Comments on: Increasing the Number of Great Teachers Instead of Moving the Great Teachers Around http://educationnext.org/increasing-the-number-of-great-teachers-instead-of-moving-the-great-teachers-around/ Education Next is a journal of opinion and research about education policy. Thu, 24 May 2012 15:50:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Claus http://educationnext.org/increasing-the-number-of-great-teachers-instead-of-moving-the-great-teachers-around/comment-page-1/#comment-347 Claus Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:47:01 +0000 http://educationnext.org/?p=49630240#comment-347 Hess offers a characteristically lucid analysis. It's true that too many policymakers see teachers as troops to be deployed to different fronts. It's also true that too many think tank dwellers see "good" teachers as widgets (a different sort of "widget effect") who can be transplanted into different teaching environments with no loss of effectiveness. If we want to improve low-income students' access to effective staff, we have to include effective pre-service training and staff development in the mix. Incentives alone will not do the trick.... Hess offers a characteristically lucid analysis. It’s true that too many policymakers see teachers as troops to be deployed to different fronts. It’s also true that too many think tank dwellers see “good” teachers as widgets (a different sort of “widget effect”) who can be transplanted into different teaching environments with no loss of effectiveness.

If we want to improve low-income students’ access to effective staff, we have to include effective pre-service training and staff development in the mix. Incentives alone will not do the trick….

]]> By: Nan Richards http://educationnext.org/increasing-the-number-of-great-teachers-instead-of-moving-the-great-teachers-around/comment-page-1/#comment-335 Nan Richards Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:50:07 +0000 http://educationnext.org/?p=49630240#comment-335 Hess makes some good arguments. As a teacher who just moved from a school with primarily minority, low socioeconomic status students to a school with primarily white, middle class students, I can affirm that the school you teach in does have some bearing on your ability to be effective in the classroom. Oddly, I find myself struggling to meet the needs of my students in the new, and most would say less challenging, district that I've been transplanted into. Perhaps I am suffering from culture shock and will recover quickly, or perhaps I am suffering from a lack of neediness on the part of my pupils. Maybe I'm just overworked. Whatever the cause, I find myself feeling less passionate about my craft in my new surroundings. Hess makes some good arguments. As a teacher who just moved from a school with primarily minority, low socioeconomic status students to a school with primarily white, middle class students, I can affirm that the school you teach in does have some bearing on your ability to be effective in the classroom. Oddly, I find myself struggling to meet the needs of my students in the new, and most would say less challenging, district that I’ve been transplanted into. Perhaps I am suffering from culture shock and will recover quickly, or perhaps I am suffering from a lack of neediness on the part of my pupils. Maybe I’m just overworked. Whatever the cause, I find myself feeling less passionate about my craft in my new surroundings.

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