How Dumb Do We Want Prospective Teachers To Be?

Not much smarter than the dumbest students they will teach, it seems. But the answer really depends on the "research" we read. If this National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) publication is to be accorded the status of research, we may accept one of its many internal (and misleading) conclusions:  "… there is mixed evidence on the number or type of courses a teacher takes and his or her performance in the classroom" (page 75). Its authors are suggesting that we really don't

Not much smarter than the dumbest students they will teach, it seems. But the answer really depends on the "research" we read. If this National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) publication is to be accorded the status of research, we may accept one of its many internal (and misleading) conclusions:  "… there is mixed evidence on the number or type of courses a teacher takes and his or her performance in the classroom" (page 75). Its authors are suggesting that we really don't know if…