Teacher Quality

I was interested in Darling-Hammond’s references to high-quality preschool for low-income students and the connection to student achievement. I recently read (skimmed, actually) a study of Head Start’s effectiveness spearheaded by the Department of Health and Human Services (a pretty rigorous study) that followed 5,000 3-4 year olds from low-income families through third grade. They looked at three domains (social/emotional health, cognitive development, parenting skills, and one other, can’t remember) and found that essentially there was no lasting benefit of the services provided by Head Start. Any benefits or gains those students made in gaining a “head start” faded by the time they got to third grade. This study interested me mostly because the Head Start program in our district is essential for some of our students to come to school with skills like letter recognition, counting, and using scissors. Our kindergarten teachers work closely with the Head Start teachers, collaborating and sharing ideas that help our students achieve at high levels when they get to school. What this study may confirm is what Darling-Hammond has already concluded, and that is that teacher quality matters. I’d like to know what the teacher selection process is at Head Start and what their qualifications are.

Another subject that interested me was the idea of states directing their funding to give higher salaries to good teachers in high-needs districts. The point made was that equally qualified teachers will not be tempted to teach in a high-needs district while getting paid the same to work in a more affluent school. Paying teachers more to work in low-income district would even the score, if you will, in getting and keeping great teachers. There have been several occasions when I’ve been asked where I teach that I receive a response of shock and horror. What they’re really thinking is, Oh, the poor thing must not have been able to get a job anywhere else. Yes, it’s a great deal harder to work in a lower socioeconomic community, but I do it because I love the students, the parents, and the community. I work fifty hour weeks (like a lot of other teachers, I know) so that I’m prepared with best practice lesson plans to help my students achieve. Now, we’ve had some teachers land in our district that did not have the skills or background knowledge to teach our students effectively. Could we attract more highly effective teachers to our district if we paid them more? Absolutely. Another reason I work in the district I do is that I receive excellent support from a knowledgeable principal that leads with integrity. Successful teachers in our district have the same vision for student success and our administration supports us.

Teacher quality is HUGE. Getting the support we need is imperative to student success in our districts and our nation.