Deadlocked Negotiators Fail to Reach Consensus on Teacher-Prep Rules

This from Teacher Beat:  

Following a three-hour telephone call with negotiators during which consensus seemed frustratingly out of reach on new teacher preparation accountability rules, the U.S. Education Department declined to extend the rulemaking process any further, meaning it will craft the rules on its own.

The final wedge issue on the conference call ended up being a familiar one: student-achievement outcomes.

Several negotiators said they didn't feel that such measures as "value added" were ready to be used to judge program quality.

The breakdown in the process came as an abrupt about-face from last week, when negotiators seemed somewhat closer to an agreement.

But by the beginning of the conference call held this afternoon, the divisions among negotiators seemed to have grown more deep-set, with consensus far from imminent.

The Education Department's proposal would have required states to classify their teacher-preparation programs into four categories, using a mix of measures including student-achievement information. Only those in the top two categories would have qualified to offer TEACH grants for low-income students who commit to teaching in hard-to-staff schools.

The student-achievement piece has been a thorny one from day one. But during the second rulemaking session, the negotiators appeared to have reached a compromise on the matter.
Unexpectedly, the issue raised its head again today....