosophy, history, and the arts, and they begin the lifelong process of translating their own and their students’ knowledge into wisdom.

At IU, teacher education students are also expected to obtain a deep understanding of the subjects they will teach. The 21^st Century Teachers Project, begun in 1999, is an exciting new initiative that will enhance teacher education by bringing together the best ideas about teaching and learning from the Arts and Sciences faculty, from the School of Education faculty, and from teachers in K–12 schools.

The project focuses on methods courses taught by education faculty, but especially on content discipline courses taught by arts and sciences faculty. With this kind of collaboration, we can better identify the subject knowledge that teachers must have, evaluate key university courses that teachers take in order to obtain this knowledge, and propose course reform where needed.

The goal is to restructure the disciplinary training of future teachers to foster the mastery of subject knowledge and development of effective teaching methods that will bring that content to life for elementary and secondary education students.

As a program accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, the IU School of Education is required to offer proof that teacher education graduates have acquired in-depth knowledge of subject matter and can explain important principles and concepts in the classroom.

A recent Education Testing Service study that tracked 270,000 teacher candidates who took subject area specialization exams found that teachers who had completed a teacher preparation program accredited by NCATE out-performed teachers who had completed a non-accredited program. And both groups of candidates out-performed teacher candidates who had not entered any teacher preparation program.

Nationally accredited teacher education programs make a difference in teacher performance. As the demand for qualified teachers around the nation grows, however, states are hiring increasing numbers of unlicensed individuals to fill classrooms. Some people, like George Will, suggest that if these unlicensed individuals know the subject matter they can teach it as well or better than licensed teachers.

Yet these same people would not dream of suggesting that we let doctors, nurses, architects, or engineers practice without a license. These professions require rigorous professional preparation, and the public demands it. We should not accept anything less for our nation’s teachers.

Copyright © 1997–2001, National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.
All rights reserved. NCATE is the professional accrediting organization for schools, colleges, and departments of education in the United States. It is a coalition of over 30 organizations representing teachers, teacher educators, policymakers, and the public.

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As a program accredited by NCATE, the IU School of Education is required to offer proof that teacher education graduates have acquired in-depth knowledge of subject matter and can explain important principles and concepts in the classroom.

Knowing How to Teach Is Critical to Learning