A Better Blend: Combine Digital Instruction with Great Teaching
Today’s blended models will likely fall short unless they include excellent teachers playing instructional and team leadership roles that maximize technology’s impact in tandem with their own.
One Giant Leap for Teacher Development
I’m all but certain a number of states will take this report’s lessons to heart, and once again it will be said that TNTP influenced for the better our educator policies and practices.
Trial by Format
The fine art of not teaching
Is it ever possible to prove that all pupils have learned in a given hour what the teacher set out to teach?
There Are Ineffective Teachers (and Principals, Superintendents, Librarians, Janitors, etc.)
If an employer can’t differentiate between their employees, they’re likely to treat them all as interchangeable widgets when it comes time to decide on how to help them improve, how much to pay them, or which ones should be retained.
What We’re Watching: Paying Teachers More, Within Budget
How extending the reach of excellent teachers can help teachers and kids.
Behind the Headline: Teacher Absenteeism Puts Students at a Loss
New data from the U.S. Department of Education suggest that teacher absenteeism is becoming a serious problem, with about one in three teachers missing more than 10 days of school each year.
The Unheralded Virtues of Grown-Up Policymaking, New Jersey-style
How New Jersey has tried to bridge the gap between policy and practice on teacher evaluations.
Why Educators’ Wages Must Be Revamped Now
Some districts are spending more than they need to spend, based on what other districts show is possible.
No Substitute for a Teacher
Adults’ absences shortchange students
The average child has substitute teachers for more than six months of his school career
Grammarians in Hoodies
High school students take up the charge
Sloppy English usage may seem like a modern problem, but the laxness that has led to this moment in grammar’s history bears a strong resemblance to the atmosphere in early-18th-century England.
The Rising Cost of Teachers’ Health Care
Private-sector employers pay much less
Insurance costs for teachers are 26 percent higher than they are for private-sector professionals
Reform Agenda Gains Strength
The 2012 EdNext-PEPG survey finds Hispanics give schools higher grade than others do
The 2012 EdNext-PEPG survey finds Hispanics give schools a higher grade than others do
Do Piano Teachers Need to Know How to Play the Piano?
The Common Core standards will be a great challenge for America’s teachers. Our public schools are asking teachers to help students reach standards that are far above the standards that they have achieved themselves.
What Are the Right Schools of Experience for Teachers in New Schools?
As innovation increases in education in the years ahead, the way we prepare some teachers may need to change as well.
More Reasonable Responses to My WSJ Piece
There’s been a 50% increase in the teaching workforce, but we have not seen improved results. Some people try to explain this by blaming special education and English Language Learners, but they’re wrong.
Capturing the Dimensions of Effective Teaching
Student achievement gains, student surveys, and classroom observations
Student achievement gains, student surveys, and classroom observations
The Opportunity to Create More Champion Teachers
Far from replacing our teachers, a blended-learning environment holds the potential of making the job more accessible for more individuals. It provides the opportunity to create more champions.
A New Type of Ed School
Linking candidate success to student success
Linking candidate success to student success
Teacher Evaluations Found to Improve Midcareer Effectiveness
When teachers in Cincinnati were evaluated rigorously, student performance on math tests improve
What We’re Watching: Teacher of the Year Gets Laid Off
Sacramento’s teacher of the year just lost her job as result of budget cuts in a district that mandates layoffs according to seniority, not performance.
How to Push for Reform without Alienating Teachers
For all of its victories, the school reform movement finds itself in a pickle. To succeed in creating world-class schools and raising student achievement, it needs teachers to feel motivated, empowered, and inspired. And yet, many teachers are down in the dumps.
Financially Sustainable Career Paths for Teachers
New career paths for teachers send a clear, sustainable message that schools value teaching excellence and their great teachers’ positive impact on students, peers, and their profession.
What We’re Watching: Is Teaching an Art or a Science?
Dan Willingham discusses the science of teaching, and considers whether and how basic science can inform teaching.
Teaching the Teachers
Achievement Network offers support for data-driven instruction
Achievement Network offers support for data-driven instruction
Implications for Policy Are Not So Clear
Commentary on “Great Teaching:Measuring its effects on students’ future earnings” By Raj Chetty, John N. Friedman and Jonah E. Rockoff Raj Chetty, John Friedman, and Jonah Rockoff have carried out a remarkable study, but I suspect it will be misinterpreted. The main contribution of their research is quantifying the importance of teaching. Specifically, the authors [...]
