Blog Post #14

"Teaching Can Be A Profession"

By: Joel Klein

Problems:

1. There is a lack of proper math preparation for future teachers.
2. There is a lack of good programs available to prepare teachers for teaching reading.
3. Seniority makes it difficult to remove bad teachers.
4. Salary for teachers is not competitive so better teachers end up in middle class schools while less qualified teachers end up in schools in lower class communities.

Solutions:

1. Develop better coursework for students to create a better knowledge base.
2. Creation of a nationwide teacher exam somewhat like doctors and lawyers take.
3. A 1-3 year internship.
4. Better standards and procedures in place to help remove ineffective teachers.
5. Promotions can be based on exams.

In this article by Joel Klein, Joel talks about some of the things he could change about teaching and education. He said if he had to choose it would be to "professionalize teaching" in hopes to make it as respected as profession like law and medicine. He listed several issues that would need to be addressed in order to accomplish this. First, there is a lack of proper math preparation for future teachers as well as good reading programs in place to help them with reading instruction basics. He mention that better coursework could be developed for students to help build a greater knowledge base. I agree with this, especially when it comes to math. I think putting a better program in place to help teachers gain a higher level of skill in teaching math would be great. Klein also mentioned that seniority and job security makes it hard to remove bad teachers from schools. I can say that I had several teachers, especially in middle and high school, that were great people however not the greatest teachers. Teachers that lack or have lost the skills needed to teach are protected by seniority or tenure. There could be several solutions to this issue. There could be a nationwide teacher exam like doctors and lawyers have to take. A good score on the test could help secure job placement and better ensure the capabilities of the teacher. Also, there could be better policies and/or procedures in place to help remove ineffective teachers. Another issue faced in the teaching profession is salary. The salary for teachers isn't really competitive. Most teachers are all payed the same no matter how good or bad their performance. To help improve this, a teachers promotion could be based on performance or some type of exam. I agree with this to some extent. A teacher can be great at what he or she does and still have students that don't perform well due to issues of their own. Perhaps a performance review combined with some sort of examination would be a more well-rounded approach to evaluating a teacher. I agree with Klein in that teaching should be more professionalized. I think it is such an important profession because teachers help guide and dinstill the skills and knowledge students need for the future.