Thursday, May 16, 2013

What comes first in a recipe for successful schools? The teacher, the leader, or society?

A former teacher candidate student shared this article on facebook today. I've always been at a loss for how to respond when future classroom teachers ask me what the key differences are between countries with great educational achievement, like Finland, and those that are not seeing great success for all, like the United States. While reading this article, my belief that 'great teachers make great schools' was challenged. I will definitely need to re-read this article and maybe invite my colleagues to a happy hour discussion about it... 

What if Finland’s great teachers taught in U.S. schools? http://goo.gl/hLa1b
"In many under-performing nations, I notice, three fallacies of teacher effectiveness prevail...

  • The first belief is that 'the quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers.'
  • The second fallacy is that 'the most important single factor in improving quality of education is teachers.'  
  • The third fallacy is that 'If any children had three or four great teachers in a row, they would soar academically, regardless of their racial or economic background, while those who have a sequence of weak teachers will fall further and further behind'."  

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