Important Insight

The October 2012 issue of the Atlantic has a terrific article about the performance of students.  The piece, "Why Kids Should Grade Teachers," thoughtfully reveals that how students perform has everything to do with specific teachers in specific classrooms.

Harvard economist Ronald Ferguson found that when 'students worked hard, paid attention and corrected their mistakes (initiated by the teacher); they liked being there, and they believed that the teacher cared about them.  When the same students (both black and white) went to the next classroom, 'the very same kids reported that the teacher had trouble explaining things and didn't notice when students failed to understand a lesson.'

What the article and the results of Ferguson's study reveals is why students are learning or not learning.  It is less about test results that what influences test results.  It is a key indicator of what ought to take place with regard to teaching, learning, in-service programs, teacher training programs and the like.

There are plenty of factors that schools can't control when it comes to the level of student success in school.  One of the influences that schools have control of deals with teacher effectiveness starting from their very hiring to the day they retire.

Teacher effectiveness has everything to do with student success.

Dick