Diane Ravitch discovers the formula for excellent public education:
seek out the best college graduates for teaching positions, prepare them well, pay them well and treat them with respect
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Diane Ravitch discovers the formula for excellent public education:
seek out the best college graduates for teaching positions, prepare them well, pay them well and treat them with respect
The more amazing thing is that she figured out that she was wrong about charters and the whole privatizing movement, and that led her to quit her positions at two big right-wing education think tanks. Well, it’s not amazing she figured that out charters are a bad idea in so many ways it would take a book to list them all — that’s been very obvious for years now — but it is amazing in that you don’t often see people displaying that much courage.
So The One and his handpicked Chicago Education Secretary are wrong then? Because they’re are big supporters of charter schools.
If a child gets to the sixth grade and cannot teach the children younger than the child, then the education system has already failed.
You do not need a college education to teach anything up until the eight grade at best.
Use the teachers as teachers for the ones that are not getting it. Film them in action and put together a computer based teaching system with more explanations to help those who really don’t get it.
Alan Greenspan also finally realized he had been an idiot and a tool. Precious little good that will do anyone.
Geez, if it were only that easy.
Just as a refresher: we’re talking about the elimination of generational poverty. Anyone who thinks this is anything like simple or easy isn’t really thinking.
But at least we’re finally coming to terms with the fact getting to kids as early as possible and giving them an excellent education is actually the key to ending inequality in ways we can only dream about.
The problem is what an “excellent education” really means. Parent outreach needs to be a part of it, so does health care, so do a variety of non-school services. One teacher with 30 kids will NEVER fix the world alone.
Ed Week Ed Week reported on a study.
that looked at what the key factors to success were in 15 low-performing Chicago schools. They were outlined as follows:
• Strong leadership, in the sense that principals are “strategic, focused on instruction, and inclusive of others in their work”;
• A welcoming attitude toward parents, and formation of connections with the community;
• Development of professional capacity, which refers to the quality of the teaching staff, teachers’ belief that schools can change, and participation in good professional development and collaborative work;
• A learning climate that is safe, welcoming, stimulating, and nurturing to all students; and
• Strong instructional guidance and materials.
Malcolm Gladwell covered this in Tipping Point (although it may have been Outliers). The problem with teachers and quarterbacks is that there is no reliable way to tell who will be good at the job before they get into it. His solution is to hire teachers like the NFL hires quarterbacks. Pay well to attract potential talent. Have a rigorous training program and then throw them into the game and see how they do. If they don’t cut the mustard they get booted. Matches pretty well with Ravitch.
Diane Ravitch changed her mind about education so she resigned her positions on boards of two conservitive research groups. So if these research groups aren’t interested in the results of her research exactly what are they doing? Certainly not research it seems.
Commenter ‘Things that are useless’ feels that a sixth grade education qualifies someone to teach school. I disagree. The idea that teaching is a simple passing on of rote facts is a great part of the disrespect for educators that has undermined America’s schools. Teachers must be trained in the art of teaching (pedagogy). It isn’t an easy job and is one of the most important responsibilities an individual and a society can take on.
“best college graduates for teaching positions, prepare them well, pay them well and treat them with respect”
And of these, we are doing #3 only. Not gonna work.
Nope, we’re not doing #3 either. In most young professional circles, the news that someone is an elementary teacher is usually greeted with disappointment or worse.