SURPRISE!!! It turns out that a teacher's methods, expertise and passion influence how effective they are as a teacher! A paper by Harold Wenglinsky of Educational Testing Service entitled "Why Teaching Matters" evaluated the impact on student learning of a variety of factors including "teacher inputs" and "classroom practices". The study concluded that the influence of teacher inputs such as pay, experience, and education on student learning pale in comparison to the in-classroom practices of teachers. The one exception to the "teacher input" class of variables is that teachers who major or minor in their subject area are significantly more effective than those who do not. However, the remaining teacher inputs including graduate education in teaching, and teacher salary did not show significant impact on learning. On the other hand, in-class practices such as frequent testing, emphasis on high order critical thinking, and the use of hands-on and small-group learning were highly beneficial to student learning.
My main reaction to the paper's conclusions was "duh". It is common sense that teachers who are demanding, encourage students to think deeply, and actively assess student learning are more effective. On the other hand, it was nice to see the data clearly back up the common sense.
Now, if policymakers could just figure out how to implement methods to build this sort of teaching skill and the teacher commitment it requires! It's much easier to create policy based on objective features of education like teacher pay or other "teacher inputs" than it is to build policy based on classroom practices. Effective policy requires much more courageous leadership including removal of current teaching benefits like tenure and guaranteed salary adjustments. When will teachers be held to the same standards as the competitive business world? Poor teachers shouldn't teach. Good teachers should be paid more than average ones! Someone tell the union to wake up and smell the pencil sharpener! We need to stop coddling a system that allows and sometimes encourages mediocrity, and instead dump the lousy, uninspired teachers and give the good ones big raises and recognition!
How do I define the effectiveness of a teacher? Are kids competing for the chance to be in a teacher's classes? Are they producing work that's above and beyond what people expect them to produce? Do they rate the teacher highly in their reviews at the end of each semester? Kids aren't stupid - they know and respect teachers who are good. They (on the whole) answer sincere questions sincerely, and they know which teachers bring out the best in them. If my students are typically engaged in the conversation. If they smile often. If they are willing to work hard, and to produce high quality work, then I'll be an effective teacher. If my students believe what I say, and believe that I believe in them, I'll be an effective teacher. If my students have a little fear, a lot of trust, and a fair chunk of fun mixed with some challenging work, I'll be an effective teacher.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I completely agree with you about the importance of implementation. You can talk the talk but how effective is that when there's no plan of action? Of course we run into the grey areas of opinion and definition. What defines true teacher quality? What makes a teacher effective? How do we define student success? Regardless of this issue of assessment, there should still be some form of action to promote better teachers in more classrooms. How can we start this plan of action? Your guess is as good as mine!
ReplyDeleteI only have one other partner in my group, so I decided to read your response as well.
ReplyDeleteI am in full agreement with the "Surprise" part. What would be more interesting would be to calculate the number of tax payers dollars it took to come to the conclusions that we need good teachers to make education work. I also put the policymakers under scrutiny like yourself. However, I take it a step further calling for the abolishment of the department of education.
I like the creteria you have incldued about an effective teacher. In particular, I like the idea of a "fair chunk of fun". However, I looked to see if that is an effective strategy in the article nad I couldn't find any massive research studies on this philosophy of education. As a result, I would encourage you to hold of on using that strategy until the federal government can launch an investigation to discern whether or not a "Chunk of Fun" in school would in fact be beneficial to society.
Quality thoughts, Rod. One thing I would like to question you further in that I struggled with myself...paying teachers competitively is a good idea, but how do you reconcile that with your non-quantitative measure of an effective teacher (i.e. students with smiles, etc)?
ReplyDeleteMegan -
ReplyDeleteI have no idea.... That's the trouble! Maybe Dave is on to something - we should get a federal study going over the next 15-20 years. By the time their results are in, we'll be so discouraged and cynical that we won't care any more.