Editor’s Note: Daniel Borzelleca lives with Adam Wagner, the culture editor of The Post.
Yesterday’s Post article, “Dean Opposes Teach for America Bills,” painted Dean Middleton and the College of Education and Human Services as champions of educational standards. However, a look at the data says otherwise.
While the article was correct in citing the differences in required GPAs for the College of Education and Teach for America, it overlooked an underlying problem. The College of Education’s GPAs are grossly inflated and consequently misrepresent levels of students’ success, rendering GPA requirements meaningless.
An interesting phenomenon occurs at Ohio University’s College of Education; entering students have on average lower standardized test scores and high school success than the rest of the university, but somehow by graduation manage to obtain some of the highest GPAs.
While some might explain that as product of great teaching and increased student engagement, we suspect that these students are the beneficiaries of rampant grade inflation.
Teacher education department chair John Henning was quoted deriding the quality of Teach for America.
We find this interesting considering that Mr. Henning’s department has an average GPA of 3.77 with more than 80 percent of the students receiving at least an A-.
Looking at the rest of the college, we see that his department is not alone, with the college’s average GPA well over a 3.7. The data is indicative that a serious lack of standards exists within this college.
We find troubling the lack of standards and open-mindedness at the College of Education. The highly competitive nature of Teach for America and the fact that many of the applicants come from disciplines with higher academic standards ensures that well-educated and qualified individuals become teachers.
Furthermore, we would like to point out that the lack of pedagogical training does not seem to impede instruction at the university level.
Perhaps instead of worrying about Teach for America’s quality, the College of Education should think a bit more about its own.
Christopher Matgouranis is a senior studying economics. Chris Denhart is a freshman studying mathematics. Daniel Borzelleca is a junior studying accounting. All three are research assistants at the Center for College Affordability and Productivity.
