The Report of the Teaching Commission: What’s Really at Risk?

At the beginning of this year, the New York City-based Teaching Commission, established and chaired by former IBM Chairman Louis V. Gerstner, released "Teaching at Risk: A Call to Action" (The Teaching Commission, 2004) on the status of teaching in America's schools. Supported by private donations, the 19-member blue-ribbon Teaching Commission was made up of prominent leaders from business, government, and education. Directly linked to the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (P.L. 107-110, 2002), the purpose of "Teaching at Risk" was to create a sense of national urgency about recruiting and retaining "highly qualified teachers" and to propose a plan of action. In the opening pages, Gerstner warns that the nation's role as a world leader is in jeopardy and that an educational system that does not promote quality teaching is part of the problem: The United States enters the 21st century as an undisputed world leader. Despite difficult challenges at home and abroad, we still have the world's strongest economy, and American business continues to inspire growth and development across the globe. But our nation is at a crossroads. We will not continue to lead if we persist in viewing teaching ... as a second-rate occupation. (pp. 9-10) The report asserts that despite two decades of reform, "academic achievement is still disappointing" (p. 12) and "overall test scores are still at about the levels they were in 1970" (p. 13). The report also notes that there continue to be large disparities between the academic achievement of poor and minority students and their peers. The commission calls for four reforms. First, teachers' salaries would be made competitive with other professions with the potential of higher pay for those who increase pupils' achievement or teach in hard-to-staff subject areas and schools. Second, college and university presidents would be held accountable for revamping teacher preparation by raising admissions standards, recruiting stronger students, and ensuring that prospective teachers have knowledge of subject matter, scientifically based practices, and schools. Third, there would be drastic revisions of state licensing and certification, including more rigorous teacher tests and encouragement of "streamlined" certification programs. Fourth, school principals would provide scientifically based mentoring and professional development for all teachers and would have increased authority to hire and promote teachers who raise test scores and get rid of those who do not. The commission's action plan includes working with governors, state school officers, and university presidents on teacher quality goals and joining hands with the federal government to support the goals of NCLB. AT RISK, REDUX The report of the Teaching Commission reflects a recurring historical pattern of blueribbon critiques of teaching and teacher education based on the assertion that the nation is in danger of losing its global position (Cochran-Smith & Fries, in press). The immediate past iteration was "A Nation at Risk" (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983), published when the country was in an economic depression and there was concern it was not keeping pace with the changing world economy. In the 20 years since "A Nation at Risk," there have been debates about whether there actually was a crisis in educational achievement at that time and whether teaching and school quality actually are the linchpins in the nation's ability to compete in the global economy (e.g., Berliner, Biddle, & Bell, 1995; Bracey, 2003; Cremin, 1991). In addition, there have been differing assessments of the legacy of the two decades of reforms set off by the report (see, for example, the range of viewpoints in Gordon, 2004). Twenty years after "A Nation at Risk," its namesake, "Teaching at Risk" (The Teaching Commission, 2004), asserts that "the capacity of America's educational system to create a 21st-century workforce second to none in the world is a national security issue of the first order. …