A Step in the Right Direction?
I sure as he** hope so.
**Disclaimer: This post was written while stepping onto my soap box and, funnily enough, I won't be ranting and raving about the amount of reading kids should be doing both in and outside school. Although, while I have your attention, allow me to reiterate... read all the time with your kids.
I read the article below yesterday from the New York Times outlining findings from a recent study led by a group of economists interested in furthering our understanding of measuring teacher effectiveness.
Read more here
This article made some valid research discoveries and also explained why past methods of measuring teacher effictiveness fell short. Researchers also aknowledged, somewhat, how diffucult this method of evaluation will be to implement at the state, district, and building level which tells me they know their job is not complete until this is made clearer. However, I had to roll my eyes each time they proclaimed how a good or excellent teacher leaves lasting effects on kids. They present this as if it's brand.new.information! ugh "Gee, you don't say... you mean to tell me that if a child has an excellent teacher in middle school they're more likely to go on to college and become a contributing member of society?" Hmm, that must be why teachers worth their salt work their a**es off and when they have time to come up and take a breath to address the question, "why do you work so hard?" they steadfastly say, "for the kids." and they mean it.
One point of the article I had much appreciation for was when they shared the relationship between a quality educator and the impact on their students lives beyond the classroom:
"Replacing a poor teacher with an average one would raise a single classroom’s lifetime earnings by about $266,000, the economists estimate. Multiply that by a career’s worth of classrooms" (from the article linked above).
Again, is this news to anyone in the field of education? It shouldn't be. I hope, in my heart of hearts, that providing this kind of perspective on the world of education and the ultimate need to examine what is happening in classrooms will catch the attention of those who would otherwise turn a cheek.
To those of you working your tails off for the kids, I salute you.
*Okay, I'm done now =).
**Disclaimer: This post was written while stepping onto my soap box and, funnily enough, I won't be ranting and raving about the amount of reading kids should be doing both in and outside school. Although, while I have your attention, allow me to reiterate... read all the time with your kids.
I read the article below yesterday from the New York Times outlining findings from a recent study led by a group of economists interested in furthering our understanding of measuring teacher effectiveness.
Read more here
This article made some valid research discoveries and also explained why past methods of measuring teacher effictiveness fell short. Researchers also aknowledged, somewhat, how diffucult this method of evaluation will be to implement at the state, district, and building level which tells me they know their job is not complete until this is made clearer. However, I had to roll my eyes each time they proclaimed how a good or excellent teacher leaves lasting effects on kids. They present this as if it's brand.new.information! ugh "Gee, you don't say... you mean to tell me that if a child has an excellent teacher in middle school they're more likely to go on to college and become a contributing member of society?" Hmm, that must be why teachers worth their salt work their a**es off and when they have time to come up and take a breath to address the question, "why do you work so hard?" they steadfastly say, "for the kids." and they mean it.
One point of the article I had much appreciation for was when they shared the relationship between a quality educator and the impact on their students lives beyond the classroom:
"Replacing a poor teacher with an average one would raise a single classroom’s lifetime earnings by about $266,000, the economists estimate. Multiply that by a career’s worth of classrooms" (from the article linked above).
Again, is this news to anyone in the field of education? It shouldn't be. I hope, in my heart of hearts, that providing this kind of perspective on the world of education and the ultimate need to examine what is happening in classrooms will catch the attention of those who would otherwise turn a cheek.
To those of you working your tails off for the kids, I salute you.
*Okay, I'm done now =).
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