Inside The Higher Ed Lobby

INSIDE THE HIGHER ED LOBBY....As part of our September education issue, Ben Adler takes a look at the higher education lobby to find out what they like and what they don't. Which category do you think this falls under?

For decades, education experts have been concerned about declining teacher quality in K–12 schools, and in the late 1990s the Clinton administration tried to address the problem by improving colleges' notoriously lackluster teacher-training programs. The Education Department put together a proposal requiring states to report the percentage of teacher-training-program graduates from each school who pass the state licensure exam, and to report which of their education schools, many of which are affiliated with major universities, were underperforming. Schools that consistently failed to produce graduates capable of passing the exams would lose their eligibility to receive federal aid for teacher training.