If we gave teachers – starting with high school teachers – competency exams in their subject field, where we compiled performance data only for the schools they attended, we could start to hold universities accountable. It seems to me that this would be easy to do. I’m sure the teachers would agree if their individual scores were kept anonymous.
When I hear complaints about teacher competency, I always wonder why the teachers are held accountable. After all, the Universities trained them and certified them as competent by graduating them. I don’t think many businesses would keep hiring people from a training firm that produced, and certified as competent, incompetent employees.
A final comment. From my limited experience, when I have taught future teachers, most have been hard working, serious, and willing to learn to the level that I told them was appropriate. One even told me that she was sorry that she was just now learning what she really needed to know to do a good job of teaching math.
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