There is no secret to getting great teachers, writes Peter Greene.
Everything the reformsters do is guaranteed to drive away great teachers.
Here is the secret:
“If you really want to put a great teacher in front of every child, then you need to preserve and enhance a vision of teaching that gives teachers control over their fate, their teaching environment, and the education they provide their students. You need to preserve and enhance a vision of the profession that allows teachers to grow and excel (on their own terms). You need to preserve and enhance a vision of education’s greater purposes, which are so much more than “college and career ready” and “do well on that bubble test.” And you need to offer career pay that means they’re not always wondering how they’ll ever be able to raise a family or buy a home.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
YES.
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quote: “You need to preserve and enhance a vision of education’s greater purposes, which are so much more than “college and career ready” and “do well on that bubble test.”
This needs to be our focus as much as getting rid of tests and the approach to “common core” being pushed by Duncan (not the standards that were already developed with teachers in Massachusetts etc).
There is a lot of “hype” being sold out there that your student will be “career ready” and there is no validity to it… Plus, the American culture has become so materialistic as to “compete to get into the best colleges” which means expensive and status seeking. And the ballistic metaphors of “beat up on China” all seriously distort the purposes of education , the quality of life, and the worth of a human person. I am reminded of a play from absurd theater Rhinoceros that I saw as a movie twice and this huge beast just comes to sit on the city and leaves no breathing room… it feels that absurd to me that we are making a fetish out of testing and “rigoritis”….
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teachers should not grow on “their own terms”, but collectively, with other teachers, and continuing education, not staff development, nor on programs.
there are many bad teachers who are in the wrong profession, or who latch onto a guru, for protection. We need to be able to challenge teachers to think without intimidation, but support, as in Finland.
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I think the point is that professionals should have some say in deciding what they need to enhance their professional practice. While collaboration with other professionals is a piece of that all professional development should not rely on strictly group think strategies. As teachers we do have individual interests within our professional practice that we would like to pursue. That pursuit does not always have to be group directed. Has anyone else noticed that the majority of our day is spent in isolation from other professionals(tongue in cheek)? We had better be prepared to function on our own. I always loved the time I got to spend with colleagues discussing common concerns and was eager for input from other professionals. However, there always came a time when I needed to take ownership of the shared information and make it work for me in my classroom. I think perhaps that is what you are trying to convey, Joseph, although I am not sure.
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@Joseph: hear, hear!
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I would add to the mix, confident principals who allow and encourage their teachers to thrive.
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I’d like us to drop the “great” thing because it’s just too hard to defined lets go with solid, professional teaching that gives kids to opportunity to learn and grow.
We need to do more then have a vision; we need to articulate what that can look like, much as the NCTM described what a math classroom, teaching, and learning should look like.
Not all teachers can get there, and the incoming supply is not unlimited. But somehow we have to allow those who can make the good stuff happen to actually teach.
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Excellent points, Peter. The “great teacher in every classroom” nonsense is part of the “We’re Number One!” and “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing,” ranking-obsessed mentality that dominates so many aspects of American culture. It’s delusional, on my view, and grounded in notions that we can quantify everything. Can’t resist saying that this is essential to capitalism and antithetical to what matters in education.
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“If you really want to put a great teacher in front of every child, then you need to preserve and enhance a vision of teaching that gives teachers control over their fate, their teaching environment, and the education they provide their students.” This says it all for me. For the first time in 22 years of teaching, I am dreading going back to school because I have no control over my own fate, my teaching environment and the type of education that I really want to provide to my students. I didn’t always want to become a teacher, but fell into it my last year in college. I found that I love the creativity I was able to use in the classroom, the time that I could spend reaching students who struggled, and working with colleagues to develop unique and creative ways to deliver content that my students really needed to know. The amount of standardized testing and test prep has killed that. I’ve even been told that if I do not teach certain programs exactly the way they are prescribed then I will be written up, even though my students have generally been among the highest achieving ones in the building and in the district.
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Sdipple, I am so sorry to report that this has already happened to me. I received wonderful test scores in June and earned high marks for my school district in their yearly report. I had an awesome class this year. My evaluation was mediocre this year (even with my constant very good test scores), because the clueless evaluator (new principal to the district) does not like how I get my good test scores. He wants everything to be constantly taught in groups – everything – with the teacher just walking cluelessly around the classroom looking up at the ceiling. “Race to the Bottom” has changed everything in the classroom for the worse. For years, educators have been told WHAT to teach. We are now demanded HOW to teach it. Education as we know it is in huge trouble. I’ve never seen such upsetting times in our public schools. Thank you for your great post. (:
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” I’ve even been told that if I do not teach certain programs exactly the way they are prescribed then I will be written up,…”
I spent two and a half years making a canned program work. There was a lot of good material and PD from trainers encouraging individual refinements to fit your own classroom. They had their own “ideal” model that was marketed to administrators and it was that model (because that was the model the company tested) that was used to end my teaching. It didn’t matter that the school did not follow or provide the model program requirements. Many of my students did not qualify for the program under its criteria and the resources provided no where near approached those provided in the official model. Nor did it matter that it took administrators an average of two months into the school year to come close to meeting the basic requirements. I literally could not follow the program because critical components were missing. In addition, both years student scheduling was so badly mangled that it took the administration almost as long to approach correcting the problem. Of course AYP, was taken before the March 1 deadline for evaluations. Essentially, my students, who were frequently not qualified for the program, had to show AYP in the four months they had in the program. Even so, some students made incredible progress, especially some of those that I had for two years. The first two years (started late midyear in year 1) I received excellent ratings from my Special ed administrators. The third year my evaluation was controlled by non-special ed administrators. Even though my department chair still managed to give me a satisfactory rating, my probationary status allowed the general administrators to “not recommend for rehire”.
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These ideas should be self evident. My career goes back further including the “automobile” crisis. Our corporations were having a very difficult time. It seemed that – according to the media – no one seemed to have an answer as to how to get back on track.
However
There were corporations that were doing very well. Wish my memory were better to give accurate details but if memory is correct, and it may not be, I think that maybe Frontline even ran a story on it. Certainly there was a book and someone did a documentary.
The corporations who got ahead even in those dark hours were the ones which held their employees in high esteem. One CEO especially, it was almost nauseating, he got his workers together and put his arm around one of his employees who had done especially good work and praised him/her to the skies in front of everyone of his employees. Down the line, the successful CEOS were the ones who valued their employees and showed that value in ways not necessarily in monetary ways.
Does not everyone appreciate a “good job”, “thanks for your work”, etc.
I will never forget one of our school board members who spoke definitively that his job was to “hold their feet to the fire”. This after teachers and administrators had worked extra hours etc etc to build a good school system.
Watch how your children, students, respond when they are put down, are denigrated, etc.
How difficult is that to understand?
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How about letting the consumer decide who is a great teacher?
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Sounds good; won’t work. Assuming consumers are students, their judgement of good teachers would have to come years into real life.
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The consumer is the one buying for the product. The product is education. I am against high stakes testing and I support a teacher’s autonomy in the classroom. I realize each child is unique and not every student/parent is going to love every one of their teachers and I have even taught my children to learn that dealing with a difficult relationship is a vital life skill. I am aware people are falsely accused all the time and I believe in due process, but I hold the line that as a parent I should not be able to hold you accountable. I do hold you accountable as you would me in your healthcare.
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Unless you drop me, I am not likely to be able to judge your nursing abilities. My last hospital adventure included being overdosed with pain killers that resulted in a few days of mostly auditory hallucinations. I don’t remember anyone being offered up for sacrifice. They didn’t kill me and ultimately I did recover. Diagnosing malpractice in the case of teaching can be more subtle and with the stripping of job protections can depend on what politically connected individual wants to demonstrate that they are on top of the problem. I applaud your teaching your children that getting along with different types of people is a skill to be learned, but that is part of the point. You and a teacher are very likely going to be able to come to an understanding that leaves all parties feeling like they have been heard.
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Who is the “consumer”? The students? Parents? Taxpayers? I have a lot of problems letting any of those constituencies having control over teachers’ fates.
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Agreed, Dienne. None of the above..
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Here’s a bit of news. We don’t work for you. You work for us.
I am a nurse, why don’t I make all the decisions about your healthcare? After all, I am the expert and you the repository of my care. I am not sure you can be trusted to know what is best for youself and I certainly don’t want you to have control over my craft.
Is this a joke? Are you seriously saying parents (constituents) are incapable of participating in deciding who is a good teacher?
Where do I sign up for the “my job is an art and there is no way anyone could assess me so just trust me my little “repository”. Yikes!
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“consumer” pretty much sums it up…students are not consumers, they are repositories of knowledge; however, you can bring a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.
Any kid with a vendetta against a teacher would “decide” that teacher is less than. Also, a kid can be paid to lie – case and point: Beatrice Vergara, et al.
Who is your mythological consumer of k-12 education? Unless you’re referring to Koch, Broad, Gates, et al, who have “bought” education lock, stock and barrel in order to profit from the end game, I know not who your consumer is.
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I am the consumer. If you go to the hospital are you the repository of healthcare?
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Who are you? How do you consume public education? Which aisle in Walmart contains your desired product?
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Seriously? You should be ashamed of yourself. I would fight to never let someone like you teach my children; certainly not civics. What planet do you live on? I am not the only parent/citizen who reads this blog. You do your profession a disservice.
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I hope you saw that I tried to apologize immediately after I wrote that comment. It did not further the discussion. I am troubled by the adoption of business lingo in what used to be professional relationships that never were primarily viewed as mere business transactions.
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that is what I am replying too also. I clearly remember descriptions of “merchandising” and “marketing” in my work in the 70s and today we have “data mining” which has become another one of the frightening aspects of the technology …. technology has values until it gets distorted. In the 70s I had a simple tool that would score the tests that we used as teachers (chosen by or written by teachers) and it was a small card reader…. today they want you to buy the computers (replacing them every two years) and the come filled with the “curriculum” and the “tests” owned by the Pearson/PARCC conglomerate and that is a distinct difference and what so many of us are upset about.
Business lingo when it is data mining in the medical profession (going to the drug stores to see what the doctors are prescribing) or gathering information on a preschooler from his family’s income level, to their preferences, and previous information that was private… those are all the worries and concerns we have when a total “customer” model has been accepted by the culture.
business lingo in what used to be professional relationships
jeanhaverhill@aol.com
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“Business lingo” in any field empowers the “customer” (parent, patient etc.) It reminds the provider that they provide a service. Your problem is not with being service minded it is with the corporate monopoly that has invaded public education. Private industry always profited from the education markets. It is competition that drives innovation.
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You are right. I have no problem with businesses providing products and services to public education. I do object to the attempt to turn it into a business. I am bothered with the idea that innovation is driven by competition. I think innovation is also driven by need as well as simple curiosity. Yeah there are the businesses that compete to build the bigger and better mousetrap. I’m not sure they are always so innovative. For me, innovation looks more like the invention of the wheel than the next iteration of the cell phone. Competition today often seems to be intent on buying or destroying the other guy’s ideas. My gut tells me we have oversold competition as a driving force for progress and/or growth.
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I did see that in a later post after I had already redponded. I do appreciate your humility. As a parent who has had a school aged child for the past 30 years I am outraged with what us happening in education today. What previous was an environment of accountability now has become a behometh that believes I am
accountable to them. What used to be
confined to academics has flowed over into
healthcare and social situations. Frankly,
things that I believe are none of your
damned business I am being mandated to
participate in. I believe there is a grand opportunity for an alliance between parentsand teachers, but of teachers don’t support parental authority don’t expect us to support teacher autonomy. “The village” doesn’t love my children; I do and I resent the villages interference where none is needed nor desired. Nor am I am impressed with the “village’s” ability to raise children.
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My four took twenty-two years (I think) to get through the public schools. There were definitely bumps in the road and times when I had to assert my role as a parent. In an ideal world, everyone has parents that can step in confidently when necessary. It was in those times when I did not feel knowledgeable enough that I might rely on the “village,” but I defined that village. I don’t think any of us like to be told how to raise our children. No one else loves them the way we do, but I could use my village for advice and encouragement. Sometimes I got advice I didn’t want, but I sought it out ( and on occasion they were right!). It is very hard to try to provide an acceptable level of service to everyone without overstepping. We are not doing a good job of it.
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This “village” originates in DC and somehow they have got me answering to them.
My village is my family, my neighbors and my local community. I am willing to listen to ideas, but resent having another’s whims dictated to me. My local school board, teachers and education administators were not consulted in CCSS. Who do I hold responsible at the voting booth? I guess it starts with the govenor. Doesn’t feel very democratic to me.
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Yes, my village is very much a local condition as well.
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My questions are rather snippy sounding when I read over them. I just find it hard to equate the delivery of medical services and public education.
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I have always been responsible for the care I give. I treat EVERY patient I care for as a customer. I try to teach, but ultimately, I must respect my patient’s decisions. I see myself as their advocate. Yes, I feel my profession is an “art”; my skill a gift. Still, I I serve you, not vice versa. No one is mandated to receive care; you can refuse care even if I think you are mistaken. Ironically, with the passage of the AHA I am think more and more frequently as you will see your care dictated by bureaucrats and I will see my role as your advocate limited by authorities who are unaccountable to anyone. The idea of customer service should be central to every position however humble it may be and it is a character trait that has been ingrained in me since my first paper route. When people are paying for a product or service they expect to be treated like a valued customer not a mandated “repository”.
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I dislike both terms. Both seem to me to be dictated by a business model that intrudes where it shouldn’t. I do not view myself as a client or customer when I enter a hospital or even see my internist. I do not want the relationship to be governed like a transaction at my local supermarket. This business invasion is taking away the relationship between patient and medical professional just as it is destroying the relationships in education. When a child becomes more important as an anonymous set of data points than as a living breathing human being, we are in serious trouble. Children were never my customers or the mandated repositories of my service. If that is what we expect, then by all means replace me with a computer. Human interaction is not required.
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I probably think as you do, 2old, because to me the word customer has the connotations of merchandising and marketing and that is just what the “business” types are doing …. also, some of the family business owners that I knew in the past had a sense of “good will” and I don’t have that same feeling today about the businesses. In human services sometimes the title “client” has been more acceptable.
Also, in human services we had the value of “I/thou” form philosophy and psychology which appears to be lost in a strictly “Selling” world where I must sell you something in order to be in some way above your or superior to you to gain profit so I can understand why the current definition of “customer” is repugnant to you….. there are different connotations to the word depending upon our experiences and I miss the concept of “good will” and the feeling of “i/thou”….that goes along with relationships building or community building rather than just selling something for a profit
The health care facility where I receive most of my care has doctors and nurses that understand that but there are “Managers” that are constantly tracking their performance too… and good ideas become distorted when we have a cult of efficiency that is a fetish or some other “rigoritis” applications in any human service field.
I dislike both terms. Both seem to me to be dictated by a business model that intrudes where it shouldn’t. I do not view myself as a client or customer when I enter a hospital or even see my internist. I do not want the relationship to be governed like a transaction
jeanhaverhill@aol.com
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“I miss the concept of “good will” and the feeling of “i/thou”….that goes along with relationships building or community building rather than just selling something for a profit ”
That is exactly it! We are in total agreement.
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Would you agree that there should be a “we” in the education policy voice and if so where does the “respository” of this “human service” ( or the parent/guardian of said “repository’s) voice get heard?
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I don’t know if I am responding to what you are saying or not but here goes…There is a decided lack of democratic process in the development of education policy. Policy makers are out of step, for whatever reasons, with the majority of the American people, not that we all agree what that means. I don’t see that anyone other than a small band of powerful people likes the way the DOE is moving. What is particularly disturbing is their refusal to listen to people who are intimately involved with education. They are autocratic and paternalistic depending on who they are trying to intimidate.
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Right on the mark!
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There are many highly qualified teachers who are currently in the classroom. As with any profession, there are some teachers who need to retire or consider another profession. Assessing a teacher’s performance on high stakes testing and student outcomes is not going to make better teachers. In my opinion, it is creating a stressful teaching environment in which the excitement and creativity has been taking out of teaching and learning. In additionally, I believe all children can learn and succeed, but let’s be reasonable with the expectations. Lastly, children can certainly evaluate teachers on their overall performance, but I do not believe their feedback should have an impact on salaries. It should; however, be used as a information tool for teachers to adjust their teaching practices and improve as people.
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