Koedel Chosen as Panelist for National Webinar

Assistant Professor Cory Koedel has been chosen to serve as a panelist for a National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality Webinar on September 27. Koedel will discuss findings from his recent co-written working paper with the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), which discusses achievement-based evaluations of teacher training programs.

The title of the Webinar is Teacher Preparation Program Evaluation for Accountability and Improvement. Teachers have been increasingly held accountable for the outcomes of their teaching, but the programs that prepare teachers have not been held to the same high outcomes-based standard. Calls for the reform of teacher preparation accountability systems are increasing. The Webinar will discuss how best to assess teacher preparation program quality and effectiveness so that fair and comprehensive systems of accountability and support can be built.

The paper that Koedel will present raises questions about how well teacher preparation programs are rated given the available data.

“My biggest concern is that rankings from typical evaluations of teacher preparation programs [TPPs] will be given undue weight in hiring decisions if it is not made clear to K–12 administrators that the substantive differences that separate TPPs in the rankings are small,” says Koedel.

By Laura Lindsey, College of Arts and Science
September 18, 2012