Today, I saw Rick Hess' blog, "
A Good Teacher Is Hard To Find". While I didn't find this guest post by
Daniel Lautzenheiser completely egregious, I do have problems with many of the things he said - and his overall premise.
The trick isn't obsession over what qualifies a teacher to join the
profession. Our policies should instead be loose on entrance and tight
on results--encouraging maximum flexibility for states, districts, and
charter schools to recruit teachers as they see fit while seeking to
find better ways to identify good and bad teachers, reward the good ones
and keep them in the classroom, and move out the bad ones.
What this means will vary by district-to-district, school-to-school, but a few quick thoughts:
-we should continue to invest in designing smart and robust teacher
evaluation tools, which include value-added measurements of student
performance--where appropriate and as a piece of the puzzle.
-teacher compensation should not be linked solely to degrees earned or
years of experience but to quality of work, including student
achievement.
-we should allow more teachers to enter via alternative certification
programs, and give charter schools increased flexibility to hire the
kinds of teachers befitting their unique missions.
-schools and districts should consider a classroom career ladder that permits good teachers to remain in the classroom while affording them opportunities to grow professionally.
In the same way there's not a single "what works" for identifying
good teachers before they enter the profession, there's similarly not a
one-size-fits-all on the evaluation end. But the broad principal--loose
on entrance, tight on results--will permit us to rethink how we go
about recruiting, training, and evaluating teachers in the 21st century.
Ooohhhh. This sounds awe-inspiring frankly, but my experience just doesn't add up to this assessment from a man who has probably NEVER been in front of a classroom in his life (Daniel is,
program manager in education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute).
This was my take on the issue at hand:
As a former science teacher (now homeschool mom) - my perspective is
quite different. I have a M.S. in biology. I was alternatively
certified. I taught at a charter school.
Though I followed
the state standards for each of the grades I taught and used the books
appropriate for the age level - I was deemed "too hard". I "asked too
much of my students". I was finally put on a plan of improvement after
being called on the carpet in front of parents in my principal's office
numerous times.
In my experience, principals don't want good
teachers because parents complain. Good teachers don't want to teach
the way they know they should because they'll likely be constantly
having to explain themselves to avoid firing.
All this
nonsense about linking student test scores to teacher pay and all the
other "accountability" reforms (ala Jeb Bush) that states keep signing
on to, are not going to amount to a hill of beans other than to keep the
really good teachers from signing up to teach. How can one teach when
you're suddenly responsible for whether a child had breakfast or a fight
with his mother the morning of the test?
It cost me a chunk
of money to get my alternative certification just to have to constantly
justify my reasoning behind trying to make my students do something more
than the 'busy work' the parents apparently desired and the principal
wanted. Why in the WORLD would good people desire to have that kind of
job other than the sheer idealism that many of us have entering the
teaching profession (that is soon beaten out of us to the point that we
leave)?
Until the now-majority of PARENTS decide they want more
for their children than a SNAP card, we're all sunk. No amount of
coercion by a state or federal government will fix that. As soon as
parents/students have to reap the whirlwind that would be ZERO public
assistance for the results of allowing/perpetuating mediocrity,
stupidity and sloth, things will change. Until then? Buckle up for a
very bumpy ride!
Here's a very interes
ting article I also found in EdWeek today. Check this one out as well. "The Pros and Cons of Accountability".
