What does ‘quality teacher’ mean anyway?
In the big push for “quality teachers,” the question about what that means gets short shrift. Here’s a piece on the subject byMike Rose, a professor at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and author of several books. His most recent works are “Back to School: Why Everyone Deserves a Second Chance at Education, and “Public Education Under Siege,” which he co-edited with Michael B. Katz.By Mike Rose
Go to YouTube and type in “Harriett Ball.” You’ll find three or four short clips on this wonderful Houston teacher, including a tribute (she died in 2011) from KIPP charter school founders Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin. It seems that in 1992, when the young Feinberg and Levin—fresh Teach For America recruits—landed in Houston, ready, in Feinberg’s words, “to change the world by lunchtime,” they didn’t have an easy go of it. As Feinberg put it, he lost control of his class by lunchtime and didn’t regain it until Christmas.
Harriett Ball was teaching down the hall, and Feinberg and Levin found her, and had the
Obama’s education gap: Rhetoric vs policies
There is a big gap between what President Obama says about educational equity and the consequences of his policies. Here’s a post on this by Arthur H. Camins, director of the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education at … Continue reading →
