forum

Teaching's Gatekeepers
Should education schools continue to be the only route to teaching in the public system?

The Certification Connection
Licensure ought to guarantee that every classroom comes equipped with a skilled, knowledgeable teacher. The new performance standards for teachers are making that possible
By Mary E. Diez

A Tenuous Hold
Education schools have lost the confidence of the public and policymakers alike. They’ll need to relinquish their monopoly on teacher preparation in order to gain it back
By James W. Fraser

Break the Link
The fact that schools of education could no longer rely on a captive body of aspiring teachers would expose them to the cleansing winds of competition
By Frederick M. Hess

The Feds Step In
Will the new accountability regime spur improvement?

Unwarranted Intrusion
Isn’t it ironic that Republicans sponsored the single largest—and potentially the single most damaging— expansion of federal power over the nation’s education system in history?
By Richard F. Elmore

A New Partnership
The move toward federally imposed accountability standards is necessary to ensure that federal funds are enhancing educational opportunity, especially for poor and minority students. It will all be for naught, however, if Congress doesn’t guarantee that states will receive the resources necessary to overhaul failing schools
By Andrew J. Rotherham

features

Tortuous Routes
Wanted: a real alternative to traditional teacher certification
By David Ruenzel

The Mystery of Good Teaching
Surveying the evidence on student achievement and teachers’ characteristics
By Dan Goldhaber

research

Randomly Accountable
The accountability debate tends to devolve into a battle between the pro-testing and anti-testing crowds. But when it comes to the design of a school accountability system, the devil is truly in the details.
By Thomas J. Kane, Douglas O. Staiger and Jeffrey Geppert

Teach for America
The first evidence on classroom performance
By Margaret (Macke) Raymond and Stephen Fletcher

check the facts

Cooking the Questions?
The 33rd Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools
By Terry M. Moe

Positive Spin
The evidence for teacher certification.
By Kate Walsh

from the editors

Certifying the Intangible
No one really knows what makes a good teacher

correspondence

A-plus for Florida?
In “The Looming Shadow” (Research, Winter 2001), Jay P. Greene of the Manhattan Institute examines whether the threat of vouchers under Florida’s A-Plus program forced the state’s failing schools to improve.

book review

"Inside Charter Schools" REVIEWED
Inside Charter Schools: The Paradox of Radical Decentralization Edited by Bruce Fuller
By Patrick J. Wolf

education matters to me

Low Expectations
Straight A’s, yet not ready for college "My high school created a false sense of aptitude and competence."
By Jeffrey M. Jones