How Are We Teaching the Teachers?

With a new school year underway, we are devoting a program to the grooming of future teachers. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has said that most of the country's 1,450 teacher-training programs are doing a "mediocre job.” So, what do we know about the best way to educate candidates for the classroom? Do textbooks train a white, middle-class teacher how to bridge the “cultural divide” that may be waiting when they enter that classroom? How do we measure the effectiveness of teacher training? And how do we know that the best teachers reach the classroom? Is there a way to weed out those who aren’t really cut-out for the profession?