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Education colleges held to higher standards

Texas has raised standards for all institutions of higher education and teacher education programs with the passage of Senate Bill 174.

The State Board for Educator Certification, under SB 174, requires teachers to report accountability analyses of educator preparation and program achievement of students taught in their first three years following certification in order to support beginning teachers.

‘Anything that helps us know how well we’re doing and helps us to improve is good,’ Dean of the UH College of Education Bob Wimpelberg said in an e-mail.

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education nationally accredits the UH College of Education, Wimpelberg said.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board develops accurate resumes for each institution based on SB 174. The board has authority to request information necessary for calculations. The due date for posting the resumes is Feb. 1, 2010.

Wimpelberg said the new standards exist mainly so the information used to judge effectiveness by the national and state creditors will now become public.

‘I believe it’s a great way for us as future teachers to be graded,’ kinesiology sophomore Antonio Blandon said. ‘With these standards, kids and teenagers in Texas will have a better education, which is a goal for us as future teachers.’

Wimpelberg said with the new standards, students who are considering coming to UH to get certified as teachers will have a ‘report card’ by which to judge the program.

The higher standards made an opposite impression on nutrition sophomore Michelle Lasky.

‘The current standards are hard enough. We do not need more pressure,’ Lasky said. ‘With the tougher standards that we have to follow, less people would be interested in getting into teaching.’

On the contrary, interdisciplinary junior Elvira Leal said the new standards would be the beginning of a new brighter future for the Texas community.

‘I don’t think it will affect students. In fact, it will only benefit us because we will receive better education,’ Leal said. ‘We will be highly prepared to teach, and we will have to work harder and closer with our students, but it will pay off.’

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