A report by a research organization based in Washington has revealed that the majority of colleges of education in the country are not adequately equipping aspiring elementary teachers with the necessary skills to teach children how to read. The report, titled "What Education Schools Aren’t Teaching About Reading and What Elementary Teachers Aren’t Learning," states that teacher-education programs are failing to teach the fundamental elements of effective reading instruction, including phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.
The report, which was released by the National Council on Teacher Quality, highlights that almost all of the 72 institutions in their sample received a "failing" grade. The report’s authors evaluated syllabi, textbooks, and other required reading materials from a representative sample of the nation’s teacher-education programs to determine if these essential components were covered. Only 11 percent of the colleges included in the review taught all the components, while approximately one-fourth did not appear to teach any of them. These components were identified as crucial for effective reading instruction by the National Reading Panel in 2000 and have since been the cornerstone of efforts to improve student achievement at state and federal levels.
The report also found that teacher education programs accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education did not perform any better than those without accreditation. As a result, the report recommends that the certification process should incorporate higher standards for teaching reading research, and federal officials should make it mandatory for reading teachers to have a solid understanding of the science behind reading in order to meet the requirements of being a "highly qualified" teacher under the No Child Left Behind Act.
While some experts question the validity of the study’s methodology, there is general agreement that teacher education programs need to integrate more reading research into their curriculum. Timothy Shanahan, president of the International Reading Association and a member of the National Reading Panel, acknowledges that the study’s overall conclusion aligns with the view that beginning teachers are often ill-prepared in reading instruction.
Many colleges have already started to revamp their reading courses to incorporate more research-based practices, and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education is in the process of revising its standards accordingly.
