The High Cost of Low Quality Teachers
Missouri, like many states, is facing a teacher shortage. Before you run out to get a degree because you love teaching those little kiddies, know that we have a glut of K-6 teachers. What this means is that most people are only comfortable teaching what they learned before the age of 13. Where we need teachers are in the sciences and math, especially for middle and high school. What we need are people who really know that content.
We are not alone in our puzzling over how to get more qualified teachers in the classroom. Some districts are tempted just to get any teacher in the classroom, so alternatively certified teachers like those coming from Teach For America look mighty tempting. The fact that many of these kinds of teachers command a much lower price than veteran content area teachers is also tempting to financially struggling districts. But an article in the New Boston Post by Dr. Sandra Stotsky points out the added costs of under qualified teachers.
The high cost of academically under-qualified teachers
by Dr. Sandra Stotsky
It was once a matter of common sense that teachers cannot teach what they do not know. And research supports the view that a teacher’s knowledge of his or her subject area is, so far, the best and only predictor of student achievement.
In Massachusetts, common sense guided the state department of education’s revision of the Bay State’s teacher licensing regulations and licensure tests a decade earlier.
The results, judged by the scores on reputable assessments, speak for themselves. Average scores in both reading and mathematics, for grade 4 and grade 8, on National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2015, were the highest or among the highest of all 50 states.
For Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the international test of curriculum-based achievement, Massachusetts entered as a separate country, tied with Singapore for first place in grade 8 science, and was among the top six countries in mathematics in grades 4 and 8 in both 2007 and 2013.
Yes, we had pre-Common Core standards for K-12 that had been judged to be among the most rigorous in the country in all major subjects. But, The High Cost of Low Quality Teachers – Missouri Education Watchdog: