Dive Brief:

• Karen Klein argues in an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times that the majority of teachers in U.S. schools are good, but not great, and districts would have greater impact if they focused their efforts on improving mediocre teachers rather than firing their poor-performing colleagues.
• Klein writes even the most critical opponents of tenure estimate 5% of teachers are terrible, which would give each student about two bad teachers in their entire K-12 career, and when schools work harder to find and fire them rather than help their peers, teacher shortages limit the quality of their replacements anyway.
• The Cotsen Foundation for the Art of Teaching offers Southern California teachers at 23 schools two-year fellowships to be mentored by an expert teacher, watch great teachers teach and improve their subject matter expertise — and long-term data show improved student test scores and “dramatic changes” in the classroom technique of fellows.

Dive Insight:

Teacher preparation programs are frequently criticized for failing to give students enough training to actually manage a classroom. Once new teachers get in front of students, they are often overwhelmed. Alternative teacher preparation programs like Teach for America only offer short-term, intensive training before putting new teachers in the classroom. And in Utah, where an extreme teacher shortage left schools scrambling to fill open positions, the legislature lifted requirements for any kind of teaching education or experience at all.

Many reformers have narrowed down the problems in education to teachers, battling teacher unions and their commitment to tenure, seniority and the experience-based pay system. Evaluation systems have been framed as ways to “hold teachers accountable” rather than help them improve their craft. But critical shifts can make a world of difference in schools working to bring up the middle rather than cut from the bottom.   

Recommended Reading

Los Angeles Times: Why firing bad teachers isn't nearly as important as creating good ...