Certification and Professional Performance

Abstract

In June 1959 the National Education Association granted funds for a special project to be sponsored by the National Commission on Teacher Education and Professional Standards. In scope, the New Horizons Project encompasses the same areas of responsi bility as those with which the Commission was charged at the time of its creation-re cruitment and selection of students, teacher education programs, accreditation, certifica tion, and the advancement of professional standards. In each of these areas, a national committee, with representation from all segments of the profession, has been at work for almost one year. The central purpose of each committee, and of the project as a whole, is to develop a rationale in support of the principle of autonomy for the profession and to define policies and action programs directed toward new and enlarged goals.

The following paper is presented as an interim report of the Committee on Certification and Professional Performance of School Personnel. Although all of the ideas included here have been under consideration by the total Committee, not all of them have been approved. This statement must, therefore, be regarded as tentative. Its purpose, as a working paper for the San Diego Conference, is to provoke discussion.-EDITORS.