Kate Walsh (US)

Kate Walsh is the president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, an organization that aims to transform public education and in particular the teaching profession, by changing how teachers are hired, fired, and certified. She founded the first alternative certification program in Baltimore, Maryland.

Her work has faced controversies over the years, including accusations of misrepresentations of research and misuse of federal grant money.

History
Before coming to the NCTQ, Kate Walsh worked for the Core Knowledge Foundation, the Baltimore City Public Schools, and the Abell Foundation in Baltimore, Maryland.

Affiliations
National Council on Teacher Quality

Maryland State Board of Education

Accusation of Misrepresentation of Research
In October 2001, Kate Walsh published a study, funded by the Abell Foundation, that surveyed literature on teacher certification and claimed that teacher education did not improve teacher achievement.

The U.S. Secretary of Education used this study as the justification for recommending that teacher certification should not depend on taking education coursework or attending education school. However, in 2002, researcher Linda Darling-Hammond published an essay in the journal Education Policy Analysis criticizing the original paper on "misrepresentations of a number of studies, including inaccurate statements about their methods and findings, false claims about their authors' views, and distortions of their data and conclusions."

Accusation of Misuse of Grant Money for PR Purposes
According to the Department of Education's Office of Inspector General report on Department PR expenditures in fiscal years 2002 through 2004, NCTQ and the Oquirrh Institute received $677,318 in 2003 - 2004, to "increase the American public’s exposure and understanding of the research and full spectrum of ideas on teacher quality." In 2005, the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Education called the grant into question because a) it had been approved although two out of three reviewers had recommended against approving it; b) it was unsolicited; and c) NCTQ president Kate Walsh had run op eds without a legally required EDGAR disclosure. According to the Office of the Inspector General, "The failure of these grantees to include the required disclaimer appears to have resulted in an improper expenditure of grant funds that should now be recovered."

Articles and resources
"The National Commission on Teaching and America's Future Refutes Abell Foundation Report," Education News, August 10, 2001.

http://teachingquality.typepad.com/building_the_profession/2006/06/flawed_nctq_res.html

http://thesouthern.com/news/opinion/article_2a9d42a8-f6c0-11df-8710-001cc4c03286.html

Related SourceWatch articles
National Council on Teacher Quality