Transforming the Teaching Profession

Eliminating the racial and ethnic achievement gap in our nation's public schools is the most urgent civil rights challenge for this generation.

I co-founded the Education Equality Project to address the injustice and inequity that African-American and Latino students confront every day in their schools.

Poor and minority students will never get their fair share of educational opportunity -- and are far more likely to lead unsuccessful lives -- until administrators and political leaders commit to fundamentally changing the way teachers are recruited, rewarded, and retained. The goal is as easy to articulate as it is hard to realize: that every classroom will one day be led by an effective instructor who demonstrably advances student learning.

Here are specific ways we can do it.

1) Lower irrelevant entry barriers to the teaching profession. Advanced degrees and certification are not linked to producing effective teachers, and traditional schools of education typically attract lower-achieving college students from less competitive institutions. Alternative certification programs, like the Defense Department's Troops to Teachers initiative, are already demonstrating that mid-career and retiring professionals could provide a rich source of new teaching talent, particularly in high-need subject areas in inner-city schools like math and science.

2) The federal government should require states and districts to develop longitudinal data systems that allow school administrators and principals to use value-added data to measure and track the impact teachers have on student achievement. To move toward a performance-based system for teachers, school districts will need to have information that tracks the effect that individual teachers are having on student performance from year-to-year for a number of years. Performance-based metrics must not only be fair but transparent.

3) States and districts should be encouraged and free to use a variety of outcome-based measures to evaluate teacher effectiveness. One proviso: any system that states devise to evaluate teacher performance should include student test scores as a key measuring stick--and should not succumb to the temptation to substitute input-based measures to gauge teacher effectiveness, like licensure status and education credentials, that have been shown to have no connection to effective teaching. While student test scores over a multiyear period should figure prominently in value-added assessments of teacher performance, they should not be the only measure of effectiveness.

4) Every school and district should assess and document the impact that probationary teachers have on student learning from the moment they enter the classroom. Fledgling teachers should receive better professional development support, including on-the-job mentoring and supervision from peers and master teachers. Just as barriers to entering the teaching profession should be lowered, barriers to earning tenure must be raised.

5) To transform tenure into a progress-based prerogative, states and districts should require tenure candidates to demonstrate that they are effectively boosting student learning. At the same time, the least-effective probationary instructors should be denied tenure.

6) To stem the suburban tide, urban school districts should pay large bonuses -- on the order, perhaps, of 25 percent of annual compensation -- to effective teachers who stay to teach disadvantaged students. Teachers who raise student achievement should receive large bonuses for teaching in high-poverty schools and extra compensation for teaching core subjects in shortage areas like math and science. At present, top-notch instructors often end up leaving inner-city schools to teach at suburban schools that are closer to home, less disruptive, and pay higher salaries.

7) Tenured teachers should periodically be reassessed to ensure that they are still raising student achievement. Tenured instructors who are doing a good job should receive significant merit pay hikes. But persistently incompetent teachers should be dismissed -- after getting a chance to improve their performance. In much the same spirit, unionized teachers should enjoy the due process protections and seniority rights afforded to other white-collar professionals -- but not be shielded by excessive due- process requirements from meaningful job performance assessments or layoffs.

Transforming the teaching profession into a merit-based system will not be easy. But urban school reform and closing the achievement gap can no longer be secondary to protecting the prerogatives of union representatives, district bureaucrats, and professors at teachers colleges. Some of the reforms we need to create real opportunity for disadvantaged students and boost learning for all students are sure to be politically charged. They threaten a vast educational establishment that for decades has privileged the needs of adults over children.

The good news is that this radical transformation of the teaching profession could again help make education the great equalizer in America -- and not an ongoing source of inequity and injustice.

On Saturday May 16th, on the 55th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education I will be joining with civil rights leaders, education reformers, students, teachers, parents and concerned citizens at the White House Ellipse to issue a call to action. That call begins with improving teacher quality in our public education system.

Comments

[jcking38911]

Love teachers. Both my parents are teachers. But you have to realize that change is coming. And by the shrill tone of the responses, it is pretty clear that you do. Merit based pay is going to happen. It can happen with teachers or to teachers - it's up to you.
A great teacher has a bigger impact on our society than almost anyone else. We need to recognize and reward that. To reward great teachers we a system to recognize them. And that recognition needs to be based on what we care about - the impact the teacher has on her individual students and the broader educational environment.
These things are not easy to measure, and no system will be perfect. However, the real question is not if it's perfect, but "Is it better than a reward system that does not recognize performance at all?"

[RobinSeattle]

"Merit based pay is going to happen"

Merit pay is good in theory, but so is socialism.

For all the mouthing of those two words, nobody has yet devised a system whereby a teacher won't be retaliated against for his/her personal political beliefs or failure to hew to the sometimes nonsensical agendas of school board members (like the anti-evolution crowd or far right conservatives).

There is also no penalty for charter schools that fail. There were numerous cases in Texas, for example, where students showed up to school and found the gates locked because the company running the school has gone bankrupt. A cohesive system has to penalize failures of all stripes, be they incompetent teachers, wackjob or incompetent school board members and the directors of badly managed charter schools. Nobody is talking about the last two. That's messed up.

[senorlou]

To blame teachers for society's problems is typical. I do agree, lousy teachers need to be weeded out and sent off somewhere else.
What I want to know is, why would anyone want to do this job just coming out of college? The pay is low. If you teach, you do it because you care about the kids. If you're just in public education for the money, you're crazy.
The situation from school to school is very different. I've taught in schools where nearly every kid spoke Spanish. There's nobody to help them at home because nobody understands English. In LA, half the town speaks Spanish. That's just how it is out here, and we're fine with it. To expect these kids to get their English on par with those who have help at home every day is not very fair, however they do need to learn. THere aren't any tutors for them after school - a few college kids who watch them.
The problems lie with our priorities as a nation. Do we want good schools, or do we want to keep kicking around the teachers and grumble about this again every so often, like now after Bushco took a torpedo to the public education system. The Republicans drain the treasuries and the teachers of this country pay a high price.

[dailyrev]

As often happens at HuffPo (and this is a compliment to the site), the comments are more edifying than the post. You can't fool New Yorkers, Mr. Klein (and surely these are largely NYers writing here). These folks recognize what's going on here: a Bloomberg staffer is using PC-speak to advance what is essentially a corporate approach to a human problem. The corporate model has failed, failed miserably -- not, incidentally, because it asks people to do too much; but because it allows them to do so little. We're right back now in the fantasy land of NCLB: teachers fearful of their tenure and their jobs will teach to tests that mean nothing and measure less. In other words, the same thing we've had from GOP administrations for the past 8 years: the obsession with appearances, and no more.

[WritusMaximus]

Merit pay = part of corporate talk
accountability = part of corporate talk

Warning to all parents, students, teachers, school administrators, et al. There is no problem, so any corporate speak is strictly forbidden.

[SolontheDemocrat]

More of the same nonsense from someone who's never taught. Obviously other teachers get it, but it's refreshing to see so many people who aren't educators do as well. Today's societal problems and how they conflict with learning (try teaching a novel when students' attention spans have been reduced to about the size of a germ; I won't even mention discipline) are as obvious as the nose on one's face, but we continue to have "experts" tell us that teaching is the problem. The legal system is blatantly unfair to the poor and minorities. Why isn't anyone discussing the need for better-trained lawyers and judges?

[senorlou]

This guy never taught? Are you sure? He's the Chancellor of Education for NYC. I find it hard to believe they would elect a man who's never had any teaching experience. Then again, It's been done in LA too.

[sposton]

Too much emphasis on teaching and too little on learning. We do badly because there is too little learning for multiple reasons including bad teaching. The emphasis ought to always be on learning. I am always struck by how ignorant Americans seem to be about basic knowledge of geography, history, and other knowledge that belongs to general culture in most other advanced countries.

[Scotty108]

Inauthentic Tests
Unqualified teachers who won't stay for more than 1 or 2 years
No parental responsibility
Blame teachers

That's your answer Joel?

[JusdaTruth]

What about holding the teacher accountable for a student's poor classroom behavior. That's a big one in NYC.

[JusdaTruth]

My above comment is sarcastic. I agree with Scotty108.

[blindjester]

These recommendations are predicated on despicable prejudices buried as assumptions:

--that teachers, nationwide, are so incompetent they need to be replaced, or so mercenary that they will rise from their stupor only if we start waving incentives at them;

--that anyone walking in off the street (especially from business!) could do a better job without training.

--that education training at university is not merely irrelevant, but counterproductive.

With such extreme prejudices, it's very hard to listen to anything you have to say.

[WritusMaximus]

In other words, there is nothing wrong with the current system, so why try something different.

[blindjester]

Really? That's what you got from my comments?

I never mentioned "the system." I was talking about teachers.

The system is grossly mismanaged. But I suspect we'd disagree over the details.

[NotesFromME]

It is interesting that college professors rarely take a single "education" class to be in the classroom. Professors learn to be professors by observing others as Teaching Assistants, then learn by doing--doing lectures, running study sessions, teaching course sections--with a mentor.

We educated generations of kids without such classes, and with far better results. Study after study have shown that it is not the number of "education" classes that have taken that marks a good teacher, but competence in their area of specialty, and passion for their subject. The best teachers are the best role models of what it means to be "educated" and "striving for excellence."

[Hawkman4]

Where your treasure lies, so does your heart.

America values its military, celebrities, athletes and capitalists.

America does not value education nor its people.

The rationale for balooning executive pay was to get the best and the brightest. But the best teachers are encouraged to do something else that pays a living wage.

[mrfreeze]

Hawkman4 - You have hit the nail right on the head. Thanks for cutting through the crap and getting right to the point:

1) America has become a winner-take-all society, mean-spirited and selfish
2) Our learning institutions are run by sports departments and consumerism, neither contribute to education, they are parasites that profit from the school systems
3) If "throwing money at schools" isn't the answer, why then do the wealthy throw money at the private schools their children attend?

Proof that our educational system is a failure = George W. Bush was elected 2 times as President of the United States. Only an intellectually defective, shallow and distracted people could have done such a thing.

[NotesFromME]

Exactly right.

[LeonBNJ]

Tenure should be for political protection reasons, not to allow crummy teachers to stick around until retirement. You have to make sure all teachers are treated fairly for any bonuses, the fear that they won't scares the profession to not accept the concept. More importantly, we need to get out of the mid to late -19th Century model we have for basic K-12 education as well as overpaid administratiors.

[JusdaTruth]

What do you mean by political protection reasons? Tenure is always earned. Something teacher s receive after 3-5 years of having their teaching reviewed. Tenure ensures teachers are treated fairly. They can be removed after a hearing . Tenure is not a free ride but in my opinion a protection from nepotism , racism and a lot of other "isms". Have you taught. If not I reccommend that you read the comments of the teachers that are responding to this blog.

[JusdaTruth]

What do you mean tenure should be for political protection reasons? Tenure is designed to ensure fair treatment for teachers. It's never a life time pass. It helps prevent nepotism, racism, and the "friends and family plan". Tenured teachers can be removed with a hearing. After investing thousands of dollars in educating themselves to meet state standards and impressing administrators with their teaching ability they will be granted tenure. Seems like you care about education. Small class sizes make a big difference.

[MomfromTexas]

Nothing about administration's effectiveness in communicating with parents and in maintaining discipline in the school. Nothing about the conditions of the school building. Nothing about how safe students feel attending the school. Nothing about how many students are in the classroom and the accessibility of supplies for these students, both of which can greatly effect student learning, particularly in hands-on learning, like science labs. Just teacher accountability? Good luck with this plan. IMHO, it's doomed to failure.

[ghtrains]

Please stop the nonsense. Everyone is an expert on what needs to be done in America's schools but very few of the experts have ever spent one minute in a classroom. All kinds of groups form to discuss the problem but none of the people involved have actually been in a classroom. Who cares about Education Equality Project? Just what does such a group accomplish excect to get press? Where do these groups and other critics get their ideas? The number of recycled fads with the theme of how to fix American education is amazing. American education critics recycle fads continually. What about zeroing in on ineffective administrators who mess up a school and then go on to another school only to do the same thing? What about zeroing in on school boards making decisions based not on academic needs but on getting the votes? Politicians love to criticize schools because they figure this is an easy way to get votes. But none of them truly care to spend the money or the time needed to really make a change. This includes Mr. Klein.

[Live4literacy]

Why do we have people like Mr. Klein, who was never a teacher, making decisions about education? I am sick to death of business people coming in with business models. Children aren't widgets...they learn differently, have different strengths, come from a variety of homes with a variety of education values. While teachers need to be accountable, standardized testing on one day of a child's life is hardly representative of what they know and how they have performed throughout the year. I have a Master's Degree in Elementary Education & Reading which came as a great disappointment to my AP high school teachers. There are many of us who are quite smart and dedicated. Education does have a specific body of knowledge concerning child development, appropriate practice, and classroom management. It takes more than subject matter knowledge to be a teacher. I'd like to drop in and work as a doctor....I've been to many and I am sure with just the bare minimum coursework I would be highly qualified. It takes more than a few courses to be able to teach. I am tired of hearing otherwise. Research in learning gains actually comes from the amount of continuing education a teacher receives. If school systems would invest more on inservice, they would get more bang for the buck. Instead, it is spent on tests, pre-tests, and sub-tests for the those. Mr. Klein just sounds like the same old blame the teacher, test the kids to death guy.

[cornflower]

Amen!

[Blivet]

My wife taught elementary school for 35 years. Fresh out of a top tier college with a degree in English Lit. and with zero teaching experience she was hired on an emergency certificate in the mid 1950’s. The superintendent stuck her in a one-room school where she had three grades in her class and almost no supervision.
After five years, the town decided to close the school and she found herself in the middle of a power struggle involving the four elementary school principals in the town who wanted her for their respective schools. She chose the one she respected the most and for the next ten years received the most laudatory reviews I have ever seen. The nearest teachers college also caught on and asked her to become a cooperating teacher which she did even though they consistently sent her their most difficult cases.
At the same time she was doing this she was working toward her advanced degrees at a state university and was able to earn an MEd and a Phd in ElementaryEd. For the final20 years of her career she was a first grade teacher in the local teacher college’s lab school.
She truly loved teaching, especially her first graders, but toward the end she got tired of incompetent administrators, inconsiderate parents and the public pillorying of teachers by the local press. Her retirement was a huge loss to the system but her treatment was not atypical.

[armedandliberal]

"incompetent administrators, inconsiderate parents and the public pillorying of teachers by the local press."

That pretty much sums it up.
My wife has taught middle school for 24 years, I taught visual arts for 4 years.

[peacefull1]

"Some of the reforms we need to create real opportunity for disadvantaged students and boost learning for all students are sure to be politically charged. They threaten a vast educational establishment that for decades has privileged the needs of adults over children."

Yeah....that's what our education problem is, we've been treating teachers too good and the students not good enough. Oh and our standards are too high???????????

The formula for an equitable and effective educational system is simple, just look at the nations that lead the world.
1. Better pay: you don't get the best and the brightest starting at 30K and topping out around 70K.
2. Smaller classroom size: you can really teach w/ 15 or 20, not w/ 30 or 40
3. Subsidize teacher's education so they don't enter their low paying profession w/ a mortgage payment from school loans.

[JusdaTruth]

I agree with much of this post.
I believe without being cynical that this is "all about the money"
Small class sizes are essential. Just ask the folks that can afford to send their children to private school.
If Chancellor Klein and Mayor Bloomberg really cared about public education they would work to reduce class size. But they haven't done much during their employment to create lower class sizes.
Lower class sizes would mean buying New York City Real Estate for schools.
Lower class sizes would mean you would have to higher more teachers.
Lower class sizes means spending more money.

Ending Tenure is great for saving money.
Less teachers at higher pay because they can be fired before the earn higher salaries.
Less experienced teachers at lower salaries to replace the higher wage teachers and leaving the system early for more security, this reduces payroll costs.
And the finale: Teachers teaching for a shorter times SAVES ON PENSION COSTS.

[JusdaTruth]

spelling error - my apologies-
higher more teachers should read: hire more teachers.

[JusdaTruth]

Joel Klein in my opinion is one of the worst things to happen to public education in years. He never taught a day in his life and I believe he is really happy to be adding another lifetime pension to the other government pensions he has as chancellor of the New York City School System. As a successful teacher in that system for over twenty years, I look at him as a Union Buster in Chancellor's robes. New York City Public Schools of which I attended in the 50's and the 60's was never the same after the "white flight to the suburbs". In the surrounding suburbs educational resources tied to Real Estate Taxes grew. They wooed the top New York City teachers with high salaries and great working conditions.
What happened in NYC. After over 10 years of a Committee for Excellence Lawsuit which the New York State Supreme Court and Court of Appeals upheld, republican former Govenor George Pataki blocked the release of over One Billion Dollars of school aid for NYC schools. He did this long enough for a recesssion to prevent NYC schools from getting their fair share. There is so much more truth to say.