Senate Joins the House in Blocking Teacher Prep Regulations

In a move that had extensive support within the higher education community, the Senate voted 59-40 to block the implementation of the Obama Adminstration’s teacher prepartion regulations.  Eight Democrats joined all 51 Republicans to block the rule.  President Trump is expected to sign the resolution, which also passed the House last month, in the coming days. 

Final passage of this resolution is significant for private, nonprofit colleges, which have been fighting since 2012 to reverse these flawed rules.  The regulations had generally been seen as impeding, rather than helping to improve, how teachers are prepared by higher education institutions. 

If implemented, the regulations would have rated teacher preparation programs based on student outcomes on standardized test scores, ignored the real cutting-edge reform taking place in individual programs and in the teaching profession broadly, and created costly institutional and state data collections systems.  

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Stephanie Giesecke