Teacher Preparation called less than ideal

This article will create a firestorm in my school, I'm sure. He came out with an article regarding the dearth of good programs for school principals and superintendents, and someone sent a link to in on our listserv. Suffice to say that certain people (the same ones who get up in arms anytime you suggest tolerance) attacked him ruthlessly, and then insulted him for being white and male and heterosexual.

I haven't read the whole report (it's quite long, but I am going to try), but the article gives a synopsis and introduction to the criticism. I like that at one point the NCATE president said,

“We might all wish that elite institutions would produce a more significant share of America’s teachers, but given the current economics of higher education and the teaching profession, that has never occurred in the past, nor does it appear likely to happen any time in the foreseeable future,”

but Levine actually cited as one his top schools Alverno College Milwaukeekee, and two state schools, Emporia State University in Kansas, the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Um, not exactly all "elite." I mean, maybe a little more elite than Valencia Community College, but it's not as if they're all Ivys. Alverno accepts students who generally are not well prepared and then turns them into good teachers, according to Levine. Not an impossible task, I would think. I content that sometimes "ill prepared" students, or those with learning disabilities, can make great teachers because they understand what it's like to struggle in school. My cousin struggled with reading, and now she's a reading teacher - who better to help children with difficulties learn that someone who has been there herself? (I'm very proud of my cousin, by the way. I think she rocks.)

Anyway, like I said, I haven't read the whole report. Some of the criticisms expressed in the article about his methodology seem a bpicayuneyne. I think that if they want to say how great teacher schools are, then go out and do a study yourselves. Don't complain and criticize without something to back it up - that's what a lot of the dummies in my program do. Knee-jerk, knee-jerk.

"Prominent Teacher-Educator Assails Teacher Assails Field, Suggests New Accrediting Body in Report" (Honawar, V. Education Week. September 20th, 2006.)