No Quick Fixes
When you hear about record-breaking levels of Type II diabetes, no one ever says, “Those darn doctors. If only they were trained better, we would not have this epidemic.” Then why, for goodness sake, do we keep blaming teachers almost exclusively for low academic achievement of students? I can’t tell you how many times I have observed well-intentioned, smart policy makers immediately jump to “teacher training” as the first and most prominent step in school improvement. Test scores are low? We need more teacher training. Technology not being used in the classroom? Hey, let’s get some teacher training. Kids not reading by third grade? I know, let’s offer the teachers some training!
This teacher deficit model is often wrong. Teachers, like doctors, have gone to school, completed clinical training, passed tests, earned their credentials, and have attained relevant skills. Yes, organizations such as the Education Service Centers and SEDL offer excellent teacher professional development programs. And yes, training is often a necessary component in school reform. However, too often “teacher training” is the first (and sometimes, only) substantial solution offered to struggling schools.
I urge policymakers to replace the knee jerk “teacher training” response with a more thoughtful and comprehensive approach. Here’s an idea: Here’s an idea: Education researchers are trained to ask subjects “Why?” five levels deep to unearth the underlying causes of a problem. Doing so may reveal less obvious causes of school failure, such as low teacher morale, chronic shortages of materials, class periods that are too short to do hands-on lessons, and lack of parental support. In these examples, solutions such as teacher bonuses, increased school materials budgets, block schedules with longer class periods, and hiring more parent support specialists would address the problems better than teacher training would. Digging deeper, one might hit root causes such as generational poverty or corrupt politics. Tackling all these issues require comprehensive systemic reform solutions that are clearly harder to implement than most teacher training workshops. But complex challenges call for complex solutions.
Why is this particularly important right now? The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (which oversees nearly 100 public universities and community college districts in the state) just released its strategic plan, 60X30TX, which calls for 60% of young adults in Texas to have post-high school certificates or degrees by 2030. That is a laudable goal, as an educated workforce is the economic engine of this state. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has enlisted the Texas Education Agency (which oversees the over 1200 public school districts and institutions in the state) as a partner in meeting this goal. This is a smart move, because without strong K-12 preparation, high school graduates won’t succeed in college.
To the many stakeholders working in the field of college readiness, I salute those who ask the right questions to the right people to make our education system better. For those that do not, I implore you to do so (or, at the very least, consult the education research database, eric.ed.gov for best practices). With responsive, systemic changes that span far beyond teacher training, we might actually reach the THECB’s 60X30TX goal. And our state will be better for it.
