All of us who lead schools have, at one time or another, benefitted from a school of education within an institution of higher education. This may be a moment when we can again learn from them...what to do or not do. Public schools have been criticized for the knowledge and skills our graduates possess with the charge that they are not college and career ready, especially for the world's new workplaces. Meanwhile, our struggles are many: implementing new requirements from RTTT for evaluation and accountability, dwindling resources, reducing the number of teachers and number of program offerings.

Let's consider the systemic impact of our situation on colleges. As our systems have been shrinking, colleges continued to admit, prepare and graduate more teachers. It is their business and their revue stream. Even though there are no jobs for those graduates, production continues. In fact, in 2009-2010, Illinois produced 930% more teachers than were needed. The details of this phenomenon can be found in the January 23 online issue of EdWeek. Worse yet, too many colleges still offer antiquated education programs, modified by vocabulary change, including the terms Common Core, differentiation, or rigor, and preparing students for certification tests.

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