Lessons From Locke

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I entered the teaching profession after 24 years of military service. I see the problems in schools primarily as a lack of discipline, direction and guidance. I teach in a rural school in upstate NY. Many of my students see no future and therfore see no need for school. While I try to make the most of the 40 minutes a day that I have them the influence outside of my classroom by peers and parents overwhelms any message that I may be trying to instill. When schools are viewed as social centers and not centers of learning we will continue to face the same problems.

It seems to be open season on teachers, led by the likes of Michelle Rhee, who think the problem in education is poor teachers. This is tantamount to blaming a physics professor for failing a student that took advanced physics, regardless of it being their first time in a physics classroom. Gauging teachers on the outcome of a standardized test would be the same as gauging the physics professor on that one student. Teachers do not have the luxury of picking their students, and as the article stated the school Wendy Locke was embedded in had only 11 percent of students who read on their grade level. How is a teacher suppose to have these students proficient enough to pass state tests if less time is spent on teaching the material and more time is spent on remedial studies?

The real solution is not to fire every teacher and try to find ???perfect??? replacements, but to get these kids into head-start programs. Study after study shows that the sooner a child is read to and their mind is engaged in intellectual activities the better they will do in school. So it is not the ???stupid teacher,??? it is the home life and living environment of the student, many of which come from an environment where education is not highly regarded. States and school districts need to focus less on piling on test after test and rather move needed resources to programs and daycares that engage the child at the earliest possible.

Finally, I take issue with the author stating that many teachers come from ???diploma mills.??? What exactly is she implying? If you did not attend a college with ivy growing on the buildings you came from a so called diploma mill. I attended a state college and now teach and believe that my education and training was top notch. I also believe I know my subject area well and I am an effective teacher.

One last bit, continued from my post below...

I left teaching in a middle school after two years, but not because I couldn???t handle it. I made many strides that I am very proud of in the classroom, both personally/professionally and for my students. I didn???t leave because of worsening school behavior or because of the pay situation. I left because I did not feel respected by my administrators. I was fortunate that I created other options for myself in order to fulfill my dreams of becoming a doctor. But never will I speak negatively about my experience in the classroom because it did open my eyes to another side of education that will carry on with me. What was sad to me, though, was having a parent comment I was too smart to teach her child (when she was upset about him failing). Even more distressing to me, I had students and colleagues who told me that I didn???t deserve the stuff I put up with from being a teacher, that I needed to leave the school immediately, and that I need to go fulfill my dreams of becoming a doctor. It still is shocking to me to think about those conversations because if these people do not value this profession, why would anyone else?

It is important to note that the way that 'success' and 'achievement' are actually defined quite narrowly: standardized tests. These single snapshots tell us very little about what is actually going on in schools. I have no problem with using these single assessments (which are more often about student buy-in and other nonacademic conditions) as a data source, as long as a variety of assessments are being used on a continuous basis. Secondly, 'A Nation at Risk' is an alarmist Chicken Little report that assesses children on a narrow set of criteria. I'm not saying there isn't a crisis in education; but we (I am a teacher entering year 10) aren't treating the right symptoms.
Finally, if I am the most important presence in my classroom, then doesn't it follow that the principal is the single most important presence in the school? What about school leaders with no classroom experience? Leaders who refuse to hold their teachers accountable? Leaders who make two to four times what their teachers make and yet very rarely observe and support their teachers? To be sure, there are some bad teachers out here, but what is being done to help them improve? And what is being done to show them the door IF they are underperforming?
I have always argued that we teachers must be the professionals that we profess ourselves to be. So should the folks charged with evaluating us and holding us accountable..

Ahem. Parents. Parents. Parents. Parents. Parents. Parents. PARENTS ARE THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT.

Only my husband and I can make sure our girls are loved, nurtured, rested, well-fed, bathed and groomed and sent off to school in a manner in which they can be taught. And then, then when the teacher has the opportunity to teach them, it is only my husband and I who can work with them to make sure the knowledge they learn during the day takes hold ??? that it is studied, memorized, given context, culture and meaning so that it sinks in and shapes their lives.

Give a teacher a child who has no love, is not well-rested or well-fed, who has no one to help him with his homework, no one to read him bed-time stories, or take him to museums and on trips to bring alive the concepts he is learning in the classroom. And that child is a child who the teacher will in almost all cases not be able to help.

I am outraged on behalf of both parents and teachers to have someone suggest that teachers alone bear the burden of a child's achievement. Teachers are like gold. They are an amazingly valuable tool to a parent in the rearing of a child (and don't under-estimate the damage a bad one can do to your child. Been there, done that.) But teachers don't do what they do in a vacuum. It's not fair to suggest that America's educational system would be in better shape if we just had better teachers.

American's educational system ??? and all of American's "systems" for that matter ??? would be in better shape if we had better parents in America, not if we had better teachers in America.

My daughters go back to school in less than two weeks. They may have exceptional teachers, or they may have mediocre teachers. Either way they will learn and grow and prosper this year, because their dad and I are committed to investing all we have in their lives and their education. That is what makes the difference. That, my friends, is the single most important factor in student achievement.

<a href="http://TeachFor.Us">TeachFor.Us</a>

This is the perspective of someone on the outside. To read about teaching in the words of the Teach For America teachers, visit TeachFor.Us (http://teachfor.us). TeachFor.Us is the blogging community about and by Teach For America corps members.

As a long time teacher, I applaud any practical efforts to improve education in this country. However, I question Wendy Kopp's strategy. It bothers me that she thinks the program's money is best spent on young, untried graduates. Why is she neglecting one of our schools' best resources--outstanding veteran teachers?Most of her "best and brightest" abandon their students after two years. Then these ex-teachers are supposed to go out and work for change in the system? After two years? I think one of the biggest problems in education today is that the people who make policy at the state and national level are clueless about the realities of the classroom, either because they have minimal experience (like TFA alumni); they have no experience (like legislators); or they have been out of the classroom so long that they have no idea what the 21st century classroom is like. I have been trying to find a reference to Ms. Kopp's teaching experience, but I can't find any. How much time has she actually spent in the classroom?
Why doesn't TFA redirect some of its considerable resources at more practical initiatives such as internship programs? Every new teacher flounders a little in the first year. Why not come up with money to fund a program that has first year teachers working in a classroom with committed, qualified, veteran teachers? Why doesn't TFA help fund community initiatives that bring parents back into the education equation? At the very least, TFA should extend the commitment it expects from its participants. That way it would attract graduates who are truly interested in teaching and help eliminate those who do it to fill in a blank in their lives.
One more thing--shame on Ms. Foote for "It's the teachers, stupid!" And shame on Newsweek's editors for allowing it! The statement shows a complete lack of understanding of problems with education today. Has the magazine ever made such a comment about any profession? A full-page apology would be nice!

As long as articles that continue to blame teachers for the woes of public schools appear in magazines, newspapers, and other media, you will find fewer and fewer college graduates entering teaching. Who wants to enter a profession where the pay is low, the working conditions are abysmal in far too many school divisions, the responsibility is overwhelming, and the respect is non-existent? If teachers, who are at the bottom of the food chain in public education, bear so much of the responsibility, then why aren't salary scales reversed...teachers being the highest paid employees and administrators, the lowest.
The finger should be pointing at the decison-makers, the politicians, and parents. And there comes a time when students, too, need to be held accountable for what they learn or don't learn. I started teaching in 1970...if I had a dollar for each new idea, or strategy, or curriculum model that I have seen over the years, I could have retired a long time ago. Many of these strategies look good on paper and to the public, but to those in the trenches...they just don't work...but, teachers are expected to magically turn them into successful programs with few materials, little support, and more children in their class than than they have space for.
We do a lousy job of selling the importance of beng educated in this country and articles like this cheapen the hard work and dedication of those who are truly committed to public education and to helping children learn. What is wrong with the TFA program...arrogance and lack of committment.

Some people posting seem to believe that TFA teachers are replacing good teachers in the work force in their attempt to change the system. My daughter taught high school for 5 years in Compton, two with TFA, and each year she taught, there were unbelievable vacancies in all areas throughout the school year! Some students interested in taking higher level math could not because there were no teachers available. Some classes had substitutes for much of the year. TFA teachers go where they are invited, where there is a great need for motivated people who are willing to do the job. My daughter worked incredibly hard against unbelievable odds. Teachers for TFA teach with temporary credentials in CA while working on permanent certification. She took education courses at night while she was teaching and did receive CA certification. What frustrated her the most was the system at large. I have been teaching for almost 30 years (the last 20 in the Southeast in an upscale school district, the first ten in an underresourced district in a lower socio economic area in a large midwestern city) and what she described in her school can only be described as chaos. I agree with many posters that Ms. Foote unfairly puts the blame for our educational woes primarily on teachers. I have worked with many dedicated educators who put more passion, time and energy into their jobs than most Americans do. But, working conditions and salary do make a difference, and few can do the job well in a school like she was in for very long without losing their spirit. Where is she now? In law school ??? planning to work in public interest law and hoping to make some systemic changes in education, exactly what TFA hoped for when they recruited her.

If great the TFA "ALUMNI" are "leaders" in education and not teachers, otherwise they would have been only two years in the system just as their TFA teachers were.

"It's the teachers, stupid?" As a high school teacher, I am offended by this comment. It's not the teachers. I made it through grad school with a 4.0, I know my subject area inside and out, and 96% of my students pass the state mandated tests every year. It's the PARENTS, stupid. They'd rather be their kid's BFF than a parent. I've seen parents help their kids cheat--I've even seen parents LIE to cover up for something their kid did wrong. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? It's completely missing in the youth of today and it's causing public education to fail. All the responsibility has been taken away from the students, taken away from the parents, and now it's all on the teacher. Teachers should be equally accountable, not fully accountable. A child's education starts at home.

Unions ARE the problem. They ensure that no workers are held accountable, which makes people lazy and actions without consequence. Why are these unionized workers refusing to be held to standards like the rest of us? Parents are also a major problem. Kids will only perform to the standard to which they are held.

As a TFA Alum who left the teaching profession entirely, I can say that the problem is not just pay, or status, or co-workers...it is a combination of all of the above and then some. My biggest complaint? The parents, quickly followed by inept administration. As to "having my loans paid off"...how ignorant. These are the "best and brightest" and the loan repayment is quite small...I could have earned 5x what I was earning with my degree had I not joined TFA...I had no loans to begin with. To think that the "best" give up 2+ years of their careers to do this for the money is insane. We all do it because we believe in the greater vision that maybe we can change the world for the better...not just for a better paycheck. Now why did I leave? A) I'm smart enough to know when I'm beating my head against the wall and the wall ain't gonna budge. B) I started a family and wanted to commit my time and energy to my own children. C) By working from outside the system, in some ways I have the opportunity to have more influence because my new position in the community carries a lot more prestige and respect than I'd have ever gotten as a teacher.

TFA has it right, whether their alums stay in education forever or not. They take the nation's best and make them advocates for better education for all, and they have the authority that comes with first hand experience to make people listen.

Foote contradicts herself. She says "it's the teachers, stupid", yet something drives "the best and brightest" teachers away from teaching. What could it be? It's not the low salary and prestige, for the TFA teachers knew this from the outset - they ARE the brightest, after all, so they would have figured this out early. What could be the reasons for the low job satisfaction? My guess is that their inferior colleagues will be blamed.

As a teacher, I agree that TFA is not that great. Most who complete their program do not stay in education and that's one of the problems. We need teachers who are willing to stay for more than two years, so they can get their loans paid off.

By the way, we are not overpaid. Well, I know I'm not overpaid. I generally find that most people who gripe about teachers and the days off are people who have never been teachers. Imagine being in a classroom everyday with 160 different personalities. That's what I have in middle school, but I'm actually not complaining. I love teaching. It's what I've wanted to do since I was four-years-old. That's probably why I've been doing it for the last seven years. That's probably why I go to school in the evening and during the summer, so I can keep my credential up-to-date.

To the person who posted with the name "overpaid", I invite you to spend a week teaching. I guarantee that negative attitude about teachers will change.

mOST TEACHERS ARE LAZY, HAVE THE SUMMERS OFF AND EARLY DISMISSALS, SNOW DAYS, EVERY HOLIDAY KNOWN TO MAN AND HAVE BENEFITS GALORE AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE. THEY ARE OVERPAID NOW . IF THEY CAN'T TEACH THE KIDS TO READ AND WRITE NOW ARE WE GOING TO GET BETTER RESULTS IF WE PAY THEM MORE? THE SCHOOL YEAR IS A JOKE AND THE TEACHERS KNOW IT.