Citizen/Blog #2

Title: “Dean Suellen Meara Testifies on Improving Teacher Education in the District of Columbia”

Summary:  Trinity’s dean of education, Suellen Meara, appeared before D.C. State Board of Education to attest for the poor performance by D.C. public school students. Meara claims that the old approaches to teacher education are successful in the way that they are measured, by accreditation bodies, but they are obviously not working.  Meara finds that NCATE over-regulates teacher programs and though they pass the assessment, the positive results promised are not there.

Topic: Accrediting all schools of education

Category: Citizen, Stakeholder/Blog

What is it? A blog accounting the testimony of Trinity’s dean of education

Publication Information: Trinity Washington University, Mar. 13, 2008

Author: Ann Pauley

Location: http://www.trinitydc.edu/news_events/pressreleases/index.php/2008/03/13/dean-suellen-meara-testifies-on-improving-teacher-education/

Accessed: Mar. 14, 2009

Support:

Audience and Agenda: The audience for this blog is the community of D.C. and those affiliated with Trinity Washington University.

Usefulness: This blog is does not present the direct opinion of the author, or the publisher, Trinity University. It instead lets the words of the dean of education resound as the sole argument. Meara’s argument is that although her school of education is following all the rules of the game, the rules and standards have failed. She calls for a new approach, that includes heavy mentoring and restrictions on un-educated teachers entering the classroom. She finds the accrediting process to be hindering the education schools by bogging them down with too many regulations. This is helpful, because it provides a case in which the accreditation has not produced a successful process, despite the adherence to its standards.

Works Cited:

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