Shouldn't pupil achievement be considered a shared responsibility?
While test scores do not reveal everything about a teacher's performance, they can and should be factored into his/her evaluation. However fair is fair. The vast majority of teachers I knew and worked with during my 35 years as a teacher and principal laid their collective souls on the line for the inner city kids they served. If they were unable to extract better outcomes, it wasn't because of a lack of effort or motivation on their part. Rather it was because their training did not reflect the knowledge base. This is especially true in the area of literacy training where a recent report by the National Council on Teacher Quality found that most schools of education do not include reading science in their core curricula.
It is unfair to make teachers the default scapegoat under such circumstances. If teachers are to be held accountable, so should those who prepared them. If that were the case, everyone including the kids would likely perform better.
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Why must we always find someone specific to blame, what has happened to responsibility? If all, parents, students, teacher, colleges were to be responsible for their part in the system and stop the blame game, our kids would benefit from it. Too often I have seen a parent blame the teacher for their child's problem in school. Too often I have seen a teacher single out "favorites" in the class room. Too often have I seen burned out college profs, droning on and on due to loss of that spark needed to educate. Let's all be responsible for our part in this. I playa very active roll in my grandchild's education, we read and do science projects, math problems, write letters to relative all summer to keep his skills sharp. I am responsible. Kathy (ps I never did get my copy of your book)
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