While there were some world-class medical schools, far too many had low or non-existent admissions standards, didn't ensure their students understood the science behind medicine, or didn't provide opportunities for hands-on clinical practice. A doctor could get a license without ever having worked on a body or learned anything about anatomy.

Should Teachers Be Trained Like Doctors and Lawyers?

All that changed in 1910 with the publication of the Flexner Report, named after its author, Abraham Flexner, a former school principal. He traveled to all 155 medical schools then in operation and reported on what was working and what wasn't.

The report was a bombshell, finding only one high-performing medical school in the country (Johns Hopkins), but spurring successful efforts across the country to make sure that all medical schools met high standards. The result: a training system that produces doctors second to none in the world.

The Flexner Report is the inspiration for the National Council on Teacher Quality's Teacher Prep Review, published in partnership with U.S. News & World Report on June 18. The Review spotlights what's working well in the more than 1,100 colleges and universities approved to prepare teachers and encourage more programs to follow their lead.

But like Flexner before us, we also call out programs that need to seriously up their game for the good of their graduates and the students they will teach. ... More