Passage 2 Teacher education provided by U．S． colleges and universities has been routinely criticized sinceits inception in the early nineteenth century， sometimes deservedly． These programs， likenon-university programs， are uneven in quality and can be improved． What makes today′ s criticismsdifferent is an aggressive effort by advocacy groups， and self-proclaimed educational entrepreneursto deregulate the preparation of teachers， and to expand independent， alternative routes intoteaching． This effort to "disrupt" the field of teacher preparation in the United States has gainedconsiderable momentum and legitimacy， with venture capitalists， philanthropy， and the U．S． Department of Education all providing sponsorship and substantial funding． The strength of this effort is that the United States may quickly seek to dismantle its universitysystem and replace much of it with independent， private programs． The resulting system of teacherpreparation may differ dramatically in its government， structure， content， and processes movingaway from its current location alongside legal， medical， and other professional preparation that pairsacademic degrees with professional training． Throughout the nation， states are reporting teacher shortages in particular subject areas andgeographical locations， and several states have either passed legislation to lower the standards forbecoming a teacher or， like the state of Washington， have looked toward expanding the number ofteacher education providers to try to fill teaching vacancies． The federal government has contributedto the push to lower standards for becoming a teacher with the Teacher Preparation Academy provision in the new K-12 education law， the Every Student Succeeds Act， which encourages statesto expand the number of independent programs not associated with colleges and universities． Because of the increasing tuition rates， a consequence in part， of cuts in funding to publicuniversities that continue to educate most U．S． teachers， enrollments in college and universityteacher education programs have declined in many parts of the country． Independent teachereducation programs are being viewed by some as an important part of the solution in staffing thenation′s classrooms and addressing our serious and enduring problems in education inequities． Additionally， advocacy groups， philanthropists， and so-called education entrepreneurs are workingaggressively to expand these independent alternative routes into teaching． Given the seriousness of the teacher shortage problem in the United States and the substantialmedia attention that has been given to independent teacher education programs as the solution toteacher shortages and education inequities， policy makers should very carefully examine theevidence that exists about the nature and impact of these relatively new programs that are rapidlyexpanding while university teacher education enrollments decline． Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word"momentum" inParagraph 2

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