All the talk about improving schools getting federal Obama money has brought to the forefront the idea of “What makes a good school?” Is it changing for change-sake?

Fort Wayne Community Schools thinks moving people around is a big part of the answer, apparently. A principal from the South Side would be better for the North Side–a shake-up for the good-of-the-student is a big portion of their plan. I have yet to understand their full rational at this point. I do like the idea of different job duties for assistant principals than in the past, but still have a lot of questions.

Finding the right teacher is more important. Good teachers, the BEST teachers, need to have fire in their belly.

After reading several of the ‘letters to the editor’ (this one most notably) and other writings, I ran across and article in The Atlantic regarding what makes a good teacher. They have an article highlighting research from Teach for America.

Research they have may surprise some about the most effective teachers:

“First, great teachers tended to set big goals for their students. They were also perpetually looking for ways to improve their effectiveness.”

I have said before that we should not lower standards just to get everyone to pass, but remove barriers so everyone can succeed. Why not teacher more? Teacher better? Teach beyond?

Teacher unions have lobbied for (and gained) raises just because a teacher goes on to get a Master’s degree (tier payment example page 120 here).

“A master’s degree in education seems to have no impact on classroom effectiveness.”

I wonder who decided it made a better teacher? Could it be the higher-education institutions?

“What did predict success, interestingly, was a history of perseverance—not just an attitude, but a track record.”

They must have seen that Fire in the Belly.

“Superstar teachers had four other tendencies in common: they avidly recruited students and their families into the process; they maintained focus, ensuring that everything they did contributed to student learning; they planned exhaustively and purposefully—for the next day or the year ahead—by working backward from the desired outcome; and they worked relentlessly, refusing to surrender to the combined menaces of poverty, bureaucracy, and budgetary shortfalls.”

Teachers unions have to get out of the way of protecting contracts and find a way to get rid of those teachers who have lost their perseverance.

Here’s a plan they may want to try:

“This year, D.C. public schools have begun using a new evaluation system for all faculty and staff, from teachers to custodians. Each will receive a score, just like the students, at the end of the year. For teachers whose students take standardized tests half their score will be based on how much their students improved.

The rest will be based largely on five observation sessions conducted throughout the year by their principal, assistant principal, and a group of master educators. Throughout the year, teachers will receive customized training. At year’s end, teachers who score below a certain threshold could be fired.”

School improvement cannot be driven by dollars. Teachers and administrators cannot be ‘improved’ if they have no desire to change. And, lastly, Change has to be backed up by reason and logic.

It’s time for teachers all over to find their Fire in the Belly.

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Tags: FWCS, Improving Education, Race to the top, Unions

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 1:37 pm and is filed under Current Affairs, Health & Education, Unions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.