What Makes A Good Teacher?
A friend sent me this blog post about spotting good teachers and the importance of having great teachers. He pulls an article from the New Yorker about how hard it is to find good teachers. Part of the author’s argument is based on calculations in which he states that, “You’d have to cut the average class almost in half to get the same boost that you’d get if you switched from an average teacher to a teacher in the eighty-fifth percentile.” Along the same calculations, he says the U.S. has a big education gap to make up and that, “the U.S. could close that gap simply by replacing the bottom six per cent to ten per cent of public-school teachers with teachers of average quality.”
Let’s take this one at a time. First, I believe it is true that having great teachers leaves students much better off than average teachers, and that great teachers can make up for bad schools. But that isn’t the whole story. There’s been a ton of research that shows how the school environment affects student achievement. Even if one grade has a great teacher, that doesn’t not offset the years of schooling in a bad environment with bad socioeconomic conditions, etc. If we were somehow able to staff all schools with amazing teachers, that would help, but social and home issues also play a big role in childhood development and education.
Second, I have a strong problem with the notion that the U.S. education system is average and compares poorly to other countries. There are so many confounding variables to deal with when making this claim. First, how are we supposed to compare students from other countries? As far as I know, there is no international standardized test. Second, the student bodies are different. In many countries, the lower portion of students are not allowed in high schools. Instead, they are sent to trade schools or go get a job. Our high schools would be just as good if we expelled the bottom 20%. Third, the “U.S. education system is behind other countries” argument is a relic from the Cold War designed to scare people into increased education funding. Would we all agree to give more and more money to education if our leaders told us the truth: the U.S. education system is one of the most available and successful in the world?
Third, how do you measure a “great teacher” compared to an average one or even a poor one? We get evaluations, but there’s really no objective way to measure the standards. Plus, there’s no incentive to go above and beyond. I’ll talk about pay for performance some other time, but why do I need a stellar evaluation when all I need is “meets expectations”? All teachers are different. Some relate to students, some run classrooms like the military, and some use PowerPoint presentations exclusively. Is there one way to teach? Obviously not, so how do you say what works and what doesn’t? Any given year, some students will really understand what you teach and others will struggle. This is simply because all students are different. I feel way more successful this year compared to last year. I don’t think I’ve become a better teacher in one year, but I do think more of my students learn the way I teach. If you have a bad class, there may be nothing you can do to get them to the same level as another class one year prior. It’s the luck of the draw.
All this is to say that having good teachers is important, but there’s no real way to measure great teachers vs. average teachers. However, I know one way to increase the level of teacher quality. Raise teacher salaries so that they are comprable to other vocations. That will increase the number of qualified applicants and flush out the poor teachers who can’t cut it. Do you know how many terrible, terrible teachers stay because they can’t find a replacement? It’s more than you wish to believe.
