ABSTRACT
For over two decades, there has been a steady call for deregulating US teacher education, closing down allegedly poor-quality college and university programs, and creating greater market competition. By almost any standard, many, if not most, of the nation's 1,450 schools, colleges, and departments of education are doing a mediocre job of preparing teachers. One of the most prevalent rhetorical moves in seeking to establish the failure of university teacher education is the citation of a report by Levine that included a survey of teacher education program graduates in which they reflected back on the value of the programs. Advocacy groups put considerable effort into strategies that advance their agendas, often by assuming the mantle of expertise and projecting that assumed status into the media and policy debates. In an effort to break dominance of colleges in teacher education, critics of education schools have made many claims about superiority of programs funded by philanthropy and the US Department of Education.
