The lead article in Time magazine a couple of weeks ago concerned issues of teacher quality. What are the characteristics of quality teachers? How is teaching performance evaluated and rewarded?
The characteristics of quality teachers were as follows (my interpretation):
- An expectation that students can learn.
- Deep knowledge of the subject area one teaches.
- Experience – probably 6-7 years to reach potential.
Issues associated with these characteristics are important to recognize. For example, keeping teachers in the profession is a serious problem. So many new teachers quit. They are replaced by other new teachers, many of whom quit. Even those who take a calloused view and assume there will always be more cheap labor on the way should be concerned that no matter how enthusiastic the new faces, there is a benefit to students achieved by working against the new teacher drop out problem.
The Time article reported some interesting data I had not encountered on subject matter knowledge (not pedagogical knowledge). Student achievement shows an increasing correlation with teacher subject matter knowledge as grade level increases. I guess this makes sense and the pre-service training models do recognize this distinction in typically requiring a content area major for secondary educators (some now also require a major for elementary ed majors). However, what ever the teacher’s area of training and mastery of that area, 30% of middle and secondary school educators are teaching outside of their area of training OR a closely related area of training. This figure is significantly higher for the physical sciences. It was reported that the issue of “misassignment” is one of the significant differences between the U.S. and countries with higher student achievement.
Original and continued commitment to content area knowledge is a significant issue. So – if you are a teacher, what book are you reading this week? Does anyone besides you care?
