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
Effective teaching as a civil right
- 10-06-2011
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By Linda Darling-Hammond/Voices in Urban Education
Despite growing evidence that expert teachers are critical to educational achievement, well-prepared and effective teachers are the most unequally distributed educational resource in the United States. Since federal supports for urban school funding and teacher training were dramatically reduced in the 1980s, teacher shortages in schools serving low-income students have increased. Since then, it has been increasingly common for students in poor rural and urban schools to experience a revolving door of inexperienced and underprepared teachers. Current policy discussions focus on two distinct approaches to developing a more effective teaching force. One approach, articulated more than a decade ago by the conservative Fordham Foundation (1999), argues that teacher qualifications do not matter; the idea is to let anyone into teaching and then see how it works out. (more...)
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