Jonathan Alter's Tips to Obama Regarding Education

Alter's article proposed that the source of America's educational downfall is the lack of accountability within the teachers. He claims, "Give poor kids from broken homes the best teachers, and most learn. Period." Alter advises Obama to pay teachers according to their results and release them if they can't produce.

The teachers need to be accountable, but is measuring the students' performance on state tests the best way to monitor their teaching skills? Is this the best way to improve education? This measurement system seems to deter teachers from taking on a challenging class or allowing gifted students the opportunity to be in the same classroom.

As many educational theorists point out, people have different learning styles and different strengths. Teachers are no different. Part of the problem within education is the lack of matching teachers with appropriate work environments. Some incredible teachers would fail miserably if placed into a different environment. Simply taking the best teachers out of their schools and moving them into failing schools may not be an effective solution. The structure of the school makes a difference in a teacher's ability to teach. The administration should provide an environment that sustains the teacher's efforts with appropriate discipline support and encouraging professional development.

There is not a multitude of well-educated, talented individuals who want to be teachers, especially in "at risk" schools. The threat of being released may further prevent good teachers risking their careers in such a school. If the accountability was based on state scores as suggested, the content within the classroom would be directly tied to the test. This is already the case in most public schools since the school itself is already tied the the test performance. Is that what education should be? There is value in teaching a body of knowledge, but with such pressure, exam preparation takes up much of the time that could be devoted to experiments, plays, and projects. The great teachers know that these items are necessary in developing the interest, thinking skills, and the real world abilities in their students. The increase of content regulations discourages the most creative teachers from staying in the profession.

Teachers should be accountable, and state tests provide hard data. Unfortunately the data is incapable of telling the whole story.