State, UW Officials Challenge Education Week Study

Editors note: The journal Education Week on Jan. 7 released a state-by-state assessment of school performance that was highly critical of teacher quality in Wisconsin. On teacher preparation, training and knowledge, the “Quality Counts” study gave the state a D-minus, the lowest ranking in the nation. State Superintendent of Schools John Benson and UW–Madison School of Education Dean Charles Read responded to the study with this joint press release defending the quality of state teachers.

MADISON-State Superintendent of Schools John Benson and UW–Madison School of Education Dean Charles Read expressed dismay today (Friday, Jan. 9 ) over a study placing the quality of Wisconsin’s teaching force last in the nation.

“Common sense tells us that we can’t have the nation’s top performing students and the nation’s lowest unemployment rate and also have the nation’s most ill-prepared teachers,” said Benson. “How are our young people learning – through osmosis?”

“I think it’s bizarre,” added Read. “The authors have yet to observe their first Wisconsin teacher, but they presume to grade the quality of their teaching. That Wisconsin went from a grade of C to a D-minus in a single year defies logic.”

Benson noted that the criteria used to rank the states in the Education Week survey called “Quality Counts” assumed “an unusual amount of state control over teacher preparation, assessment and evaluation. This is counter to our tradition of local control, and these are not activities that we believe the state should wrest from local school boards.”

Read noted that 20 percent of the grade on teaching quality is based on whether the state provides funding for teachers’ continuing education. “Wisconsin distributes state funds for continuing education to local school districts; they in turn decide how to spend that money,” he said. “Why is the source of resources for teacher training in any way an indicator of teacher quality?

“We happen to believe that when it comes to hiring, evaluating and improving teachers, better decisions are made at the local level.”

The report indicates, for example, that Wisconsin does not require new teachers to be evaluated for their performance in the classroom. In fact, all school districts are required to evaluate all personnel in their first year of employment, Benson said, and at least every third year thereafter.

“The report weighted 80 percent of its teacher-quality grade on one idea: Does the state have a performance-based teacher licensing system in place?” said Read. “While Wisconsin is moving in that direction, we have long had a list of standards that teacher education students must meet.”

Benson added that many of the indicators relate to reform efforts currently underway in the state. While Wisconsin is among 27 states downgraded for failing to have standards for new teachers, a teacher-licensing task force appointed by the state superintendent has recommended such standards for all teachers. Rep. Luther Olsen (R-Berlin) recently indicated that those task force recommendations will soon come before the Legislature for consideration.

The state superintendent pointed out that the Department of Public Instruction has unsuccessfully sought funding for professional development in each of his biennial budget requests. “If we truly expect to continually improve the quality of education in Wisconsin, I believe the state must provide financial support for staff development, which, I might point out, is required by law.”

Benson further noted that “we apparently received little credit for the breadth and depth of our student-teaching requirements, which are the most demanding in the nation.” Wisconsin requires all prospective teachers to complete 18 weeks, or one full semester, of student teaching. Read added that UW–Madison secondary education students must complete two full semesters of student teaching before graduation, one of the most rigorous requirements in the country.

“I feel badly for educators; their efforts are among the least appreciated of all occupations,” Benson concluded. “We cannot continue to unjustly malign our teachers and expect that our best and brightest young people will choose teaching as a profession.”