AACTE Issues Statement on New NCTQ Classroom Management Report

As AACTE’s Mary Harrill-McClellan alerted members last week, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) released its latest critique of university-based teacher preparation today, Training Our Future Teachers: Classroom Management.

The report follows the standard NCTQ model of using a review of course materials from a small sample of programs to support the broad claim that the teacher preparation profession is not getting the job done.

AACTE issued a statement citing specific concerns with the report, including mainly that the report does not actually tell us whether programs are adequately preparing teacher candidates to manage classrooms. Other concerns noted in the statement are that the report contains no evidence to support the sweeping claims about “the field” of teacher preparation and that the assertions that edTPA does not focus on classroom management skills are incorrect.

“Teacher preparation has come to consensus around effective classroom management strategies and other practices through the new edTPA assessment and support system, new national accreditation standards, and several other research-based initiatives,” said AACTE President/CEO Sharon P. Robinson. “These efforts have gained significant traction throughout the education system, and they will be addressed with even greater rigor as we advance through implementation. Until NCTQ addresses the flaws in its work, the profession will not feel that it can use the reports constructively.”

For more information on AACTE members’ and the education community’s experiences with NCTQ, visit this resource page of our web site. For questions about AACTE’s position on NCTQ, contact Lisa Johnson Kiefer at LKiefer@aacte.org or Mary Harrill-McClellan at MHarrill@aacte.org.


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Lisa Johnson Kiefer

Senior Manager of Marketing & Communications, AACTE

Mary Harrill

Senior Director, Higher Education Accreditation and Program Support National Association for the Education of Young Children