NCEE Report Focuses on Teachers as Professionals, New Pay Schemes
Imagine that becoming a teacher was a lot like becoming a doctor or a lawyer. Only the top students at the best universities could get a spot in competitive teaching programs. And they would spend five to six years becoming a highly trained, highly skilled educator.
If you were lucky enough to make it into one of the highly selective teaching programs you would become a well paid and respected professional. Upon entering the teaching field, you would have the support of veteran teachers in the classroom, but also creative autonomy and the trust of your principal and colleagues. Not only that, but you would be working in a field where you could actually make a difference.
Sounds pretty good, right?
That’s the thrust of the The National Center on Education and the Economy’s new report (pdf) which argues that America needs to emulate other nations like Finland and Singapore by making the teaching profession more prestigious and desirable. This in turn would attract a higher quality labor pool and lead to major improvements
