Teacher Preparation
As Congress considers a reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, teacher pay, teacher shortages, and teacher strikes continue to attract attention. In general, Democrats are revisiting accountability legislation that mirrors controversial Obama-era regulations that were never implemented and Republicans may look to reduce the federal role in teacher preparation.
House Democrats included in H. R. 4674, the College Affordability Act passed by the House Education and Labor Committee, a “pupil-teacher-program” metric to determine “low-performing” or “at-risk” programs on state teacher preparation program report cards. This evaluation construct was also in the Obama-era regulations and links the quality of a teacher preparation program to how well the children its graduates teach do on standardized tests. The outcome is linked to whether or not a teacher preparation program has Title IV TEACH Grant eligibility.
In contrast, in 2017, House Republicans’ PROSPER Act, H. R. 4508, eliminated Title II teacher preparation grants and state report cards. Currently in the Senate, Republicans and Democrats are reportedly working together to find common ground on expanding the grant program, and updating accountability report cards, but language is not yet available.
NAICU continues to support a federal investment to improve teacher preparation programs and disseminate best practices in the teaching profession without burdensome regulations or punitive accountability metrics.
Recent History
On March 27, 2017, President Trump signed H.J. Res. 58 into law, repealing the Obama Administration’s final regulations to create federal rules for teacher education programs. The bipartisan concern about these regulations put them on the short list for repeal under the Congressional Review Act, resulting in the House passing the resolution by a vote of 240-181, and the Senate by a bipartisan vote of 59-40. Passage of the repeal ensured the regulations were not implemented, and that similar regulations would not be promulgated in the future.
NAICU supported the repeal of the teacher preparation regulations as the final rule included a performance rating system based on federal criteria, enforced by states, and linked those criteria to program eligibility for TEACH Grants. Among the greatest concerns was that program quality will not be enhanced by the federal government establishing a profession’s quality standards while ignoring cutting-edge practices.
NAICU submitted a letter to Representatives Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Bobby Scott (D-VA), and a letter to Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE), and the other Senate co-sponsors, in support of the resolution.