Commentary
Nearly a century ago, Lawrence Lowell, the retiring president of Harvard University, described his university’s education school as “a kitten that ought to be drowned.” While Lowell’s words were offensive, his point was clear. Education schools have a poor reputation. This was true in the early-20th century and it remains true today.
In 2006, Arthur Levine, former president of Columbia Teachers’ College (arguably the most prestigious teacher training institution in North America), wrote a devastating report about the status of teacher education, concluding that “the teacher education curriculum is a confusing patchwork.”
Not only that, Levine also observed that “research on teacher education is criticized by the academic community for its low quality and is ignored by policy makers and practitioners.” As a case in point, there’s a huge gulf between math professors and math education professors. Math professors have long been some of the harshest critics of teaching methods promoted in education schools….