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If you can't staff hard to teach schools, you don't fill them with newbies without experience.
You make the school environment better to teach in, or you pay people more to work there.
TFA takes slave laborers who have an ability to do a lot of good, or a lot of harm.
There's no reciprocity though. A teacher can't go work in the TFA corporate office for a year and be kept regardless of how poor their performance.
We led the world in academic achievement a half century ago. A quarter century ago we had dropped to #10. We are now #36 in academic achievement and headed for third world status in education.
Those are some very specific statistics (and from what I've read, completely inaccurate). Care to cite a source?
There easy to find as just a month or so the stats where released showing us going further down on education ranking. On every news channel I watched then. Interested; do a search o US world ranking on education.
There easy to find as just a month or so the stats where released showing us going further down on education ranking. On every news channel I watched then. Interested; do a search o US world ranking on education.
The problem I have with that is that we are the only country that tests ALL of our students while other countries only have their top kids tested. Some countries don't even educate all their students.
There easy to find as just a month or so the stats where released showing us going further down on education ranking. On every news channel I watched then. Interested; do a search o US world ranking on education.
I hear those scores all the time and they're only on scientific and mathematic exams.
The others our US students are all in top levels.
Let the rest of the world build up a billion 'scientists' and 'mathematicians'.
That does not necessarily equate development or innovation.
We could possibly test higher too if we eliminated world history, economics, the arts, sociology, and consumer science. We have a very liberal arts school system, the developing world focuses solely on jobs.
The problem I have with that is that we are the only country that tests ALL of our students while other countries only have their top kids tested. Some countries don't even educate all their students.
More like all other countries don't even educate all their students.
US test scores have gone down in inverse proportion to the percent of school age students enrolled. Historically, the more expulsions we have, the higher our test cores.
I find the "save the word" mentality that TFA candidates have to be very arrogant.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marigolds6
More like all other countries don't even educate all their students.
US test scores have gone down in inverse proportion to the percent of school age students enrolled. Historically, the more expulsions we have, the higher our test cores.
Actually, NAEP scores have increased over the past several decades since it was first used to measure achievement. That is including the fact that SPED and marginalized populations have been allowed to fully participate in public education. Other countries just test the college track kids and leave everyone else under the bus. German students in the lowest track in their educational system for example, don't do well when they're participate in international achievement tests.
More like all other countries don't even educate all their students.
US test scores have gone down in inverse proportion to the percent of school age students enrolled. Historically, the more expulsions we have, the higher our test cores.
Yes - other countries have tracking in their educational systems at early age.
In Germany, those who aren't bound for college/university track may go to the vocational training track (which isn't necessarily a bad thing - the Germans do vocational training very well), where as the gymnasium is the college prep track.
The UK-style system will have O and A level examinations that will determine whether one will go on to tertiary education. Those who don't score well on these will exit the system (they're called "school-leavers"). This is still around in former British territories such as Hong Kong and Singapore.
There's nothing inherently wrong with TFA, and meta studies of student outcomes indicates that there's no statistical difference between the SLOs of students taught by traditionally certified teachers and TFA'ers. The real emphasis ought to be placed on giving inexperienced teachers the support they need to become the best teachers they can possibly be. TFA's, just like any inexperienced teacher fresh out of an MA program, have the potential to develop into poor teachers, mediocre teachers, or excellent teachers, depending on what kind of mentorship, coaching, and support they receive. It takes classroom experience, supervision, mentoring, and commitment to the individual instructor for an instructor to be truly good.
The worst mistake this country has made is in trying to treat the teacher as if he or she is some kind of salesman that has to produce numbers -- or else. That's not how you approach teaching. Yeah, if the teacher is consistently producing poor student outcomes relative to other instructors five or six years running with no progress, maybe it's time for a career change, but there are so many other factors that a part of the calculus of student outcomes, and the classroom instructor's only a part of that. A big part, for sure, but still, just one player on a very large team. And why on earth would we want our schools to adopt the corporate America approach for evaluating teachers? Corporate America wastes resources because it can afford to hire some cheap-ass worker to replace the one that just got canned. On paper, yeah, you can do the same with a teacher -- if all you're doing is looking at the teacher's salary. If you think about it qualitative, though, in terms of the lost progress, experience, and lost future potential, this country is p*ssing away an incalculable amount of human intellectual capital.
Personally, I don't necessarily befriend the teacher's union anymore than a lot of public education critics. I think they have a tendency to view teaching as some sort of 'career' first; it's not a career, it's a calling, it's a mission, and it's an important cornerstone for society. And it ought to be treated as such.
I met some who did TFA in queens or the Bronx I forgot which one. She found it ridiculously stressful. They taught all day, had long commutes and then had hours of classes after a full work day teaching. She felt the training wasn't adequate for dealing with schools with so many entrenched problems were experienced teachers would be better served. Needless to say, she is not currently teaching or in anything remotely related to education.
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