Teachers cannot teach what they do not know. This country has tolerated a weak licensing system for prospective teachers for decades. This weak system has been accompanied by an increasingly emptier curriculum for most students, depriving them of the knowledge and skills needed for self-government. An Empty Curriculum: How Teacher Licensure Tests Lead to Empty Student Minds makes the case that the complete revision of the licensing system for prospective and veteran teachers in Massachusetts in 2000 and the construction of new or more demanding teacher licensing tests contributed significantly to the Massachusetts “education miracle.” That “miracle” consisted of enduring gains in achievement for students in all demographic groups and in all regional vocational/technical high schools since 2005—gains confirmed by tests independent of Massachusetts policy makers. The immediate purpose of this book is to explain what Massachusetts did in 2000 to strengthen its teacher licensing and re-licensing system to ensure that all teachers could teach to relatively strong K-12 standards. Its larger purpose is to suggest that development of strong academic standards in all major subjects should be followed by complete revision of a state’s teacher licensing system, not, as has been the case for several decades, the development of K-12 student tests—if this country wants to strengthen public education.

"May 2016 Book of the Month. Stotsky has recently devoted her time to warning about the academic weakness of Common Core. She helped create Massachusetts’ English and Math standards, which were excellent before the state fell prey to Common Core. If states move forward with evidence-based reforms in teacher preparation, then failed Common Core student standards would have less impact. Well-trained teachers imparting subject matter over which they have mastery could have a greater impact on students than standards." - Education Reporter

"In her new book, An Empty Curriculum: The Need to Reform Teacher Licensing Regulations and Tests, Sandra Stotsky, professor emerita of education at the University of Arkansas, offers a tested model of teacher knowledge, explains why it’s not being used, and describes strategies for overcoming the education establishment’s resistance. Stotsky’s credentials for this task are impressive: in her role as senior associate commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education from 1999 to 2003, she oversaw complete revisions of the state’s pre-K-12 standards as well as its teacher-licensure standards. Until these standards were replaced by the Common Core in 2010, Massachusetts ranked first among the states in educational achievement." - City Journal