Alexander Statement on Education Department’s Final Regulation on Teacher Preparation Programs

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 12 – Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) made the following statement on the Education Department’s regulation on teacher preparation programs, which was made final today:

“Today’s regulation appears to violate the Higher Education Act, which specifically says that states—not bureaucrats at a distant department in Washington—are responsible for evaluating whether a college’s program gives teachers the skills they need for the classroom. The regulation also effectively mandates teacher evaluations and forces states to focus on students’ test scores in a way that Congress explicitly rejected just months ago when we fixed No Child Left Behind and its unworkable National School Board approach.”

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