The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal released recommendations Thursday to reform teacher training programs across the nation as student test scores have plummeted to historic lows and schools have become increasingly defined by radical ideology.

The organization, a conservative public policy group focused on higher education, first shared the blueprint with the Daily Caller News Foundation, outlining recommendations to improve university education certification programs and contending that the changes would result in improved outcomes for K-12 children. The memo recommends schools of education at universities to take steps to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) requirements and set standards to equip future teachers with the knowledge necessary to educate children.

“Too many teacher preparation programs ignore subject matter expertise to focus on pedagogical fads or trendy ideologies,” Jenna Robinson, president of the center, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Robinson added that one of the causes of low student achievement in schools is the “irresponsible schools of education” training the teachers.

The blueprint further recommends that lawmakers better regulate such programs to ensure universities are teaching fundamentals and not indoctrinating students who will go on to do the same to the next generation. The center also suggests that policymakers consider creating alternative paths to obtaining a teaching certification — such as demonstrating mastery in a field rather than attending corrupted teacher education programs. Current state licensure requirements should be placed under scrutiny to ensure programs are not being overrun with divisive ideology and teachers are being properly equipped with the skills to teach students reading and math skills, the blueprint says.

Some states have taken steps to lower the bar for teaching candidates, no longer requiring aspiring educators to pass a basic reading, writing and math test for certification.

The blueprint cites a recent report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which found that as many as one-third of eighth grader students failed to reach the NAEP’s reading assessment benchmark in 2024, the largest percentage ever recorded, and 40% of fourth graders tested below NAEP’s reading proficiency, the largest percentage recorded since 2002.

While some of these failures can be attributed to the learning losses suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools remained closed for over a year and students struggled under remote learning, much of the responsibility also falls on schools prioritizing teaching divisive concepts over fundamental education, the center argues in its blueprint.

“When teachers focus on inequity or social-emotional learning instead of teaching students to read using proven methodologies, they send two messages,” Robinson said. “One is that students are destined to fail. The other is that reading isn’t important.”

Under the Biden administration, the Department of Justice (DOJ) poured over $100,000,000 into DEI efforts for K-12 schools, funding projects aimed toward “LGBTQ inclusion” in which “anti-racism and anti-oppression are embedded.” Upon taking office, President Donald Trump immediately got to work eliminating some of the radical topics from schools, signing a series of executive orders banning critical race theory, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and gender ideology from being taught in federally-funded schools.

“I hope this Blueprint will encourage state legislatures and university boards to take a hard look at what’s going on in their schools of education,” Robinson continued. “Schools of education must change if we want students to succeed.”

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Jaryn Crouson

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