Viewpoints: Future of state's students still rests on skill of teacher in the classroom
As former teachers, our roots are in the classroom. Paths taken beyond teaching have kept us focused on the tremendous challenge of educating the state's more than 6 million students. One lesson we have learned absolutely is that effective teachers are essential to student success. So it is with great sadness that we have witnessed recent events that could irreparably damage the teaching profession and, as a result, further threaten educational opportunities for California's children.
Over the past five years, in what is characterized by some as "death by a thousand cuts" (literally), districts have responded to the budget crisis in part by sending layoff notices or "pink slips" to tens of thousands of teachers. The effects of these notices go well beyond school boundaries. History tells us that when they are issued, there is a concurrent decline in the number of individuals preparing to become teachers and fewer
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/04/18/2685026/viewpoints-future-of-states-students.html#ixzz0lSVgjDrm