It’s time for state to lead in education
Published 4:43 pm Friday, December 26, 2014
A recent report gave Louisiana a C for its efforts in adequately preparing its teachers.
That was par for the course, though, as a C was the average grade among the 50 states in the unforgiving report compiled by the National Council on Teacher Quality. Not a single state earned an A. Florida, Indiana and Rhode Island were given B-pluses, the highest grade. Grading on a curve, Louisiana falls below average.
If the report is to be believed, the nation as a whole needs to up its standards quickly.
The report listed several areas for improvement in Louisiana:
In order to meet college- and career-readiness standards for students, the state needs to be sure that all teachers are able to incorporate complex informational texts into classroom instruction and use literacy skills and text to build content knowledge in history/social studies, science, technical subjects and the arts.
A rigorous content test gauging knowledge of core subjects should be given to elementary teacher candidates. Teachers should be assessed in the science of reading instruction as well as required to hold a content specialization in an academic subject area.
Secondary science and social study teachers should be required to pass a content test “for each discipline they are licensed to teach.”
Rigorous content tests should also be given to elementary special education teacher candidates, and the state should be certain that special education teachers possess adequate content knowledge.
The state is not without its bright spots — Louisiana scored well on admission into preparation programs, middle school teacher preparation, assessing professional knowledge and teacher preparation program accountability. Its teachers are also well-equipped to help struggling readers.
Louisiana is above average in preparation of special education teachers; admission standards for teacher preparation programs; and holding programs accountable for the quality of teachers produced, the council said in a news release.
It’s no longer OK for Louisiana to bring up the rear or settle in the middle of the pack. It’s time for Louisiana to lead the way.
A strong educational system, of which teachers are the most important cog, should be the groundwork for the state.
