Free Republic

Pennsylvania earned a "D" for policies to promote teacher quality, according to a report card released by a national advocacy group on Friday. Most states did as badly or worse in the report by the National Council on Teacher Quality, which advocates for tougher teacher evaluations and more rigorous teacher preparation. Michael Race, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, noted that Pennsylvania had fared slightly better than the national average, but "both sets of grades show room for improvement." Race said that many of the report's criticisms were addressed in the state's application for Race to the Top,...