“What makes a great teacher?” Teach for America may have the answer.
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The recent issue of The Atlantic looks into the hotly debated question of what makes a good teacher. Proposals in the new Race to the Top standards will require teacher compensation tied to student performance. Under this teacher accountability model, identifying teacher excellence will be even more important. The article points out that; “[s]tates must try to identify great teachers, figure out how they got that way, and then create more of them.”
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Reporter Amanda Ripley was given access to the extensive records of the organization “Teach for America” to try to identify these aswers. Teach for America is a non-profit organization started 20 years ago and works to place outstanding graduates in low-income areas with a minimum commitment of two years. What make this organization unique is that, “the organization tracks test-score data, linked to each teacher, for 85 percent to 90 percent of those kids. Almost all of those students are poor and African American or Latino.” In addition, Teach for America keeps an unusual amount of data about its 7,300 teachers—a pool almost twice the size of the D.C. system’s teacher corps.” What is really astounding about the organization is it’s success among minorities. “In 2007, 24 percent of Teach for America teachers moved their students one and a half or more years ahead,” according to the organization’s internal reports. In 2009, that number was up to 44 percent.
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Using this data, and Teach for America’s own studies, Ripley reported several factors that seem to indicate success for a potential teacher. These include:
- history of perseverence and long term goals by the candidate
- achievment of big measurable goals in college
- GPA in the final two years of college
- majoring in the subject taught
Interestingly, the data shows that a master’s degree in education seems to have no impact on classroom effectiveness.
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To read the article in full, see the link below.
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“What Makes a Good Teacher?” Amanda Ripley, The Atlantic, January/February 2010