The ratio of teachers to students at the secondary level is reputedly 1 to 10.
I am involved with the Oakland Unified School District since my daughter attends public school in Oakland, and I tell thee, the teachers are the least of the problem.
Joanna
----- Original Message ----- From: "Max Sawicky" <sawicky at verizon.net> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 10:39:41 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] More "school reform" nonsense
A younger or new teacher may have more energy and enthusiasm, a senior one could be burned out. My wife, may she rest in peace, was one of those who came in with little credentials after decades as an attorney, but my perception was that she was a very good teacher with a motivation advantage over some of the burn-outs in her school. (D.C. has trouble hiring teachers so it is possible to get in as a 'permanent substitute' and acquire credentials -- via night school courses -- while working.)
So you never know.
Of course teacher layoffs are criminally dumb, so it doesn't pay to argue over how best to lay off. How to weed out low-performers is a good question, one to which I haven't the answer.
On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 1:14 PM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On May 25, 2010, at 1:00 PM, Chris Maisano wrote:
>
>> Wouldn't younger teachers, on average, actually be worse teachers than
>> veterans because of lack of experience?
>
> Yes. Just reading up on this for an LBO article on this crap. Experience
> does make teachers better. Charters have a serious problem retaining
> teachers, many of whom not only quit their jobs but also leave the
> profession. And this isn't weeding out the bad ones - it's that the work is
> intolerable.
>
> Doug
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