Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Schools Matter: Dr. Jon Saphier and the Lie That Keeps on Paying Off for His Company

Schools Matter: Dr. Jon Saphier and the Lie That Keeps on Paying Off for His Company:


Dr. Jon Saphier and the Lie That Keeps on Paying Off for His Company

Massachusetts is just one state that has approved Jon Saphier as a licensed vendor to peddle his "Research for Better Teaching" (RBT) to teachers and school leaders across the state.  Saphier's consultants, in fact, are in action tomorrow in at the RBT Conference Center in Acton, MA.  Big bucks.

At the tap root of Saphier's expensive advice is a very old and withered lie that Saphier keeps alive, told so often by Saphier, himself, that it is impossible to know if he has come to actually believe it.  From the preface of The Skillful Teacher . . . (2008):
Of all the things that matter for having good schools, nothing is as important as the teacher and what that person knows, believes, and can do. . . . Teacher effects dwarf all others on student learning.  
Below is a more recent YouTube video where he says the same thing within the first 60 seconds: