Drew Kim, a top drawer public policy strategist, asks the provocative question, “Why are we still letting education malpractice take place?
To borrow and then modify a famous political campaign mantra, “It’s the teacher, stupid!”
Great teachers focus and deliver on one core mission: consistently improving student achievement.
He asks, Armed with data and understanding, why do we still allow the equivalent of education malpractice to take place? Where is the moral outrage?
He goes on, teacher’s academic caliber has a clear, measurable effect on student achievement; yet, we know that on average schools recruit new teachers from the bottom third of college graduates and roughly one in four secondary classrooms are taught by teachers lacking a major or minor in the subject matter.
Also, he argues, as long as the teachers’ unions and colleges of education keep protecting this antiquated 80-year-old system and the status quo, we will never place the interest of children first.
I wonder how successes with Tablet PCs, other mobile PCs, direct instruction, direct learning, and other technologies that give priority to efficient learning will influence Drew’s topic.
Kudos, Drew, for explaining your thinking publically. I’ll check out your policy recommendations further. You provide a cogent introduction to discussions of administrative abuse, teacher malpractice, education corruption, and other uncomfortable topics we all know must be addressed sooner than later, but hope we can get our school houses in order before others push in our doors. Have you given us a shot across the bow?
Kim volunteered two years with Teach For America and encourages educators and academics to adopt core commitments similar to TFA.