Should there be a national test for teachers?
Saturday, August 16, 2008Written by: Mark Sass
In my introductory blog, I wrote that I wanted to investigate/examine/interrogate the notion of teacher as professional. I wrote that teachers need to view themselves as professionals and that society needs to treat teachers as professionals, as opposed to treating teachers as well-intentioned “Mother Teresas,” fighting the good fight.
One way to judge whether or not teachers are treated and act like professionals is to compare teachers to other “professionals.” In 2005, the Finance Project, an organization that looks to “support decision-making that produces good results for children, families, and communities,” published a report that compared education to six other fields. The report, titled Preparing and Training Professionals: Comparing Education to Six Other Fields compares professional development in education to six other professions: law, accounting, architecture, nursing, firefighting and law enforcement.
Since we know that teacher quality is the most critical factor in improving student achievement, professional development of teachers is crucial. So how does education stack up as far as professional development?
In comparing preparation programs, all of the other professions had “greater consistency than education in standards across states.” Education, as opposed to the other professions, has no national standards, which, the report says, would “enable preparation programs to better compare their work to that of their peers and to measure progress towards established goals.”
Most of the other professions require practitioners to pass national exams before practicing. The report goes on to compare education to those other professions in six categories. But let’s stop at the issue of national standards.
Accountants, architects, and nurses must pass a single national exam. Lawyers must pass state bar exams, which employ a national or multi-state component.
Why no national exam for teachers? The major stumbling block to a national standard exam for teachers is disagreement around what the standards would entail. Why is it so difficult to come to consensus around the issue of teacher standards? Other professions do it. Does the resistance come from within the ranks of teachers and teacher unions (although the AFT is way ahead of the NEA on proposing teacher standards)? Do states get in the way here? Are they concerned with losing their autonomy? What about society in general? Is there reluctance by society in viewing their children’s teachers as professionals? What do you think?
