Below is a rant I posted on Facebook the other night after learning that all of the effort put forth by my faculty to reimagine a social justice school of education and design a teacher education curriculum rooted in justice and equity would be usurped by a bureaucratic bumbling of the teacher “shortage” that… Read more »

Just a reminder. PI 34.006 Definitions. In this subchapter: “Institution” means one or more accredited colleges or universities offering an educator preparation program. “Student” means an individual enrolled in an educator preparation program. “Entity” means one of the following or a consortium of the following: (a) CESA. (b) Community-based organization. (c) Institution. (d) Non-profit organization…. Read more »

In my last blog post I took to task Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction and its leadership for pushing forward teacher license deregulation and “entity” driven teacher education.  Some have commented that should refrain from critiques of  DPI and its leadership and that Governor Walker and the Wisconsin Republicans have done the most damage to… Read more »

About to be “Frequently asked Questions” concerning “fast track” teacher licensure in the state of Wisconsin. Is there a way to get a teaching license without student teaching? Yes. Is there a way to get a teaching license without taking the edTPA? Yes. Is there a way to avoid that horrible Foundations of Reading Test?… Read more »

Since testifying against the Wisconsin DPI (Department of Public Instruction) teacher license rule changes, some have suggested that I am simply a defender of the status quo. That my insistence on “standards” means I wish to keep in place the current system. Nothing can be further from the truth. Here is a direct quote from… Read more »

Good afternoon.  My name is Tim Slekar and I am the Dean of the School of Education at Edgewood College.   Let me be clear from the outset. Our teacher shortage is a manufactured crisis that has resulted in an Exodus from the profession and has routed potential teachers away from teacher education.   Loosening, tinkering, and doing… Read more »

Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction is toying around with this statement.   “School districts throughout the state are experiencing difficulties obtaining and retaining licensed personnel. These difficulties can impact children’s educational experience. An emergency rule is needed to create additional flexibility in the teacher licensing process for individuals who are seeking a license for the… Read more »

Let’s make this quick.  At this point it is no mystery that high stakes testing does nothing to reduce the achievement gap (30 + plus years of trying).  In fact, the reality is that the achievement gap is maintained by the constant insistence of using test based accountability.  Yes, accountability is responsible for maintaining the… Read more »

“Teachers are leaving the classrooms in droves all across the state and enrollment in teacher education programs is plummeting. We have a teacher exodus problem. Our elected officials will use this as evidence of a “teacher shortage” and then lower standards and allow a warm body approach to classroom staffing. There is no “shortage.” Those… Read more »