Maybe there is some way to tell a good teacher from an ineffective one:
Education Secretary Arne Duncan hailed this year's National Assessment of Educational Progress (i.e., the nation's report card) results on Thursday as "encouraging." . . .
Between 2010 and 2012, about 4% of D.C. teachers—and nearly all of those rated "ineffective"—were dismissed. About 30% of teachers rated "minimally effective" left on their own, likely because they didn't receive a pay bump and were warned that they could be removed within a year if they failed to shape up.
Clearing out the deadwood appears to have lifted scores. D.C. led the nation in student progress. Average reading scores jumped five points in the fourth grade and six in the eighth. The percentage of students scoring at or above "basic" in math rose by six points in both grade levels.
Just admitting that there could be such a thing as "deadwood" has got to help.
Junk teacher, maybe, but not a junk person.
ReplyDeleteOne of the concepts that must be debunked is that loss of a job is necessarily a bad thing for a person. It's a shot to the ego, all right, but a person who is not well suited to being a teacher is bound to be suited for something else.
Many, many successful people in this country are successful because they got some kind of kick in the pants that forced them to figure out another way to make a living. It's not pleasant, but the outcome can be wonderful, provided you insist on making it so.
Valerie
A big part of the problem is the 'education' degree programs themselves. We should eliminate these programs, and regulations requiring degrees in 'education' instead of the subject to be taught. They are just indoctrination programs lacking any real intellectual rigor or value (except admission to the guild).
ReplyDeleteValerie: Too right. I'd make an awful teacher, which only means that I shouldn't be a teacher, not that it would be "unfair" for me to lose a job as a teacher. It would be "unfair" to kids and taxpayers for me to keep a job as a teacher.
ReplyDeleteGrim: Yep.