Educational Reform

If you haven't done so already, the NY Times article, "Building a Better Teacher" by Elizabeth Green is a must read.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Teachers-t.html?em

Green wrote, "William Sanders, a statistician studying Tennessee teachers a colleague, found that a student with a weak teacher for three straight years would score, on average, 50 percentile points behind a similar student with a strong teacher for those years." A Stanford economist named Eric Hanushek "found that while the top 5 percent of teachers were able to impart a year and a half's worth of learning to students in on school year, as judged by standardized tests, the weakest 5 percent advanced their students only half a year of material each year."

Doug Lemov (once a teacher, principal, charter-school founder, and now an educational consultant) is often cited in the article. He believes that better training is needed for teachers. Michelle Rhee (schools chancellor in DC) a strong proponent of school reform is also discussed.

Finally, the mention of Diane Ravitch caught my attention because I will be hearing her speak at the NYSSBA Conference in NYS in October. She was a former assistant secretary of education under the first President Bush and has written, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education.

Great article for anyone interested in improving education.