Bruce Adams, a veteran teacher in Buffalo, New York, one of the poorest districts in the state, wrote these articles.
This one explores the Hollywood myth of the good teacher, the great teacher who takes students from basic math to advanced calculus in the course of a single year, implying that anyone could do it, if they are a great teacher.
This one shows how harmful is the practice of ranking schools from best-to-worst based on some external measure because it either reflects the socioeconomic status of the students and their family, or it encourages the worst educational practices in a futile effort to change the rankings.
The reason I call attention to these articles, aside from the fact that I liked them, is that I want to encourage other teachers to write in your local newspapers. The public needs to understand more about education and more about how schooling works and doesn’t work. You are the experts, and you must do your best to educate the public. Don’t sit back and complain when people are woefully misinformed. Inform them.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’ve often thought of doing just that but haven’t due to fear of repercussions from a micromanaging superintendent. I tend to have this discussion orally instead.
Years ago as a spanking new nontenured teacher I expressed to my fellow teachers the concern that my active union involvement might work against me. A seasoned teacher gave me a piece of advice that became the guiding rule of my educational life. She said, “If you make yourself a big target it protects you because it’s too obvious when they retaliate. It’s the quiet teacher that they can push around.” I never looked back. My approach has always been honesty without malice. My policy is to never complain about something that I’m not willing to help solve. I once even openly attacked the performance of a superintendent. And of course I let the superintendent know how she could improve and I offered to help her. When she didn’t seem to care to improve I penned a vote of no confidence that the union voted favorably on. And yet there were no repercussions. Why? Because I would have made that public too, and she knew it. Big target. It never failed me.
By the way, while I live in Buffalo, I taught in a nearby small city that is more of a suburb to Buffalo. I now teach as an adjunct art education instructor at Buffalo State College.
I have recently been tapped as union rep for my campus. And I can say your comments are an inspiration to what will be a very interesting school year! Keep me posted. Best of luck! And by the way I also had a veteran colleague hand me several similar bits of advice.
Here is a story about a public opinion poll from about 2010. We should keep some of this in mind as we write our newspapers. I think a lot of times as teachers, we make assumptions about what the general public knows or thinks. This might help as a guide when making our arguments. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/research/what-americans-really-think-ab.html
Reblogged this on Abelardo Garcia Jr's Blog and commented:
This article is very good!! We educators have a voice. Please let us be heard! Get involved! Show the public that we are not as evil as the deforming movement makes us look. Follow the links to the article on the myth of the good and bad teacher. It will make for good reading.