Offering frequent news and analysis from the majestic Evergreen State and beyond, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's unconventional perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Monday, March 22, 2010

What matters most in the classroom?

If you have kids in elementary school or if you can remember that far back yourself, you know that the moment you find out who your next year’s teacher will be is momentous. That assignment can make or break your school year.

It’s no surprise to me that my kids have great grades in their classes taught by fun teachers whose excitement about teaching their subject matter is contagious, and that they struggle more in the classes where their teachers are having problems communicating with their students. You probably know what I’m talking about.

(Point of information: not all good teachers are fun. I learned much of what I still remember and use from junior high from Mrs. Ellis, a decidedly un-fun teacher. Mrs. Ellis was passionate, dedicated and tough, a killer combination.)

Because of these experiences, the opening lines of a new report from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation entitled “Empowering Effective Teachers” rang true:
The contribution of teachers to student learning and outcomes is widely recognized. A teacher’s effectiveness has more impact on student learning than any other factor under the control of school systems, including class size, school size, and the quality of after-school programs. In a study of Los Angeles schools, the difference between the performance of a student assigned to a top-quartile teacher rather than a bottom-quartile teacher averaged 10 percentile points on a standardized math test. Researchers studying high schools in North Carolina found that having a class with a strong teacher had an impact 14 times greater than having a class with five fewer students.
The impact of a top-notch, born-to-teach teacher cannot be understated, which is why the Obama administration is making attracting and keeping great teachers a core goal of its education policy. It's a good thing, because the nation is doing so poorly at it.

According to the National Council on Teacher Quality, teacher policy is an area in which most states get a failing grade. In the nonpartisan research group’s 2009 State Teacher Policy Yearbook, the nation gets a D+ on state teacher policies. We can do much better.

The report identifies many places where states are weak: Most states use feeble teacher evaluations and make automatic tenure decisions, both processes failing to take into account how much students have learned. States make it tough to remove ineffective teachers. They provide few alternative routes for professionals to become a teacher, and they poorly prepare elementary and middle school teachers for their jobs. States' outmoded compensation structures don’t reward teachers for their prior related work experience, for teaching in challenging schools or for teaching in shortage subject areas like math or science.

The good news is that because of a financial incentive from the Obama administration, states are scrambling over one another to be the first to improve. Take our state for example. This month, the Washington legislature passed a bill (SB 6696) that creates a tough, multi-criteria teacher evaluation, improves the state's teacher preparation and recruitment system, finds ways to attract teachers to work in high-need schools and subject areas, and establishes a state-wide process for moving consistently ineffective teachers out of schools.

Without the nudge from the federal government, the issue of teacher effectiveness would have been overshadowed by the state's budget problems and no legislative progress would have been made this year. Thank you President Obama.

Ask any kid. After lunch, recess and friends, their favorite teacher is the best part of school. And parents place teachers in the number one spot. Definitely, creating and retaining great teachers is a great place to focus education reform efforts.

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