Guardians, practitioners, and policymakers agree that the key to improving public education in America can only be done by placing highly skilled and efficient teachers in classrooms. However, the nation lacks practical sets standards and assessments that can guarantee that teachers are well prepared to teach. The Professional Education Associations began their work in 1987, (Little, & Bell, 2009). Their primary goal was to develop standards for teacher competence in assessment of students. The move was a reaction to the increasing concerns that potential educational benefits of student assessments were not being met. Despite its creation, the teacher professional standards are low and measures should be put …show more content…
These have long been the scale for making decisions about hiring, licensing or compensating teachers and selection for leadership roles. However, this has one vital flaw; these measures do not measure a teacher’s capacity to teach. Existing standards for defining and measuring teacher quality rely either exclusively on classroom observations by head teachers who offer little useful feedback or a focus on a teacher 's course taking records. Sometimes, these standards put emphasis on paper and pencil tests of basic academic skills and subject matter which are all poor predictors of teacher effectiveness in the classroom, (Little, & Bell, …show more content…
The presence of different stakeholders whose role in the system lacks coherence and alignment, (Goe and Croft, 2009). The roles and responsibilities of these stakeholders limit their ability to form a single reform component. As a result, they to focus on only one element when formulating standards. Reforms are then formulated, but they only tinker around the edges; not solving the issue. The standards end up leaving a flawed education system with intact structures.
Currently, the teaching professional standards are flawed. There is no connection between student learning standards and teacher education assessment, (Braun, 2010). The focus of the standards on teacher-of-record rather than subject-area- knowledge. The standards should ensure that a teacher demonstrates pedagogical knowledge and professional teaching abilities. However, as the current standards overlook these aspects, the system ends up with teacher’s whose qualifications do not result in effective teaching styles, (Little, & Bell,