This morning, Education Week had an excellent article entitled What Do Teachers Want? The article concerned the difficulty of assessing exactly what it is that teachers want. The author goes so far as suggesting that we must be mind readers like Mel Gibson's character in "What Women Want." I don't know if I'd go that far, but finding out what teachers want can be as difficult as getting through Avon Barksdale's many layers of security in subterfuge to protect his drug empire on The Wire.
Some of the most groundbreaking work in the area of assessing what teachers want was done by Bill Gates and Scholastic who spared no expense in conducting a Harris Poll of 40,000 teachers. However, if one poll was enough to tell us anything with certainty, President McCain would running for reelection.
This area of research is very important if we are to find a way to attract and keep highly capable teachers to the classroom while at the same time increasing their workload and cutting their salary, pension, and health care costs. That is why Last Stand for Children has spent the last two years working hard to analyze the wants and needs of classroom teachers. Today, we take a step closer to realizing the fruits of our labor by appointing a blue ribbon committee to study and analyze the needs and wants of America's classroom teachers. The members of the panel are as follows:
Ryan Wilson - Chief Executive Director Last Stand for Children First
Winslow Thorpe - President of Northstar Investments
Linda Voight-Kampff - President and CEO of Tyrell Corporation
Dotti Walker - Chairwoman of Prosperity for Americans
Hank Scorpio - President and CEO of Globex Corporation
Jack Kimble - United States Representative, California's 54th District
Burt Kuper - President of The Foundations Group
Alma Davis - Chairwoman Education for The Best Tomorrow
Adrian Veidt - President and CEO of Veidt Industries
Virginia Wallace - Vice-President of The Alliance for Educational Excellence
Miles Drummond - President and CEO of Anderson Testing
Together, this group will piggy back on existing research with the goal of producing an actionable plan for reforming education to better meet the wants and needs of teachers by 2013.
I appreciate the efforts to conduct further research on retaining highly effective teachers in the classroom. However, why is a panel appointed comprised of members that don't include a SINGLE educator?
ReplyDeleteNot one teacher.
Not one school administrator.
Not one parent.
Not one education professor.
Not one education public intellectual.
Not one consultant.
My recommendation for future panels would be to diversify stakeholders to truly represent those that have the most vested interest in the study.
This type of research lends more credibility and validity to its findings.
Where is the on-the-ground teacher representative in this panel. Just one real, active teacher anyone??
ReplyDeleteHow do you propose discovering what teachers want without any actual, currently teaching in the classroom, teachers on the panel?
ReplyDeleteExcellent satire! Might want to consider the sarcasm font to help out those who are missing it!
ReplyDeleteWhy so many business persons and no teachers and principals on this panel?
ReplyDeleteContrary to our current religious belief that the business model is next to godliness, the reality is that business leaders don't understand learning, development, curriculum, or practice efficacy. Why do we think they can understand the multi-complexities of education?
Can you imagine doctors allowing CEO's to determine the needs of their profession? Neither can I.
Hey. Prosperity for Americans was a group I created.
ReplyDeleteJack Kimble is the Republican Congressman from California's 54th District.
ReplyDelete