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Thursday, August 16, 2007
Tough Calls On Teacher Quality
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For the past few days, I’ve been mulling over an editorial on teacher quality — written by the AJC’s Maureen Downey — which appeared in the newspaper earlier this week.
Basically, Maureen suggests that parents should have access to information about how successful their child’s teacher has been.
Her argument goes something like this: If more classroom-specific data is available on the individual performance of teachers — as reflected in students’ test scores — administrators will be forced to get rid of poor performers.
I’ve visited schools that do make that information available. Gainesville Elementary School readily comes to mind. There, the principal used to post bar charts — showing students’ test scores by class — on the walls outside the main office. In fact, throughout Gainesville City Schools, parents have access to teacher performance data.
The question: Has the program pushed unsuccessful teachers out of Gainesville altogether or has it simply led to more “drill and kill”?
UPDATE: I sat down for a lengthy interview with Atlanta Superintendent Beverly L. Hall late last week and I’m transcribing the tape now. I just came across this section on teacher quality and thought I’d share it with you. “More than any other group, [teachers] know that their [own] children need good teachers. They absolutely understand that quality teaching is the single most important variable [in student achievement],” Hall said. “[So I told principals], if these teachers are not good enough for your children then why on earth are they good enough for somebody else’s? If you can’t get them to change — after you’ve worked with them and developed them — and they just cannot do it, then you need to think about what you need to do to get quality teachers into your classrooms.”
