>>>>> "SB" == Steve Brandt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
SB> I have to agree with Michael Atherton on this one. Buzzy Bohn
SB> is correct that some very dedicated senior teachers choose to
SB> remain in high-poverty schools. North Star school in the
SB> Jordan neighborhood is an excellent example, although it will
SB> close in a year. However, overall there's a clear pattern
SB> that high-poverty schools have less-experienced teachers, and
SB> there's a correlation between that and test scores.
The question is, "what should we do about this?" I've heard a bunch
of suggestions that boil down to "force more experienced teachers into
high-poverty schools." I would prefer not to do this, because it
damages the other schools, and may just drive yet more teachers out of
the system.
Is there a way to do this with the carrot instead of the stick? What
sort of actions could we take to make some of our more gifted and
experienced teachers *want* to work in these high-poverty schools? It
seems like we've already got plenty of sticks to beat teachers with;
we don't need any more. There's an interesting OpEd piece in today's
NY Times on the subject:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/opinion/27eggers.html?
I don't have statistics, but I'm inclined to believe that there is not
a true shortage of experienced teachers, because there are so many of
them being laid off in the region. If that is true, then we should be
able to offer such teachers something that would make them want to go
to such places. By analogy with experience in my profession, I'm
inclined to think we should go out and ask to try to learn what would
make such teachers motivated, rather than just assuming it's higher
salary or some other (at least conceptually) easy answer.
One possible counter-argument is that the system may be driving
teachers out of the profession. I.e., the people being laid off may
not still be out there to take up such positions. This is something
that happens with nurses, and accounts for the endemic shortage in
that field. OTOH, if this *is* true, forcibly reassigning teachers is
hardly going to make things any better.
A second possible counter-argument is that we are barely able to keep
the schools functioning at the current, not entirely satisfactory,
level, much less actually improve them. I wish I had a better answer
to this one...
--
Robert P. Goldman
ECCO
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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