Here we go again with an overemphasis on teacher effectiveness as THE way to high student achievement. Yes, teachers — especially elementary school teachers — deserve higher pay, on par with a middle-manager in a nonprofit or in government. But parental and community engagement, curriculum alignment, ending high-stakes testing, an emphasis on literacy across the curriculum, more professional development, better training school leadership are also needed. Not to mention address related issues of poverty and overall community development and health.
It’s a bit disingenuous to put a price tag on — excuse me, a cost-benefits approach to describing — teacher effectiveness, to say the least. Without the inclusion of non-helicopter / non-soccer mom parents as part of schooling or education reform, and without supportive and effective school leadership, having great teachers will only mean they’ll move on after five years for a job that pays more. All of this is this corporate mentality to improving education, an approach that has worked so well for us in banking, real estate and hiring, right?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
