ACTA's Must-Reads

NCATE concession not enough

ACTA has issued a statement praising the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) for removing the language of social justice from its grading guidelines and urging the Department of Education not to settle for what is ultimately a very minor cosmetic concession:

ONE SKIRMISH AGAINST ED SCHOOL INDOCTRINATION IS WON

But A Long War Remains, ACTA Notes

WASHINGTON, DC (June 6, 2006)--The recent decision by the primary accreditor of education schools to eliminate sensitivity to "social justice" as a part of its published grading guidelines is a major victory for forces opposed to politicization of the college classroom. The action by NCATE--the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education--comes in the wake of a campaign by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni and others opposing "disposition" assessments of prospective teachers as unconstitutional political litmus tests.

"It is indeed fortunate that an agency endorsed by the U.S. government is no longer encouraging universities to meddle with their students' consciences in this way," ACTA president Anne Neal said. "However, the fight is far from over. Huge problems remain in teacher education and education school accreditation."

Neal testified yesterday before the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, which makes recommendations to the Secretary of Education regarding the federal certification of accrediting agencies. She recommended that the certification of NCATE not be renewed until it ceased encouraging education schools to judge students' commitment to politicized concepts such as "social justice" and "diversity" via evaluations of their "dispositions." These evaluations came to public attention earlier this year in the wake of controversies at Brooklyn College and Washington State University, where student Ed Swan was nearly expelled for espousing the "wrong" political and religious views.

"The Department of Education should demand clearly defined principles which relate directly to a prospective teacher's future success--namely skills and subject matter knowledge--not feelings, values and 'dispositions,'" Neal said.

At the Committee meeting, NCATE president Arthur Wise announced that his organization was removing the term "social justice" from its materials. However, NCATE materials still contain the word "diversity," which prompted the row at Washington State. Moreover, as outlined in Neal's testimony, many universities' policies have already adopted objectionable language due to the former materials.

"It is remarkably short-sighted to think that eliminating a few words eliminates the problem of education school politicization," Neal said. "As ACTA has been pointing out for years, our education schools are failing our children. NCATE's decision yesterday is a step forward, but only that. ACTA will continue to fight for real reform."

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni is a national education nonprofit dedicated to academic freedom, academic quality, and accountability. ACTA has a network of alumni and trustees around the country. One of ACTA's programs, Trustees for Better Teachers, focuses specifically on the ways trustees can help reform teacher education. ACTA has issued numerous reports on higher education including How Many Ward Churchills?, Intellectual Diversity: Time for Action, The Hollow Core, and Losing America's Memory: Historical Illiteracy in the 21st Century. For further information, contact ACTA at (202) 467-6787.

Neal's point that many education schools have incorporated NCATE's emphasis on disposition, social justice, and diversity into their own evaluative mechanisms is huge. NCATE's decision to stop mentioning social justice rings a bit hollow when one considers that this does nothing to urge schools themselves to rethink their own policies. As Neal noted in her testimony,

By focusing on dispositions, NCATE is clearly highlighting--if not promoting--adoption of what can be political viewpoint tests for students seeking teacher certification. And that is surely borne out by even a perfunctory examination of accredited education programs where one can find "disposition toward social justice" has taken a firm hold, even though it has never been mandatory.

The Penn State College of Education has as one of its goals "to enhance the continuing commitment of faculty, staff and students to diversity [and] social justice."

In a job description, Penn State Capitol College's School of Behavioral Sciences and Education requires that the position of professor and associate director have a "willingness to advocate for social justice."

Adelphi University's NCATE-accredited Education School states on its website that "Social justice is a core value ... as reflected in the basic social and philosophical courses offered to our students. ... we remain steadfast in engaging students in dialogue about the economic, social, political, gender, and ethnic inequalities that exist in today's society. ... We teach students to challenge the conventional ways of thinking about mathematics, science, history, English, and language arts. ... Students who are imaginative and empowered become teachers keenly aware of the social injustices of our world, willing to explore ways to alleviate those inequalities."

In a professors' syllabus, at Oswego State University, we find the following description: "The School of Education (SOE) at Oswego State University has recently adopted a conceptual framework that includes a commitment to teaching for social justice in order to 'prepare individuals who will continually strive for personal growth and become socially conscious catalysts for change' (SOE, 2000). ... This new initiative is an indication that there are some recognised (sic) sites of social injustices that need to be challenged ...'"

According to the University of Alabama Education School website: the "College of Education is committed to honoring diversity, respecting differences and promoting social justice..."

What does "social justice" mean? According to the University of Alabama's own description: The College of Education is "committed to preparing individuals to promote social justice, to be change agents, and to recognize individual and institutional racism, sexism, homophobia, and classism. ... It includes educating individuals to break silences about these issues, propose solutions, provide leadership, and develop anti-racist, anti-homophobic, anti-sexist community and alliances."

Excuse me. Have these schools ever heard about reading, writing and 'rithmetic? The privilege of academic freedom and considerable autonomy that the public grants to higher education presumes that academic life will be governed by professional norms of scholarly inquiry and education, not advocacy.

But as these verbatim descriptions show, taxpayer funded ed schools--using the amorphous guidelines of NCATE approved by the U.S. Department of Education--are viewing themselves as activist institutions and are confusing social engineering with their job of preparing the next generation of teachers.

Words to live by, to teach by -- and to make policy by.

Posted by acta online on June 07, 2006 at June 7, 2006 02:35 PM

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ACTA's Must-Reads

NCATE concession not enough

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