I recommend this very measured report from the Center for American Progress on what to do with and how to identify ineffective teachers. Nowhere does it mention sending teachers back to school for elaborate retraining and pointless credentialing, or other handouts dressed as reforms, nor does it deny the usefulness of standardized testing. They outline a set of broad guidelines and policies that should be adopted at the federal, state, district, and school level. This strikes me as a serious attempt to define a broad and moderate outline for addressing a serious problem, that if adopted has the potential to result in a fair and effective process for removing bad teachers.
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Wednesday ~ March 17th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
teageegeepea
Are there enough potential replacements out there for the teachers that will be removed? I recall reading that education majors have some of the lowest standardized test scores, though above those in education administration.
Steve Sailer wonders about what to do with students who can’t meet standards.
Friday ~ March 19th, 2010 at 7:45 am
Adam Ozimek
I would hope that higher demand would spur higher wages, which would increase supply. But given the way wages are set, you might be right that shortages would occur. However, new teachers start at lower salaries, and bad teachers are probably evenly distributed by age, so getting rid of relatively expensive bad teachers and replacing them with cheaper new would probably free up the budget to raise starting salaries and fix the shortage.