 |
 |
 |
Raise the Teachers, Change the World
 |
|
By Arlene C. Ackerman
As someone who has worked in our nation’s schools for almost 40 years — as a classroom teacher, a principal and a superintendent of three major school districts — I can honestly say that it is an honor to be an educator. Of the many lessons I have learned throughout my career, the most important is that wishful thinking and good intentions by themselves do not bring better education to our students. Our nation has done a poor job of providing them with everything they need to be successful.
From my current position as superintendent of schools in Philadelphia, I can see the painful consequences of this lack of support. It is our students, particularly those with the most need, who pay the price for inadequate education policies. Our policymakers understand the importance of improving our schools, and they grasp the economic impact of falling behind the rest of the world, but now they need to take bold steps. We must radically change the form, quality and quantity of our efforts on behalf of these critically important educators. I am reminded of these wise words from the late Ron Edmonds, founder of the effective schools movement, “We already know everything we need to know about how to educate all children well; the question is, do we have the will to do so?”
A new report released this month by the College Board and Phi Delta Kappa International, Teachers Are the Center of Education: Profiles of Eight Teachers, both confirms what we already know and lays out a partial road map for changes in public policy. In their own unique voices, eight outstanding teachers from different backgrounds who teach different subjects under different circumstances offer their valuable insights on the policies we must implement. The various topics discussed included unprepared students, training for the classroom, the lack of resources in our schools and their unequal distribution, the need to work more collaboratively with other teachers, the importance of involvement from parents and families, the burdens of class size, the lack of professional respect for teachers, cross-disciplinary work, and the need to create a community with those outside the school and to link the classroom to the world that surrounds our students. These teachers echo ideas and recommendations raised in other reports published over the last few years.
For example, in 2006, right after my years as superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District, I was a member of the College Board’s Center for Innovative Thought, which produced Teachers and the Uncertain American Future. This report made six recommendations: provide competitive salaries; restore esteem to the teaching profession; create multiple pathways to teaching; close the diversity gap; fix math and science; and invest for success now, rather than pay for failure later. These recommendations are equally pertinent today, but little progress has been made.
In today’s world of economic challenges and global competition, we have no time to waste — too much is at stake. In order to effect this critical change, we must act quickly on two parallel and related fronts. First, we must support our teachers in the same way we are creating national voluntary academic standards. We can no longer move as 50 individual states, with more than 16,000 school districts and more than 130,000 schools. Led by states and school districts, with support from a strong president and federal government, we must create a unified national movement with shared priorities, strategies and a timetable. All of us, educators and policymakers alike, need to explain to the public, particularly students and their families, what we are doing, why we are doing it and how we can collaborate.
Second, we need to develop priorities. Not everything can be done at once or in a short period of time. Our valuable resources — time, money, energy, influence — must be directed to the most urgent areas. Three that stand out: better pre- and in-service professional development; closer cooperation and support among and between teachers and principals; and higher salaries. If all of us acted as if we were the families of the children in our schools, particularly those who are traditionally underserved, no one would argue that we don’t need radical change, that we can improve slowly or that we can wait for others to join us in our quest for improvement. I urge all of us to make the necessary changes. The time is now.
Arlene C. Ackerman is the superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia.
|
 |
|
|
 |
 |
|||
|
|||
 |
 |
|
