History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
A 'doable' solution to teacher quality
- 11-05-2010
-
Guest blog by Steve Peha/Washington Post
Everybody’s talking about teachers—and much of the talk isn’t flattering. We know good teaching makes a difference. But a divisive dialogue has erupted about how to get more of it. The popular line, expressed by big city school leaders like Michelle Rhee, and catalyzed by Davis Guggenheim’s incendiary documentary “Waiting for Superman,” is to get rid of bad teachers. Economist and education policy expert Eric Hanushek agrees. According to his research, removing a small percentage of our worst teachers, and replacing them with average teachers, would bring our students up to top levels. The problem here is threefold: figuring out which teachers to fire, firing them, and finding replacements. Solutions exist but take time and involve bitter battles. A more elegant and less gut-wrenching idea comes from Emily and Brian Hassel of Public Impact. Using the famous teacher quality research of William L. Sanders, the Hassels propose deploying highly effective teachers in new ways. (more…)
Print this
