Absolutely required reading from Malcolm Gladwell. He asks how can it be that we are so sure what makes great teachers when the NFL has such trouble projecting who will be a great QB? Typically brilliant Gladwell question. What he finds is fascinating:
A group of researchers—Thomas J. Kane, an economist at Harvard’s school of education; Douglas Staiger, an economist at Dartmouth; and Robert Gordon, a policy analyst at the Center for American Progress—have investigated whether it helps to have a teacher who has earned a teaching certification or a master’s degree. Both are expensive, time-consuming credentials that almost every district expects teachers to acquire; neither makes a difference in the classroom. Test scores, graduate degrees, and certifications—as much as they appear related to teaching prowess—turn out to be about as useful in predicting success as having a quarterback throw footballs into a bunch of garbage cans.
That last bit is a reference to notorious NFL bust Tim Couch. But Gladwell does not stop there, he goes on to search out the ways the financial industry tries to find top advisers. Hint, it is not via credentials. It is basically an extended sink-or-swim process.
“In teaching, the implications are even more profound. They suggest that we shouldn’t be raising standards. We should be lowering them, because there is no point in raising standards if standards don’t track with what we care about. Teaching should be open to anyone with a pulse and a college degree — and teachers should be judged after they have started their jobs, not before,” Gladwell writes.
Think back to that principal-recruiting effort CMS was giddy about the other day. Did it take this approach?
No. Applicants from outside the education establishment were welcome — provided they had two years of teaching experience. Who thinks CMS will get a single applicant that fits that arbitrary standard? Principals hired on the basis of credentialism will, by definition, look for credentials in the hires that they make for teaching slots. Round and round we’ll go and wonder why despite all the money, energy, and effort things do not improve.
