Merrifield: More school choice could make a teacher's job less Herculean. (Image from teacherportal.com)
Editor's note: John Merrifield is an economics professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio whose primary academic interest is school system reform studies. He's also editor of the Journal of School Choice, initiator of the annual School Choice and Reform International Academic Conference, and author of the critically acclaimed "The School Choice Wars."
A recent Wall Street Journal article about a National Council on Teacher Quality report on widespread deficiencies in teacher training programs is the latest example of hand-wringing about teacher ineffectiveness. Without discounting completely the need to address this issue along with others in the teaching profession – such as low pay, tenure, high turnover, poor materials, and the tendency to draw the lowest ability students - allow me to suggest the root of our teaching skill problem is actually the public school system’s monopoly on public funding.
The current system generates classroom composition that is so heterogeneous in student ability and life experience that only an extraordinarily rare teaching talent achieves significant academic progress for a high percentage of students in public school classrooms. Policies like mainstreaming a lot of special needs children will make teacher and public luck, in the form of unusually homogenous classrooms, increasingly rare.
Data reveal a few schools at the top and bottom that perform well or poorly with all students, respectively. But the truth is, teachers are quite effective with certain students and not effective with others - something that is often concealed by comprehensive test score averages. In 2011, I analyzed this fact in Texas, which has test score data disaggregated into several student sub-groups, and is especially important in Texas because of its diversity: large black and Hispanic populations and considerable variation in urban and rural settings. We found schools that taught black students well, and Hispanic students poorly, and vice versa. Other schools did well with low-achieving students, but not well with high achieving students, and vice versa.
Many would like to believe schools do an equally good job, regardless of race, ethnic background, students’ average ability level, or socio-economic status. Sadly this is not the case, and the differences are significant. Each school typically does better than others with different groups because teachers have strengths and weaknesses, even when they are not hired for them. (more…)
Charter schools. A circuit judge denies a Pasco charter school's expansion plan. Tampa Bay Times.
Virtual schools. A Fort Myers charter tells parents, wrongly, that they must pay $425 if their kids fail to complete Florida Virtual School classes. Associated Press.
Class size amendment. Students down, teachers up. Intercepts.
Ed schools. Florida State College at Jacksonville, one of five state schools rated substandard in NCTQ's new report, says the group got it wrong. StateImpact Florida.
Science. Florida should adopt science standards from California and/or Washington D.C. (and not the Next Generation Science Standards), says state Board of Education member John Padget. Gradebook.
Tech. Broward says it only has $16 million for $59 million worth of technology needs, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Miami-Dade adopts a $63 million plan to ensure every student has access to a digital device by 2015, reports the Miami Herald.
Teacher conduct. A Hernando teacher is suspended for 10 days without pay for allegedly yelling at a student for several minutes, making disparaging racial remarks and throwing a backpack at his chest, reports the Tampa Bay Times. A Venice charter school principal accused of intimidation and bullying has resigned, reports the Sarasota Herald Tribune.
Tutors. Alachua opts to stop giving low-income parents the ability to choose private tutors. Gainesville Sun. (more…)
The National Council on Teacher Quality released its first Teacher Prep Review today, and the findings show only a handful of colleges and universities adequately train aspiring teachers.
Which means many of the programs are leaving new teachers ill-equipped to keep up with the growing rigor of public instruction – and that’s bad news for a country about to raise the bar on education benchmarks with the adoption of the Common Core State Standards.
“The problem is worse than we thought,’’ said Brian Kelly, editor and chief content officer of U.S. News & World Report, which published the study. “The data show that the academic caliber of many incoming students is quite low, and what they are taught often has little relevance to what they need to succeed in the classroom.
“Very few schools meet even a minimum standard of quality when it comes to using the best practices for educating teachers,’’ he said in a prepared statement.
If the goal is to help all teachers succeed, “we not only need to change what happens in the schools where they work, we must also address the preparation of the next generation of educators,’’ said Kate Walsh, president of the national council. “New teachers deserve training that will enable them to walk into their own classroom on their first day ready to teach, but our review shows that we have a long way to go.’’
The study looked at 1,130 institutions, including 32 in Florida. Among the findings:
Next steps. Florida should adopt parent triggers and education savings accounts to keep the reform momentum going, writes William Mattox at the James Madison Institute. Florida Voices.
More on teacher raises. Gov. Rick Scott’s proposal is “long overdue,” writes the Miami Herald. Teachers deserve it, writes the Tampa Tribune. Agreed, writes the Florida Times Union. A "major leap in his new commitment to education," writes the Tallahassee Democrat. A good deal if it’s part of a long-term commitment, writes the Fort Myers News Press. A "naked political ploy," writes the Orlando Sentinel: "The best teacher in Florida will get the exact same raise as the worst teacher in Florida. We're having trouble seeing the merit in that."
It clashes with other items on the education wish list, notes StateImpact Florida. "A lot of details need to be worked out," writes Sunshine State News. A tradeoff for pension ruling? asks Education Week. State Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Boca Raton, has filed legislation for a constitutional amendment that would push teacher salaries to the national average, notes SchoolZone. Florida PTA likes the idea, SchoolZone also notes. Scott talks up his plan at Twin Lakes Elementary in Tampa, reports the Tampa Bay Times, and at Gainesville High, reports the Gainesville Sun.
Teacher evals. Gradebook: Work in progress, lawmakers say. StateImpact Florida: Districts have flexibility, a DOE official tells lawmakers. Associated Press: Race and poverty have little impact on evaluation scores, a DOE official tells lawmakers. SchoolZone: SB 736 may need some work, Gov. Scott says. Florida Times Union: A Duval middle school principal accidentally emails evaluation ratings to her entire staff.
Teacher quality. Gradebook logs in the NCTQ report that gives Florida a B- on teacher prep. So does the Associated Press.
School spending. An audit finds the Broward school district’s transportation department is missing about $1 million worth of equipment, including “two 2009 Ford Explorers worth $20,000 each, six generators worth $300,000, a forklift valued at $20,000 and 250 radios each priced at more than $1,000,” reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel. The Franklin County school district's financial crisis could mean 19.5 percent pay cuts for employees, reports the Tallahassee Democrat. (more…)
I wish the education reform movement would put more focus on the broken schools of education that fail to attract highly qualified students or to train them to perform well in the nation’s classrooms.
Six years have passed since The Education Schools Project, headed by Arthur Levine, former president of Teachers College at Columbia University, issued a comprehensive and scathing indictment of the nation’s schools of education. The report found an overwhelming lack of academic standards and understanding of how teachers should be prepared. It determined that “most education schools are engaged in a ‘pursuit of irrelevance,’ with curriculums in disarray and faculty disconnected from classrooms and colleagues.” Moreover, schools of education have become “cash cows” for universities. The admissions standards are low. The research expectations and standards are far below those expected in other disciplines. And there is no pressure to raise student academic outcomes because, at least in part, school districts often only care about a “credential” and not the learning it represents.
Have things improved since Levine’s report? Speaking at a panel during the recent Excellence in Action National Summit on Education Reform, Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, previewed the results of a comprehensive study to be published in U.S. News & World Report in April 2013. It affirms little has changed. For example, only about 20 percent of schools of education have admission standards that even require applicants to be in the top 50 percent of their high school graduating class. Only 25 percent of schools of education require their students to be placed with an “effective” teacher when student teaching. (more…)
