Teacher Training Programs: Activities Underway to Improve Teacher Training, but Information Collected To Assess Accountability Has Limitations Page: 2 of 15
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United States General Accounting Office October 2002
1 TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAMS
SAAccountability* ntegrity Reliability Activities Underway to Improve Teacher
Highlights Training, but Information Collected to
Assess Accountability Has Limitations
Highlights of GAO-03-197T, a testimony before the Subcommittee on 21"t Century Competitiveness,
Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of RepresentativesWhy GAO Did This Study
In 1998, the Congress amended
the Higher Education Act (HEA)
to enhance the quality of
teaching in the classroom by
improving training programs for
prospective teachers and the
qualifications of current teachers.
This testimony focuses on two
components of the legislation:
one that provides grants and
another, called the
"accountability provisions," that
requires collecting and reporting
information on the quality of all
teacher training programs and
qualifications of current teachers.
The Subcommittee asked that we
provide information on (1)
activities grantees supported and
what results are associated with
these activities and (2) whether
the information collected under
the accountability provisions
provides the basis to assess the
quality of teacher training
programs and the qualifications
of current teachers.What GAO Found
Education has approved or awarded 123 grants to states and partnerships
totaling over $460 million dollars. Grantees have used funds for activities
they believe will improve teaching in their locality or state, but it is too
early to determine the grants' effects on the quality of teaching in the
classroom. While the law allows many activities to be funded under broad
program goals outlined in the legislation, most grantees have focused their
efforts on reforming requirements for teachers, providing professional
development to current teachers, and recruiting new teachers. However,
within these general areas, grantees' efforts vary.
Early exposure to teaching is a recruitment strategy used by several grantees.
The information collected as part of the accountability provisions to
report on the quality of teacher training programs and the qualifications of
current teachers has limitations. The accountability provisions require that
all institutions that train teachers who receive federal student financial aid
provide information to their states on their teacher training programs and
program graduates. In order to facilitate the collection of this information,
the HEA required Education to develop definitions for terms and uniform
reporting methods. Education officials told us that they made significant
efforts to define these terms so that the terms incorporated the uniqueness
of teacher training programs, state reporting procedures, and data
availability. In doing so, Education defined some terms broadly.
Education officials told us that this gave states and institutions discretion
to interpret some terms as they wished-resulting in the collection and
reporting of information that was not uniform; making it difficult to assess
accountability.Our nation's teachers are inextricably linked to student achievement. This
bond highlights the importance of teacher preparation programs. The
grants and accountability provisions established by the HEA seek to
improve teacher training, but information collected to assess
accountability has limitations.
The full testimony statement is available at www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-197T. For additional information about this testimony, contact Cornelia
M. Ashby, (202-512-8403).
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United States. General Accounting Office. Teacher Training Programs: Activities Underway to Improve Teacher Training, but Information Collected To Assess Accountability Has Limitations, text, October 9, 2002; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc289585/m1/2/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.