First of all, I’d like to know what constitutes a “good” teacher. Do you think it’s test scores? Do you realize that Sweden is purported to have the best performing schools in the world. They do not use standardized tests,, they pay their teachers a livable wage, they have socialized health care, they put their potential tteachers through rigoroous training before employing them as teachers. Oh, and while they’re being trained, they’re paid. No need to take an unpaid leave of absense from work (as I did) to do your student tetaching in Sweden. Further, class sizes are manageable. In Seattle our students are tested every two to three months in one subject or another. Students are pulled from class to be tetsted, taking away valuable learning time. Special education students are tested as well, which to me is cruel. This is saying to them, you must do better to catch up with your peers. It’s rubbing their noses in their disability. A child is so much more than a test score and a good teacher can tell when a student is not performing up to standards without the aid of a test. These tests are taking public money and putting into private enterprise. These tests cost millions of dollars each year. If we do away with the tests and use the money instead to hire enough staff to help with struggling students and to buy more materials so teachers aren’t spending their hard- earned money, we’d be much better off.
From Sojo.Net:
by Nicole Baker Fulgham | September-October 2012
Four traits of successful public school reform.
I’VE BEEN INVOLVED in public education for more than 15 years—as an urban public school teacher, a researcher and policy analyst, a teacher trainer, a parent, and an advocate. I never dreamed I’d live to witness such raucous and juicy debates about how to improve our nation’s lowest-performing public schools. Throughout my career, public education garnered the occasional feel-good story about a phenomenal, mythical “inner city teacher” and, more often, the litany of stories about how urban and rural schools are in complete disarray…
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