The initiative — led by the Council of Chief State School Officers, or CCSSO, and formally called the Network for Transforming Educator Preparation, or NTEP — grew out of a “call to action” that CCSSO issued late last year and adds to the growing momentum to make university-based teacher preparation programs more accountable for student achievement.
While it is questionable if becoming a teacher will become tougher in the seven states that have joined the new network, Mary-Dean Barringer, program director for Education Workforce at CCSSO, says she is not sure, but notes that “it’s going to be different, and I think that’s a good thing, and the states would agree.”
Barringer said the way that teachers are recruited and prepared must “change in pretty dramatic ways” in order to help K-12 students meet new standards and expectations, such as the those espoused by a set of education standards known as the “Common Core.”
