The U.S. Department of Education has released its long-anticipated proposed regulations for teacher preparation programs for public comment – YOUR comment – through the Federal Register. Public comments are accepted through February 2.
The Federal Register site states:
The Secretary proposes new regulations to implement requirements for the teacher preparation program accountability system under title II of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), that would result in the development and distribution of more meaningful data on teacher preparation program quality.
The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education counters:
These rules not only highlight the Administration’s determination to create a federal ratings system for higher education, but also could turn back the clock on innovation and reform in educator preparation—negatively affecting teacher candidates, schools and universities, the teaching profession and, ultimately, our country’s millions of PK-12 students. (AACTE press release, 11-26-14)
- Read the Entire Proposal on the Federal Register.
- Watch a Brief Statement by AACTE President Sharon P. Robinson, who is also presenting at AMTE’s Annual Conference in February 2015.
- Explore related resources from the Association of Colleges of Teacher Education.
- Get more background from a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education
Submit a Comment via Regulations.gov
Update from AMTE
On January 30, 2015, the AMTE president and president elect, with approval of the AMTE Board of Directors, submitted the following official statement on the proposed regulations to Secretary Duncan.
Template from AACTE
Kathy Schultz, Dean at Mills College, has distributed a template based on her open letter to Secretary Duncan. This template is intended to provide support to those who have concerns about the proposed rule-making, but lack time to compose a comment from scratch. If you find the template helpful, please feel free to use it.