Se Hace Camino Al Andar

I’m not sure if this Newsweek piece on firing bad teachers was purposely published on the heels of Elizabeth Green’s piece in the Sunday Times Magazine last week or if it’s just the topic en vogue these days but in any case, I find it hard to argue with the points in the article.

Yet in recent years researchers have discovered something that may seem obvious, but for many reasons was overlooked or denied. What really makes a difference, what matters more than the class size or the textbook, the teaching method or the technology, or even the curriculum, is the quality of the teacher. Much of the ability to teach is innate—an ability to inspire young minds as well as control unruly classrooms that some people instinctively possess (and some people definitely do not). Teaching can be taught, to some degree, but not the way many graduate schools of education do it, with a lot of insipid or marginally relevant theorizing and pedagogy. In any case the research shows that within about five years, you can generally tell who is a good teacher and who is not.

The main thrust of the article is the same as Green’s piece on teacher education, and the quote above just reiterates the point I made in my previous post on this topic.  Looking at this issue from both sides of the fence, as a teacher and as a non-teacher/parent, it’s hard to argue that yes, it is far, far too hard to fire bad teachers, harder than it should be. But, and this is a big one, having been a teacher in a poorly administrated school rife with nasty politics, I have seen first-hand how teachers can be targeted by principals and assistant principals based on a personal agenda or political manuvering. It’s not the stuff of myth– it really happens.  A former colleague of mine was harassed to the point of a nervous breakdown because she called the assistant principal on a discrepancy in the school’s special education promotion policy. The policy on paper, and the policy being executed were two very different things, to the detriment of the students. Since our school was under scrutiny already for poor performance and management, the assistant principal had a vested interest in putting the kibosh on a teacher that had the guts to stand up for her students.

So, it’s a fine line. How do we balance the protection of good teachers that dare to stand up to administration when they spot wrongdoing and the protection of students by letting go the truly bad teachers? Perhaps the union’s voice would be stronger if they were more selective in who they defended. They might be more effective if they spent their time helping the victims of political persecution and less time trying to make it difficult for bad teachers to be fired. Because believe you me, I have seen and worked with my fair share of crappy teachers over the years, including one teacher that used to pee  in a can in his classroom closet and badmouth other teachers to his students.  Why is that guy still teaching while my well-meaning colleague, who is an excellent teacher, by the way, was basically driven out of the school by a nasty agenda?

The way I see it, the issue here is not bad teachers, per se but the fact that there’s little accountability and far too much job protection than is healthy or reasonable. A great teacher, or a good teacher, even should be judged on the merits of his or her performance, and if he or she is truly a good teacher, then there should be a willingness to be held accountable and the union should support that. Of course, the question then becomes “how do we measure the performance of a teacher?” That is a whole ‘nother bag of tricks but it’s not an impossible task. All those countries that are ranked above us, in terms of education– how do they do it? Instead of trying every new thing under the sun, why not send American administrators across the pond to see how it’s done. It’s probably not rocket science but it would most likely require a huge cultural shift in our thinking about education and schooling.  Transforming culture is the hardest reform of all, and it doesn’t happen quickly. It happens gradually, over time, across generations and that might just be the ticket because the fast fixes are getting us nowhere fast.

As a follow-up, check out this debate between Elizabeth Green and Evan Thomas (of Newsweek): http://www.newsweek.com/id/234696