College Training.

Concerns about the quality of the nation's teachers grew as the number of students in the school system increased. In 1950 the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education stated that 90 percent of college professors were poor teachers. The National Education Association's Commission on Teacher Education and Professional Standards, in February 1951, reported that less than 50 percent of the twelve hundred colleges and universities offering training in education met "reasonable standards." It labeled training as "chaotic," and the associations urged a national organization to improve training for teachers and the professors who taught them. That, coupled with the massive dismissals due to the "Red Scares," left the educational system lacking an adequate teacher base.

Teacher Accreditation.

In 1952 the National Committee on Accreditation urged reform of accreditation for several fields of higher education, especially schools of education and teacher-education departments. Instead of more than three hundred...