So, if certification is not a guarantor of quality, what’s a parent to do? • At your school — followup with the principal. Union regulations may hinder principals’ hiring practices to a degree, but they still maintain a good deal of control over new hires. Make it clear to your principal that it’s important to you that a high school teacher knows his or her subject well, as evidenced by a major in that field, or that an elementary teacher has an academic major and not merely an education major. Also, emphasize the importance of evaluating teachers, in part, on the basis of student learning. • At the policy level —find out what proposals currently exist to address teacher quality and contact your legislator to help him do the right thing. States need to focus not on teacher preparation but on student achievement. Hold the schools account- able for results and give principals the freedom to hire candidates who will help the schools achieve those results. Qualified teachers are much more than just certified teachers. We owe it to our children to provide top-notch teachers for their education.Danielle Wilcox is a doctoral student in the Department of Organization and Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University. Everyone knows that teachers are critical to a child’s success in school. But precisely howa teacher affects a child is the subject of much public discussion and bickering among lawmakers today. New information released earlier this year may shed some light on where schools and parents need to put more emphasis to ensure that children do succeed. The study by the Indianapolis-based Hudson Institute and the web-based Education Intelligence Agency reveals the following: Seniority: Years in the classroom is not necessarily a positive factor that influences student achievement. Some states — like Florida and Virginia — actually show a nega- tive impact among teachers who have more than 25 years of experience. Education Level: More degrees don’t play a significant role in how a teacher effects a child. In some states, students of teachers with Bachelors degrees outperformed students of teachers with Masters degrees. New research from the University of Tennessee finds that the single most important variable in student academic progress is having an effective teacher. Low achieving students are the first to benefit from effective teaching and the residual effects of effective teachers are evident over time. Effective teachers have a tremendous impact on student success. If this is the case, why do most traditional public schools pay teachers based on seniority and years of education rather than the gains they effect in children? Such a switch has “usually been resisted by teacher unions… Unions have opposed school boards and superintendents who support merit pay, say Dale Ballou and Michael Podgursky, both professors of economics who wrote the book, Teacher Pay and Teacher Quality, (UPJOHN Institute, 1997). Ballou and Podgursky argue that schools must start paying teachers as most other profes- sionals are paid—for their expertise, perfor- mance and results. Teaching is a skill that requires content knowledge to be presented in such a way as to motivate, educate and inspire students. “Students know when their teachers love their subject, and they catch the enthu- siasm when they do,” says Diane Ravitch, professor of history at New York University. She and other experts believe that teacher reward and compensation should be based not on how many degrees they have amassed or how long they have remained in the classroom, but how well they impart their skill. At the end of the day, it’s the impact that a teacher has on her students that really counts. Teachers MatterCONTINUED FROM PAGE 2-SchoolSizing up the quality of our teachersCharter schools featured on PBSClarence Page, PulitzerPrize-winning syndicatedcolumnist for theChicago Tribune, visitsseveral charter schoolsin this video essay. Theprogram to air on PBSFriday, September 29,2000 at 10:30 p.m.,reports on how wellcharters schools areworking. Please checkyour local listings forexact day and timeof airing.
