Students are used to getting report cards, but now, thanks to a provision in the revised Higher Education Act, teacher-training programs will get report cards as well.
Beginning next year, federally funded teacher-training programs, such as the University's Curry School of Education, must report what percentage of their graduates pass the state licensing exam required to become a teacher.
The provision, which was passed last year in Congress as Title II of the revised Higher Education Act, is designed to address the public's concern that teachers are not always qualified to teach.
"This is an accountability move," Education School Dean David W. Breneman said. "In recent years there has been a growing focus on the quality of teacher education and public education."
Although Virginia requires that students attain the highest score on the licensing exam among all states nationwide, about 94 to 97 percent of Education School graduates pass the exam, Director of Teacher Education Sandra B. Cohen said.
Additionally, "we have not had anyone fail the practice licensing exam ever, as far as I can remember," James M. Cooper, Commonwealth professor at the Education School
"The University will fare very well, way ahead of the curve," Cohen said.
Although the U.S. Department of Education has not ironed out the details, she said schools who are performing poorly might lose federal funding.
"I'm just speculating, but the federal government might put pressure on state governments to put [poorly performing schools] on provisional approval for funds or close them down completely," Cooper said.
Cohen said the provision would cause some teaching programs to make changes.
"Some institutions [in Virginia] should be somewhat worried," she said. Those who have passage rates of 25 percent or under "will have something to scurry and catch up on."
She added that one of the difficulties with reporting passage rates to the Department of Education is that every state has different requirements for becoming a teacher.
"Every state chooses a different test through ETS [Educational Testing Service], and each state chooses the criteria for passage," Cohen said.
Because some states have lower cut-off rates than others, she said it is difficult to compare among them.
A student who would not pass the licensing test in Virginia may be able to pass if they had taken it in another state, because the Virginia test has a particularly high cut-off rate, she added.
Unless the U.S. Department of Education takes into consideration the differences in cut-off scores among states, there could be a tendency to "penalize high standards," Cooper said.
This provision also highlights the difficulties of dealing simultaneously with a teacher shortage and the public's demand that teachers be highly qualified.
"It's logically inconsistent," said Harold Burbach, Education School professor and department chairperson of Leadership, Foundation and Policy. "You can't increase the quality and number of teachers without putting more money into programs."
Cooper said teacher's salaries and support systems must be increased to attract more talent to a career in teaching. After the first five years, 40 to 50 percent of teachers drop out of the profession, he said.
He added that one explanation of the shortage of teachers is that new teachers often are placed in tough teaching situations while the more experienced teachers get easier assignments.
By raising incomes to meet the competency level of individuals and by raising the standard of who becomes a teacher, Cohen said teachers would receive more status in society.
"Right now, people of a certain intelligence and ability may go to professional schools to become doctors and lawyers," she said. "They may really like children, [but because of the low salary level of teachers] they would be choosing a major difference in lifestyle."
North Carolina has implemented a program called Teaching Fellows to attract honor students to the teaching profession, Cooper said. The program offers the top 10 percent of all high school graduating classes $5,000 a year toward their college education if they agree to teach for four years after graduation.
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